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Populär Culture Review
particularly sensual in their portrayal of Nazis. The excerpts below speak to the
sensuality of power and control, comerstones of BDSM. In response to a post
asking, “What makes a sexy Nazi?” responses included:
A well cared for athletic, mature female body, subtly made up fair
skin and hard steely blue eyes, long dark hair gathered up
carefully in a high ponytail. She is very stylish and well groomed,
a pristine women’s tailored Black SS uniform laid out for her on
the bed beside her as she sits gracefully at her dressing table in
her delicate, demure lingerie and Fully fashioned seamed and
Cuban heel Nylons leaning elegantly forward and to the side to
pull up the zips on her gleaming almost mirror polished Black
Leather 5” heel knee boots. Her visor cap, Black Leather Gloves,
4ft bull whip and SS officer’s beit on her pillow along with the
heavy Leather holster that shrouds her 9mm P38. The interest in
Nazi role-playing and the Nazi fetish is for most people (I can't
vouch for everyone), is a stimulating response to strong imagery,
well tailored uniforms, and notions of power and fear.
Two characters ffom the film world were most often cited as epitomizing a
sexy Nazi. One was the SS-Lieutenant Amon Goeth in Schindler's List (released in
1993). Participants spoke of his cold, evil good looks, ruthless coolness, and his
impeccable style. The other character was the female sadomasochistic commandant
of a prisoner-of-war camp in Ilsa, She Wolf o f the SS, a 1975 campy sexploitation
film. Ilsa personifies traits of the female dominatrix with her buxom figure, fondness
for torture, violence, and the humiliation of men; all while wearing revealing SSstyle uniforms. There is an element of fact to the aesthetic appeal (i.e., the sexiness)
of Nazis as German designer Hugo Boss manufactured uniforms for the SS, SA
(Storni Troopers), and Hitler Youth (New York Times, 1997).
As seen in Table 1, results for gender by BDSM role is consistent with
what is generally found in the BDSM community: more men are dominant than
women and more women submissive than men. In Nazi Germany, the role of the
woman was to be submissive to men and to the State. According to the ideology of
the Nazi leadership, the place of a woman was that of “mother, housewife, guardian
of racial purity, transmitter of German culture, and supporter of national economic
policy” (Rupp 1977, p. 372). The findings of the present study do not support this
ideology as the number of females who identified as dominant (N=76) or submissive
(N=77) was equal, less one. This finding is suggestive of the paradox of the Nazi
woman. She has been represented and perceived as both powerful and subordinate.
Richard Wagner has been credited with influencing Hitler’s worldview (Köhler,
2001). His widow, Cosima, was instrumental in sustaining the Beyruth festival
which featured Wagner’s works and where Hitler was a frequent attendee. Houston
Chamberlain, Wagner’s biographer, wrote to her “one of the most wonderful
manifestations of your strength of character is the way you mete out punishment
where punishment is due” (Köhler 2001, p. 123). Conversely, Eva Braun, Hitler’s
mistress, is characterized as wandering around the Berghof “with dewy eyes and a