Nazi uniforms upset RSA

The Returned Services Association is furious after learning a group of historical military enthusiasts dressed up in Nazi uniforms at a function last month.

Photographs of the Military Re-enactment Society in the Nazi uniforms were ill-advised, offensive and ignorant, RSA national president Robin Klitscher told the Weekend Herald.

The uniforms were worn at a private dinner at a Cambridge restaurant last month.

Photographs showed some members dressed in full SS uniform with swastika armbands, Nazi banners hanging on the wall, and a framed photo of Adolf Hitler on a laurel-laden mantelpiece.

Mr Klitscher compared the images with an earlier incident in which Auckland Grammar School students were photographed saluting and bowing to Nazi symbols during a trip to the Auckland War Memorial Museum. The boys later apologised.

"This is in the same category," Mr Klitscher.

"Clearly this group hasn't understood the symbolism."

Society spokesman Steve Goodman said the photos of Nazi images had been taken out of context.

- NZPA