Republican Candidate in Ohio Took Part in Nazi War Reenactments

Talk about unusual weekend pursuits. Before he launched a campaign for Congress in northwest Ohio, Republican candidate Rich Iott took part in World War II reenactments dressed in the uniform of Nazi Germany's Waffen SS.

Iott was involved with a group called Wiking, which reenacts the exploits of the 5th SS Panzer Division, mainly on the Eastern Front fighting the communist Soviet Union's Red Army, the Atlantic reported He told the magazine his interest was solely historical and he does not support the tenets of Nazism. "No absolutely not. In fact, there's a disclaimer on the (Wiking) website, and you'll find that on almost any reenactment website. It's purely historical interest in World War II."

Iott, a Tea Party favorite, is running against Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) who is in her 14th term representing a district anchored by the heavily Democratic city of Toledo. The Toledo Blade quoted Kaptur spokesman Steve Fought, saying, "What would posses someone to impersonate one of the Nazi SS criminals. They were the face of the devil in the 20th Century. At minimum, this behavior calls into question the judgment of the Republican nominee in the 9th District."

Iott, a member of the volunteer Ohio Military Reserve under the Ohio Adjutant General, said his name and pictures were removed from the Wiking website not out of concern for the congressional campaign, but because he quit the group three years ago when his son, who also took part, lost interest in it. But he told the Atlantic he has "always been fascinated by the fact that here was a relatively small country that from a strictly military point of view accomplished incredible things. I mean, they took over most of Europe and Russia, and it really took the combined effort of the free world to defeat them. From a purely historical view, that's incredible."

The Wiking website notes that the Wiking division mainly fought the Russians -- the Red Army -- not U.S. or British troops. It says today's Wiking is not affiliated in any way with the Nazi Party or other far right groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan, and "wholeheartedly condemns the atrocities which made them infamous." The website says of the German unit used as a model for the reenactments, "We salute these idealists; no matter how unsavory the Nazi government was the front-line soldiers of the Waffen-SS (in particular the foreign volunteers) gave their lives for their loved ones and a basic desire to be free."

That's one version of what went on during World War II. Historians like Professor Christopher Browning at the University of North Carolina, say "it is so unhistorical and so apologetic that you don't know to what degree they've simply caught up innocent war memorabilia enthusiasts who love putting on uniforms." And Rabbi Moshe Saks of the Congregation B'nai Israel in Sylvania, Ohio, a Toledo suburb, said "any kind of reenactment or glorification of Nazi Germany, to us, would be something unacceptable and certainly in poor taste, if not offensive. I think the reaction here will be very negative. And not just among the Jewish community, but the broader community."

Iott, in a follow-up e-mail to the Atlantic, said he never "meant any disrespect to anyone who served in our military or anyone who has been affected by the tragedy of war." He said he has participated in Civil War, World War I reenactments -- and also World War II exercises as an American infantryman and paratrooper. But the e-mail made no specific reference of possible offense to Jewish people, the Atlantic said.