I love you guys! Thank you all for helping me with this.

I think the main reason I wanted to be a Nazi is because of Kroenen, and other films like Iron Sky and Inglourious Basterds.

And I can see EXACTLY why people would get offended, even those who are not victims of Nazi ideology.

My half-sister's family are all Jewish, and our family originated from Germany so even I have Jewish ancestors affected by this. I care a lot about the emotions of others, which is why I wanted to seek help on a website, and you guys are simply amazing.

Whilst looking at my costume today I decided that I don't really need to spend a lot of money on the hat, my goggles cover up the weird badge, and besides, why would I WANT to have a swastika or Death's Head on my hat??

Here is an image of my costume as it stands now:


Claw-arm is not finished

Another thing I MUST take into account is that many people do not know as much about Nazis, and could easily mistake any FAKE insignia for REAL insignia.

The costume looks alright, and I am happy with it for now.

Hopefully the balaclava, metal arm and red contacts I'm going to wear will let people know that it's a costume, and nothing more.

If people get upset I will button up my coat and hide my insignia, I could also take off my hat if it's still causing upset and put it in my pocket.

Do you guys find this costume offensive?


As for Steampunk:
I know that this is too late for Steampunk, I thought I'd mentioned Dieselpunk before, but I guess not

“Hans, have you looked at our caps recently? The badges on our caps… have you looked at them? They’ve got skulls on them! …Hans… are we the baddies?”

This thread just reminded me of this old Mitchell and Webb sketch.

The costume is looking good and I agree that the coat looks best over the shoulders. You don’t need the other insignia as you are creating your own character as other people have pointed out.

I know exactly the sketch!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVEIlObp22s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLJUocaDYw0
(sorry, the Live version is the only good quality one)

I've been thinking, that maybe it'd be better if I went as Kroenen himself. After all, it'd be a lot more fun being a well-known character.

I know the masks cost a lot, and so would a lot of leather clothing. Maybe I could keep the costume and trench coat I have already got, and construct a mask from Papier-mâché?

Would all these inaccuracies look tacky?

Being Jewish, I can relate to people who get sensitive about seeing a swastika walking around a con. However, it is part of a character and a part of history. If anyone gives you trouble, it's not difficult to assure them that you yourself are not a Nazi.

I guess I could tell them that. If I decided to go instead as Kroenen, rather than my character, I'm pretty sure people will understand better.

Kroenen masks are really expensive, does anybody have any ideas how to make one cheap?

As I'm going as Kroenen now, the actual character, does this mean I require the accurate hat? Or do you think it will still offend people?

Bump

A bit late to the discussion but I don't think you go for it 100%.

My partner is a military re-enactor/living historian of WWI British and WWII Russian.

His best friend who is absolutely, DEFINITELY in NO WAY a Nazi collects Nazi memorabilia/uniforms/weapons.

He personally doesn't reenact as a WWII German but we go to a lot of military fairs/reenactments where 100's of people do. I have never met ANY of them who I would think supported the Nazi party of anything close to it!

If anything, in my experience, its the people who skulk about with skin heads at military fairs picking up memorabilia with Adolf Hitler t-shirts on that are the people to worry about.

you are recreating a character and i know so many Nazi/SS insignia are loaded and can understandably cause a lot of upset and controversy but despite this...i wouldn't let it hold you back.

What a good idea

So, just go for it? At the end of the day I'm just cosplaying a character!

My comment wasn't so much a "you shouldn't cosplay it" it's mroe that you have to be wary that there will always be someone who's easily offended, and being that it's Nazi inspired it's much more likely to occur.

Okie dokie

Well, I have until May which gives me plenty of time to build a mask and then to figure out if I want to buy the real hat.

Is there a build section on the forum?