@fundevogel I think why choose to dress like her when I see it. If I was at a party where I know everyone I would not be afraid or think a friend of mine is a Nazi. It does not stir up horrible feelings for me in that situation, but I was not kept in a camp. If there are older people there it could trigger a PTSD reaction, it would be very insensitive to wear it. In the same way many Jews do not use the wedding march at their weddings.
If I don’t know you and you wear the costume, I would be bothered, because I don’t know your intent I don’t know you. I understand in your mind you feel like you have friends who are Jewish, you are not prejudiced, not violence oriented, however you might describe yourself, but the Jewish person looking at you does not know what is in your head. Wearing a swastika is like hold out a gun in some people’s minds. It’s like pointing a gun and saying, well, they should not be afraid because there is no bullet and I would never shoot anybody, it was not my intent. All people KNOW is a gun is in their face.
Some countries in Europe do not even let you wear or display a swastika, which I am not arguing for, I think it interferes with free speech, but I see where they are coming from. There are southerners who like to fly the confederate flag. They are proud of their relatives who faught in the war, and see it as a symbol of the south, which they are proud to live in, many do not view it as racist to fly it. The thing is blacks see it as racist and a little scary, a rememberance of a horrible time. Who should we respect in that case? I tend to lean on the side of being aware of and respecting the minority when it comes to something that could evoke fear . Certainly many Halloween costumes are in bad taste or might offend people or make them uncomfortable, but they stop short of inferrring physical harm.