VISITORS to an East Lancashire battle re-enactment have been banned from wearing Nazi uniforms after a storm of protest from Jewish groups.

The 1940s Wartime Weekend has become one of the biggest events of its type in the country and attracts thous-ands of visitors each May.

But last year the Jewish community was left angered when visitors turned up dressed as Nazi officers.

Directors of the East Lancs Railway (ELR), which runs the event, have banned the uniforms to prevent causing further offence.

A Rabbi has welcomed the move, saying that anything that symbolised Nazism was offensive.

Events planned for the weekend of May 25 in Ramsbottom, Rawtenstall and Bury include 1940s dances, a commemorative service, a period wedding, wartime entertainment and a working field hospital in the village of Irwell Vale, as well as battle re-enactments.

But the battles will feature American, British and German soldiers only.

There will be no one in the black uniform of the German Schutzstaffel (SS).

The SS was established in the 1920s as a personal guard unit for Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and had a record for notorious brutality against civilians and prisoners of war.

Its units helped wipe out resistance by Polish Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and slaughtered US prisoners of war near the Belgian town of Malmedy during the Battle of the Bulge in 1944.

War weekend organiser Neil Parkington, of the ELR, said: "There will be no one wearing the black SS uniform this year.

"We had a lot of negative publicity last year after the event because of some of the uniforms that were worn so the directors of the railway and myself decided that this year we would not allow it.

"We have spoken to a lot of veterans groups and the decision seems to have gone down okay. Everybody is being pretty broad-minded about it."

The Rabbi Yehuda Brodie, registrar of the Manchester Beth Din, the Jewish Ecclesiastical Court of Greater Manchester, said: "For people to walk about in this country in the uniform of the SS or anything that symbolises Nazism should be offensive not just to Jews but to anyone who cherishes freedom and I commend this decision and the event organisers for taking this stand. "