Reenactor arrested in Volgograd for Wehrmacht coat
Alexei Demyanov, a resident of the Krasnoarmeysky district of Volgograd, was detained after a walk on the street on January 21. He was wearing a postwar German coat with Wehrmacht non-commissioned officer shoulder straps, which Judge Tatiana Gorodilova deemed as propaganda of Nazi symbolism.
The united press service of the courts of general jurisdiction of the Volgograd region reported:
The court established that on January 21, the man was walking down the street in the Krasnoarmeysky district of Volgograd in a Bundeswehr German coat with shoulder straps of a non-commissioned officer from the Third Reich era. During the court hearing, the offender did not dispute the circumstances outlined in the protocol. By the judge«s ruling, the man was found guilty of committing an administrative offense under Part 1 of Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. He was sentenced to administrative arrest for a period of 5 days.The decision has not yet entered into legal force.
It is known that Demyanov graduated from a railway transport technical school. On social networks, he is subscribed to communities of military-historical reenactment, including the large Volgograd association «Stalingrad Army Don». It is in the Krasnoarmeysky district, on the territory of a former mustard factory, that one of the key sites for reenactors« gatherings is located.
The coat mentioned in the case is a gray Bundeswehr cloak with a warm liner. Such items are widely sold on classifieds websites under names like «men»s coat« or »trench« for prices from 5,500 to 6,500 rubles (approximately $61 to $72 at current rates). These specimens were produced from the late 1950s to the 1980s and are advertised as clothing for everyday wear, collectors, and reenactors. However, in the photos in the ads, shoulder straps are usually absent.
The organization «Stalingrad Army Don» stated that on January 21, no reenactment events were held in the district. The club «Pekhotinets» (Infantryman), based in the Krasnoarmeysky district, noted that the reenactment of the capture of Field Marshal Paulus took place on January 24. Whether the detainee was involved in preparations for this event is not specified.
