Dictatorship of the ‘Stache
Is there a link between dictators’ brutality and facial hair? This is the question Rich Cohen explores in his article “Becoming Adolf” in this month’s Vanity Fair. And come to find out, the “Hitler mustache” as we now know and love it was not always the property of the world’s most renowned murderer. Nor was it some strange style Hitler dreamed up in a Bavarian beer hall. The toothbrush mustache as it was called at the end of the 19th century was a fad that swept Germany via the United States. And people wonder why anti-Americanism is so widespread.
There has been much specutlation as to why a young Hitler decided to don the toothbrush one day in 1919. Some speculate it was Charlie Chaplain’s fault, who, Cohen tells us, began wearing it in 1915 when he did his Mack Sennett comedies. Maybe the real imputeous was to emulate Hans Koeppen, ..read more
