Moral Neutrality

Thinking back to my 'intense' military modelling days, I was reminded of how startled I was to find a letter in one edition of 'Military Modelling' magazine, questioning the degree to which the building of models of SS soldiers and their vehicles was morally questionable. In my innocence at that time, I had never even considered such a question.

Disappointed in not being able to find much reference to 'the ethics of military modelling' online, I googled the title of the book that the letter had referred to - 'Wenn alle Bruder Schweigen' (it has stuck in my mind for 35+ years, testament to the impression that the letter made on me.).

Dismayingly, the Amazon reviews of the book (a pictorial study of some SS elements), contain plenty of (not very coded) references: 'highly recommended, especially considering that the text does not engage in the generalized bias and character assassination so often associated with works on the SS'; 'Many SS veterans were prosecuted as criminals for their conduct in combatting guerillas who illegally disguised themselves as civilians...'; 'A must buy for anyone willing to learn how the SS developed, served and was ultimately disgraced - not by its own actions but rather by those whose agendas were (and remain) subject to political jingoism and post-war correctness.' That said...the three different reviews do all seem to have been posted by the same person.

Anyway...this has started me thinking about the 'moral neutrality' of the military modelling world: something that struck me as troubling personally after I read that letter (until that point, I had seen all the German military hardware/figures I had been building as just innocent recreations of interesting vehicles/uniforms); and something that still strikes me as a bit odd - how we can compartmentalise the political/racial/ideological elements of Nazism from the aircraft, tanks, ships and people depicted in model form.

Funny feeling. (Not very well articulated...just proto-thoughts, really.)