'I only joined the SS for the uniform'

'BASICALLY, I'm just Stephen Rushton, a fabricator and welder, but at weekends I'm an SS soldier. It is nothing to do with evil. It is just they had better uniforms and better gear."

It is not surprising Stephen is a little defensive of his hobby. Not only does he spend his weekends re-enacting battles from the Second World War, enough in itself to prompt a snigger or two, but his army unit of choice is a little... unusual, to say the least. Disturbing, some people might call it. For this weekend, and just about every other weekend, Stephen is going to be an SS corporal.

"The SS were crack troops - they got the best of everything, the best weapons, the best tanks. It is nothing to do with politics: I joined the SS purely because of the weapons and the look of the uniform," he says, although of course he didn't actually join the SS.

His interest in the Second World War started from watching war films - The Battle of The Bulge, Where Eagles Dare, A Bridge Too Far, and other Saturday afternoon staples - and playing at soldiers with school friends.

"I always used to play the Germans. Even my Action Man was dressed as a German," - there's one on the windowsill wearing a German paratrooper's uniform to show this hasn't changed - "the German soldier always looked better. It was the cut of the uniforms: they were always more showy and flash. When I was a kid it just seemed more glamorous to be a German."

Stephen, a 6ft 3ins 33-year-old, turned his fascination with the Germans into a hobby when he bought the first item in what is now a substantial collection of memorabilia. The Iron Cross cost around £25 from a collectors' fair around 15 years ago, and has been followed by belts, water bottles, lamps, badges - all manner of authentic equipment.

He also has the uniforms - German army and Luftwaffe caps hang on the coat pegs by the door of his house in Thornley, near Peterlee, and his wardrobe doors conceal camouflage jackets, leather greatcoats, jackboots, in fact everything for the discerning German soldier. Having acquired all this, it must have seemed almost rude not to do something with it, so he joined a re-enactment society.

He still remembers his first event, along with fellow re-enacters, all dressed in civvies, and everyone disappeared into their tents to get changed. Five minutes later, they all emerged dressed as Germans. "The first time you wear it in public is like coming out the closet," he says.

Stephen is now rottenfuhrer, or senior corporal, and treasurer and North-East co-ordinator of the World War II Axis Re-enactment Society (WARS for short), an organisation which boasts 21 members nationwide, of which eight are in the North-East. Throughout the summer, the group takes part in shows, staging displays or re-enacting battles, in which one of the rules is that the Germans always have to lose. The winter is reserved for private battles. Here, Stephen isn't compelled to be on the losing side.

The society portrays the Second SS Panzer Division, or, at events where the SS is unwelcome, the non-SS Herman Goering Panzer Division. But Stephen is at pains to point out that there were two types of SS, and he portrays the 'good' type. The Allgemeine SS were the ones who wore black uniforms and were linked with the Gestapo, the Nazi secret police. The Waffen SS, of which Stephen is a 'member', were crack front-line troops.

That doesn't mean they were without blemish, although Stephen does believe they have had a bad press.

"For the most part, the Waffen SS were heavily trained, elite units. Some SS units did commit atrocities, but armed forces, regardless of period and regardless of nationality, have all committed atrocities, because under the stress of combat things happen," he says.

"The Americans and British and Canadians did things - some bloody horrible things go on in war. The SS fought on the Eastern Front and the Russians were just as bad. The SS got that hardened so when they came over to France, certain traits were carried over."

Just when you start to get worried, he adds: "It was wrong. Everybody agrees what went on was wrong. You can't ignore it and sweep it under the carpet. We think the SS were crack units, some of the toughest soldiers that ever existed, but we still beat them, and that says something about us."

WARS' website lists the group rules. Heading a list which includes: Never hand a member of the public a weapon of any kind; Never swear or be rude in front of members of the public, and Think Authentic. No coke cans or kebabs on static displays, is perhaps the thorniest issue of all: Never perform a Nazi salute, not even as a joke.

At first, this appears a little over-sensitive: after all, joke Nazi salutes are performed every day in offices and homes, but this is something WARS takes very seriously indeed. Uniform on its own is OK, but with the salute as well, it's just too much.

"You are not allowed to do a Nazi salute, it is absolutely verboten. If anybody does that, they're kicked out of the group. We don't want that kind of people in," says Stephen. Despite the group's own ban, there's always someone who comes up to them at shows and raises their right arm. This does not go down well. "We hate it," says Stephen. "You can guarantee someone will go 'Sieg Heil' and give a salute," he tails off, words not enough to contain the contempt he feels for such people.

Apart from these jokers, the overwhelming majority of people who come up to them at shows are positive, he says, even veterans, who congratulate the group on their authenticity, although sometimes WARS members have to be careful about putting the SS runes - the two jagged s's - on their lapels, for fear of causing offence.

Similar restrictions to those on the salute apply to anyone with any political motive. The WARS website opens with a No Nazis injunction, before stating "Anyone that does have strong political views, need not apply!", and it does seem to be more than just lip service. People who, for whatever reason, enjoy dressing up as the SS, know their freedom to pursue their hobby could be severely curtailed by the activities of a few extreme - or irresponsible - elements. Stephen says anyone who appears to have another agenda would be prevented from joining, although this has yet to happen. The sensitivity means only a handful of WARS members are allowed to talk to the press.

"You have got to remember it is a touchy subject. People constantly put two and two together and get concentration camp, but that has got nothing to do with what we're doing, and it has got nothing to do with the lads we're portraying. I can see why it might be slightly... ", again he tails off, before adding, "but in 60 years time the lads who went through it are not going to be here. In another couple of generations it will be a bit more acceptable."

His girlfriend tolerates his hobby, although she can't understand why he would want to do it. WARS has no female members, but then most women didn't spend their childhood playing at soldiers.

Although Stephen knows most people will find his hobby a little odd - at one point, he says "Hope you don't think I'm too weird," - it's obvious he has a genuine enthusiasm for it. And in truth he's only as weird as anyone who has a passion, whether it's trainspotting, stamp collecting, or playing football. And if his hobby seems a little more disconcerting than most, at least there doesn't seem to be any genuine sympathy for the Nazis behind it. As Stephen says: "We're just playing toy soldiers. We just never grew up." Weird? Maybe. Bad? Surely not.