Over years of collecting amateur photography from the Second World War, German artist Martin Dammann kept noticing something odd: An awful lot of soldiers fighting for Nazi Germany seemed to enjoy dressing up like women.
“If the photos did not exist, you would not believe it,” Dammann told the German news magazine Der Spiegel earlier this month.
Cross-dressing among soldiers happened on all sides in both world wars. Most photos of the phenomenon are as a result of a theatre performance put together by troops: With no women around to play Ophelia or Celia Peachum, a man would be enlisted to fill the role for laughs...
But the phenomenon seemed to happen way more in German ranks, according to Dammann. This may be due to a longstanding German tradition of carnival cross-dressing.
Where many countries celebrate Mardi Gras with drinking and sexualized costumes, some German communities have a centuries-long tradition of treating it as a celebration of gender-bending.
In Cologne, one of the central mascots of the Carnival parade is “the virgin,” a pigtailed maiden that has been played by a man since the 1820s. (more...)
No comments:
Post a Comment