I think RickJay nailed it. Hitler wanted his regime to be both impressive to his people and scary to his foes. He was a frustrated painter and architect (in his book Inside the Third Reich, Speer reproduces several of his boss’s architectural sketches, incl. for a war memorial that Hitler did over and over again, trying to get the right proportions). He found other, like-minded folks to cater to his aesthetic vision, and to build upon it.
The Nazi Party was a monstrous regime. Good riddance to it. But I have to admit, I’ve always thought these looked cool:
Also, nearly everything you ever see on documentaries of the time period are scenes from Triumph of the Will. This one propaganda film has become people’s mental image of Nazi Germany. It was filmed in 1934. Yet regardless of the actual event being discussed, whether it’s 1934 or 1944 they always use that same footage of Hitler that night at the zeppelin field with the searchlights and/or the brownshirts parading through numerberg with torchlights.
I saw it. I just wasn’t sure if people realised that nearly every clip ever used in Nazi documentaries seems to be from Triumph of the Will. I didn’t until I watched it.
I’ve never noticed if Olympia is used that much, wasn’t it basically a documentary about the Berlin Olympic games?
It was the source of the Jesse Owens sprint footage, innumerable shots of Hitler up in the stands watching the events, and much grand parading around the stadium with countries dipping their flags to Hitler. Not as well known as the Triumph… imagery though.
This. They were good at political showmanship if nothing else.
I recalled a thread posted a while back that linked to a bunch of interesting color pictures from Nazi Germany; a lot of their imagery was positively hypnotic in color. Unfortunately the link to the album was dead when I found the thread. Some of the other links in the thread are still live though.
As I said in the previous thread, going through those photos one after another after another gives me quite an oppressive feeling. That stuff was real.
Because they ARE Nazi knock-offs. Like others have said, the Nazis got the concept down, so everyone else looks like an imitator. Because, fundamentally, they are imitators-- trying to create an impressive/imposing look for their armed forces. And in 2010, you can only get so close to the ideal before people start noticing, “Hey, they’re trying to look like Nazis!” And that’s generally seen as a bad thing, for obvious reasons.
There are probably a few books and plenty of grad theses out there on this dynamic: military uniforms reflect the culture of the state producing them. Sometimes that reflection is very direct, as in the case of Nazi uniforms.
Communist states in the past tend to also follow this pattern, with uniforms that are far more spare, even “peasant like” (look at Soviet uniforms of World War II-- that’s the uniform of the proletariat!). However, Soviet generals and admirals were decked out in more medals than anyone else (a tradition continued from the Tsarist period)-- reflecting that they were very different than the rank-and-file soldiers, almost like Gods astride the Earth.
Contrast that with the American G.I. uniform, which was likewise similar in its democratic utilitarianism, but saw less distinction between officer and enlisted uniforms, again reflecting the nature of the society.
I don’t want to “win the internet” at your expense, but… fighting ignorance an all that:
The Russians switched from fancy European uniforms long before the Revolution. Historically, they’ve had a cultural inferiority complex, and when Alexander II became tsar, he flipped back with a “dammit, we’re proud to be Russian!” attitude, and inaugurated a program of “Russification,” requiring government buildings in ouside territories like Poland and Finland to be built in old-fashioned Russian style; requiring ladies to appear at court functions wearing fur-trimmed costumes that would have look contemporary for Ivan the Terrible; and dressed his soldiers in gymnastiorka tunics. inspired by traditional peasant’s smocks.
The officers still had fancy uniforms, including those shoulder boards they love, but during the Civil War, Reds would torture captured White officers by nailing them into their shoulders. Years later, after Stalin had shot all his best officers, and then had to rebuild an officer corps in a hurry, he brought back all the fancy uniforms.
The American’s combat uniform is more of a mater of practicality than egalitarianism. IF you’ve watched From Here to Eternity, you’ll notice Montgomery Cliff marching and performing bayonet drill in the khaki twill shirt and trousers, but washing dishes in the old blue denim fatigue uniform. Just before WWII, the army phased-in olive drab herringbone fatigues, for the same reason they switched from white tents to olive drab ones: to hide from airplanes. When the war arrived, it was soon realized that the fatigue uniform was sturdier than the khaki.
The Germans might have looked more dangerous, but they still had heavy, harder-to-maintain leather while the US and the British had cotton webbing.
Personally, I think the Greeks and the Highlanders have the most badd-ass military uniforms. Nothing more scary than a man who isn’t afraid to wear a skirt (with or without pom-poms). Nazis look like they’re over-compensating, and *anyone *can pull off black.
Actually, my personal aesthetics tend towards the Gothic, but I’ve never really liked the Nazi stylistics - too overbearing, not understated enough to be a *truly *compelling design ensemble. I can see why they were often imitated - a lot of bang for your buck in terms of a few simple changes, for any tinpot dictator on a budget.
But remember, to actually kick Western butt, you need to wear thisuniform. Although I hear black pyjamas work in a pinch.
I imagine a big aspect of such uniforms is the psychological impact on the wearers themselves. Find yourself dressed in a sharp black uniform with your hat (with death’s head insignia) cocked just so, and you find yourself feeling like a heartless, efficient weapon of the State – and liking it.
Couldn’t find it online very quickly, but I remember an anectode about Charlie Chaplin when he was filming The Great Dictator – pacifistic Mr. Chaplin, making an explicitly anti-war and anti-Nazi film, found himself getting wound up, strutting around and barking orders at people when he put on the faux-Nazi uniform of Herr Adenoid Hynkel.
So if anything could be described as “frighteningly seductive”, I imagine the Nazi uniforms and paraphenalia would be it.
