RETURN TO ALL
A recent museum exhibition in Canterbury sparked national debate after attempting to “show both sides” of World War II — including the Waffen-SS, the military arm of the Nazi Party.
As Chair of the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand, I was invited by several media outlets to respond. The issue was not whether such artefacts should be displayed, but how they are presented. Exhibiting Nazi uniforms or symbols without proper context risks distorting history and turning remembrance into inadvertent glorification.
When a museum places the perpetrators of genocide alongside their victims or the Allied forces without interpretation, it creates a false equivalence. The Waffen-SS were not simply “German soldiers.” They were an ideological fighting force deeply involved in the machinery of the Holocaust — committing massacres, assisting in deportations to death camps, and serving the Nazi regime’s racial agenda. To present their story as just another “side” of the war strips away the moral dimension of history.
Museums play an essential role in shaping collective understanding. They are not neutral spaces; they interpret meaning. When exhibitions fail to explain the ideology behind the symbols, visitors — especially younger ones — may leave with a distorted impression of the past. This is dangerous at a time when antisemitism and Holocaust distortion are again on the rise in New Zealand and around the world.
Our call is simple: tell the full story. Ensure that the context is clear, the ideology identified, and the human cost acknowledged. Museums can educate powerfully about the dangers of extremism — but only when they frame artefacts within the truth of what they represent.
This moment has opened an important national conversation about responsibility in how history is told. The Holocaust Centre of New Zealand stands ready to work with museums, educators, and communities to ensure that remembrance remains truthful, ethical, and deeply human.
Media coverage:• Stuff – Museum’s attempt to show both sides of World War II uncomfortable• RNZ – Canterbury Military Museum owner open to changing controversial Nazi exhibit• Newstalk ZB – Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive interview• Otago Daily Times coverage (syndicated in Stuff)