Commemorating the Holocaust: As Jews, What Are Our Feelings about Nazi Fetishes?
Today is Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Memorial Day. The day each year in which we commemorate the murder of six million Jews and millions of Europeans at the hands of the Nazi Empire and their collaborators. It is a truly somber day and a subject that Jews and non-Jews alike often get emotional about. For Holocaust survivors, their descendents and Jewish communities around the world, it is a time to mourn and remember.
The Holocaust and Nazis are evocative subjects. I am not sure why I was so surprised a couple of years ago when I read that outfits depicting the Holocaust or Nazis were prohibited at the Night of the Senses, a major London fetish charity ball. I was glad they were banned, but I was kind of taken aback that they would even need to explicitly say so. I was still a newbie in the scene at the time and a bit dumbfounded that anyone would actually think of coming to an extremely sexually progressive charity event for people with disabilities dressed as a Nazi. Fortunately, I dont think I spotted anyone who violated that rule that evening and my partner and I had an amazing evening.
Not too long after that I attended my first Torture Garden event as part of Londons grand Rubber Ball celebration. I was blown away how impressive and imaginative so many of the people and their outfits were. Among the 1500+ people there, I spotted at least one or two if not more people who had come dressed as Nazis. As a Jew, something visceral inside me found these people and their outfits extraordinarily distasteful. Afterwards I discussed and debated this issue with some of my friends. Many of my Jewish friends who were not in the scene were fairly disgusted or shocked, whereas there was a much more robust discussion among my friends, both Jews and non-Jews, who were within the scene.
People at fetish events regularly dress in nun or priest outfits, as slaves, pets, adult babies, school children, etc. I am rarely, if ever, phased by these other choice of expressions. Why would a Nazi outfit be different? Was I over-reacting?
Then I started to think about why would someone choose to wear a Nazi uniform to a fetish party? Are these people Nazi sympathizers? Neo-Nazis? Anti-Semites? Or are they doing it for other reasons? Did Torture Garden have a policy on the issue?
To answer some of these questions, I looked through the Torture Garden website, but on my cursory examination, I wasnt able to find the answers I was looking for. However, I did come across an article written by someone else on this very topic at http://www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_03.18.04/plus/lovebites.html. On that site Sasha wrote:
David TC on the English fetish club Torture Garden's site (www.torturegarden.com), makes some interesting, albeit overwrought points. That being: A real Nazi in 2001 is more likely to be wearing a pinstripe suit in an office ... than posing at a fetish club in a kinky and very camp Nazi uniform, surrounded by weirdos, perverts, punks, the tattooed and pierced, transsexuals, gays, gypsies, blacks and every other diverse spectrum of humanity at its most colourful.
While George says he has never prevented anyone from donning whatever turns their crank, he draws the line if it's anything other than representative of a sexual fetish. If it appears they are political, they will be barred, he says, and also warns that you should be prepared to deal with the shit you stir up just by showing up in this garb. But again, you will certainly not be alone. I've had Communist generals. I know one man who shows up in a different uniform every fetish party, and he is a uniform authority on the internet, says George. I will not eject them, because I provide a forum for people to play out their fantasy.
There was a huge row in England last year that about the inappropriateness of Nazi costumes when a British tabloid photographed Prince Harry at a costume party in a Nazi uniform.
He was lambasted in the press and the Jewish community was up in arms. It ended up being a very embarrassing episode for the royal family for which several apologies were issued. It is unclear to me if the Prince Harry scandal impacted the British fetish world, but I dont think I noticed much difference afterwards.
I keep thinking about one of my original questions, why would someone choose to wear a Nazi uniform to a fetish party?
Sasha had a blog entry about Nazi fetishes based on a question she received from someone named Boot Girl. Boot Girl wrote:
World War II German uniformsdrive me fucking crazy. The look of them really turns me on -- the riding boots, the caps, wow! Every submissive fantasy should include one of these uniforms. I want my boyfriend to wear one out to a fetish night -- but how sensitive is this stuff? I mean, the Nazis are not the most respected people around. I'm not a Nazi, just a freak who finds the shit they wore sexy.
I wanted to know what a German might think about Nazi Fetishes especially as it is illegal to dress in a Nazi uniform in Germany. There were some interesting thoughts from a German and then a counterpoint from a Belgian on http://www.stewarthomesociety.org/uniform.htm. The website states:
Fetish enthusiast Ernst Junger from Hanover is a stereotypical sadist: I try to avoid the fetish clubs that appeal to the bulk of my fellow countrymen. Uniforms are a big part of the fetish scene but it is illegal to wear Nazi regalia in Germany. Nazi uniforms are really popular among fetishists and so a lot of Germans come to London to get off on cheap fascist fantasies. While I am a proud to be a sadist, Ive no desire to dress up in SS uniforms. Swastika armbands and jackboots are for plebs, I prefer the more aristocratic attitudes found in the folk cultures that originated in the mountainous regions of Europe. I usually dress in lederhossen when I go to a sex club.
Belgian fetishist Jean-Franois Thiriart provided a different perspective: Sadism is all about power and mastery. Hitler treated the masses like a woman he was conquering, so obviously Nazi uniforms are attractive. Detail is necessary if a fantasy is going to have a semblance of credibility and reality. There are a plethora of Nazi uniforms and those who go for Waffen SS regalia are merely betraying a lack of imagination. Sophisticated sadists prefer the camouflage gear worn in combat by the many different German military units which, under Hitlers benevolent dictatorship, were allowed to maintain a sense of pride in their unique regimental traditions. I particularly like the camouflage dress designed to hide Nazi soldiers in the snows of Norway and Russia.
The author of that article reached similar conclusions to my own. He wrote: Dressing up in Nazi uniforms is not just unnecessarily provocative, it is also sad and stupid. While the majority of those involved in the fetish scene dont go clubbing in fascist regalia, I consider the widespread acceptance of those who do a problem. If fetish has a future it appears to be as a fashion, since fashion might well purge the sado-masochistic club scene of its more unsavoury elements by exposing them as a reactionary blight.
After I started regularly attending fetish events, I came to realize that Nazi outfits were not going to be a rare occurrence at such parties. As such somehow my thoughts on all of this became more confused. Was I growing to tolerate it? Probably not; I dont know I would go as far to say tolerate, but I came to unhappily accept that it was a part of the scene that I was in.
More interestingly I came to learn that some of the people dressed as Nazis were actually Jews. For example, we have a member of KinkyJews who is Jewish and has pictures of herself on her profile dressed in Nazi regalia at fetish events. This is what she wrote to me in an email:
I grew up in a Jewish family, my mother converted to marry my father. We went to a reform temple. I attended religious education as a child. Admittedly as I have grown older I have come to identify less religiously and spirituality as a Jew. I, however, definitely identify culturally as Jewish. And consider and refer to myself as being a Jew, although a bad one (tattoos, non-Shabbat observing at least as far as going to temple on Fridays, etc). Although I do have a mezuzah on my door, occasionally observe Shabbat at home (though not for religious reasons but for sentimental ones) and read the torah regularly.
WARNING: my myspace profile does have pictures of me in Nazi Fetish regalia. This might be potentially offensive to some Jews. Yes, I had relatives die in and survive the Holocaust. As strange as this may sound, my use of Nazi imagery in sexual play is a way to exorcise some demons. And also is a perverse way to play with imagery, no different (in my mind) than a catholic dressing as a rubber nun.
As Nazi uniforms are often sold as collectables or as costume pieces (think as in the Sound of Music), they are often sold non-Nazi websites like (however I cannot vouch for any of them):
http://www.atthefront.com/g_uni_info.htm
http://www.lostbattalions.com/german2idx.html
http://stby.com/bbm/uniforms.htm
There are also Nazi fetish videos, and from what I can tell they are generally fairly offensive.
See some examples at the following:
http://militarylove.wz.cz/mil_filmy.htm
http://cuddlynecrobabes.com/ngw/
http://www.dvdmaniacs.net/Reviews/M-P/nazi_sexperiments.html
So with all of that information before you, I want to solicit feedback from readers. As a Jew, what are your feelings about this notion of a Nazi fetish? Do you find it reprehensible, tolerable, acceptable, or something entirely different. Please share your thoughts with the group. There is no proper or improper response, however, please treat this topic seriously. Try to avoid personal attacks as well.
Today is Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Memorial Day. The day each year in which we commemorate the murder of six million Jews and millions of Europeans at the hands of the Nazi Empire and their collaborators. It is a truly somber day and a subject that Jews and non-Jews alike often get emotional about. For Holocaust survivors, their descendents and Jewish communities around the world, it is a time to mourn and remember.
The Holocaust and Nazis are evocative subjects. I am not sure why I was so surprised a couple of years ago when I read that outfits depicting the Holocaust or Nazis were prohibited at the Night of the Senses, a major London fetish charity ball. I was glad they were banned, but I was kind of taken aback that they would even need to explicitly say so. I was still a newbie in the scene at the time and a bit dumbfounded that anyone would actually think of coming to an extremely sexually progressive charity event for people with disabilities dressed as a Nazi. Fortunately, I dont think I spotted anyone who violated that rule that evening and my partner and I had an amazing evening.
Not too long after that I attended my first Torture Garden event as part of Londons grand Rubber Ball celebration. I was blown away how impressive and imaginative so many of the people and their outfits were. Among the 1500+ people there, I spotted at least one or two if not more people who had come dressed as Nazis. As a Jew, something visceral inside me found these people and their outfits extraordinarily distasteful. Afterwards I discussed and debated this issue with some of my friends. Many of my Jewish friends who were not in the scene were fairly disgusted or shocked, whereas there was a much more robust discussion among my friends, both Jews and non-Jews, who were within the scene.
People at fetish events regularly dress in nun or priest outfits, as slaves, pets, adult babies, school children, etc. I am rarely, if ever, phased by these other choice of expressions. Why would a Nazi outfit be different? Was I over-reacting?
Then I started to think about why would someone choose to wear a Nazi uniform to a fetish party? Are these people Nazi sympathizers? Neo-Nazis? Anti-Semites? Or are they doing it for other reasons? Did Torture Garden have a policy on the issue?
To answer some of these questions, I looked through the Torture Garden website, but on my cursory examination, I wasnt able to find the answers I was looking for. However, I did come across an article written by someone else on this very topic at http://www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_03.18.04/plus/lovebites.html. On that site Sasha wrote:
David TC on the English fetish club Torture Garden's site (www.torturegarden.com), makes some interesting, albeit overwrought points. That being: A real Nazi in 2001 is more likely to be wearing a pinstripe suit in an office ... than posing at a fetish club in a kinky and very camp Nazi uniform, surrounded by weirdos, perverts, punks, the tattooed and pierced, transsexuals, gays, gypsies, blacks and every other diverse spectrum of humanity at its most colourful.
While George says he has never prevented anyone from donning whatever turns their crank, he draws the line if it's anything other than representative of a sexual fetish. If it appears they are political, they will be barred, he says, and also warns that you should be prepared to deal with the shit you stir up just by showing up in this garb. But again, you will certainly not be alone. I've had Communist generals. I know one man who shows up in a different uniform every fetish party, and he is a uniform authority on the internet, says George. I will not eject them, because I provide a forum for people to play out their fantasy.
There was a huge row in England last year that about the inappropriateness of Nazi costumes when a British tabloid photographed Prince Harry at a costume party in a Nazi uniform.
He was lambasted in the press and the Jewish community was up in arms. It ended up being a very embarrassing episode for the royal family for which several apologies were issued. It is unclear to me if the Prince Harry scandal impacted the British fetish world, but I dont think I noticed much difference afterwards.
I keep thinking about one of my original questions, why would someone choose to wear a Nazi uniform to a fetish party?
Sasha had a blog entry about Nazi fetishes based on a question she received from someone named Boot Girl. Boot Girl wrote:
World War II German uniformsdrive me fucking crazy. The look of them really turns me on -- the riding boots, the caps, wow! Every submissive fantasy should include one of these uniforms. I want my boyfriend to wear one out to a fetish night -- but how sensitive is this stuff? I mean, the Nazis are not the most respected people around. I'm not a Nazi, just a freak who finds the shit they wore sexy.
I wanted to know what a German might think about Nazi Fetishes especially as it is illegal to dress in a Nazi uniform in Germany. There were some interesting thoughts from a German and then a counterpoint from a Belgian on http://www.stewarthomesociety.org/uniform.htm. The website states:
Fetish enthusiast Ernst Junger from Hanover is a stereotypical sadist: I try to avoid the fetish clubs that appeal to the bulk of my fellow countrymen. Uniforms are a big part of the fetish scene but it is illegal to wear Nazi regalia in Germany. Nazi uniforms are really popular among fetishists and so a lot of Germans come to London to get off on cheap fascist fantasies. While I am a proud to be a sadist, Ive no desire to dress up in SS uniforms. Swastika armbands and jackboots are for plebs, I prefer the more aristocratic attitudes found in the folk cultures that originated in the mountainous regions of Europe. I usually dress in lederhossen when I go to a sex club.
Belgian fetishist Jean-Franois Thiriart provided a different perspective: Sadism is all about power and mastery. Hitler treated the masses like a woman he was conquering, so obviously Nazi uniforms are attractive. Detail is necessary if a fantasy is going to have a semblance of credibility and reality. There are a plethora of Nazi uniforms and those who go for Waffen SS regalia are merely betraying a lack of imagination. Sophisticated sadists prefer the camouflage gear worn in combat by the many different German military units which, under Hitlers benevolent dictatorship, were allowed to maintain a sense of pride in their unique regimental traditions. I particularly like the camouflage dress designed to hide Nazi soldiers in the snows of Norway and Russia.
The author of that article reached similar conclusions to my own. He wrote: Dressing up in Nazi uniforms is not just unnecessarily provocative, it is also sad and stupid. While the majority of those involved in the fetish scene dont go clubbing in fascist regalia, I consider the widespread acceptance of those who do a problem. If fetish has a future it appears to be as a fashion, since fashion might well purge the sado-masochistic club scene of its more unsavoury elements by exposing them as a reactionary blight.
After I started regularly attending fetish events, I came to realize that Nazi outfits were not going to be a rare occurrence at such parties. As such somehow my thoughts on all of this became more confused. Was I growing to tolerate it? Probably not; I dont know I would go as far to say tolerate, but I came to unhappily accept that it was a part of the scene that I was in.
More interestingly I came to learn that some of the people dressed as Nazis were actually Jews. For example, we have a member of KinkyJews who is Jewish and has pictures of herself on her profile dressed in Nazi regalia at fetish events. This is what she wrote to me in an email:
I grew up in a Jewish family, my mother converted to marry my father. We went to a reform temple. I attended religious education as a child. Admittedly as I have grown older I have come to identify less religiously and spirituality as a Jew. I, however, definitely identify culturally as Jewish. And consider and refer to myself as being a Jew, although a bad one (tattoos, non-Shabbat observing at least as far as going to temple on Fridays, etc). Although I do have a mezuzah on my door, occasionally observe Shabbat at home (though not for religious reasons but for sentimental ones) and read the torah regularly.
WARNING: my myspace profile does have pictures of me in Nazi Fetish regalia. This might be potentially offensive to some Jews. Yes, I had relatives die in and survive the Holocaust. As strange as this may sound, my use of Nazi imagery in sexual play is a way to exorcise some demons. And also is a perverse way to play with imagery, no different (in my mind) than a catholic dressing as a rubber nun.
As Nazi uniforms are often sold as collectables or as costume pieces (think as in the Sound of Music), they are often sold non-Nazi websites like (however I cannot vouch for any of them):
http://www.atthefront.com/g_uni_info.htm
http://www.lostbattalions.com/german2idx.html
http://stby.com/bbm/uniforms.htm
There are also Nazi fetish videos, and from what I can tell they are generally fairly offensive.
See some examples at the following:
http://militarylove.wz.cz/mil_filmy.htm
http://cuddlynecrobabes.com/ngw/
http://www.dvdmaniacs.net/Reviews/M-P/nazi_sexperiments.html
So with all of that information before you, I want to solicit feedback from readers. As a Jew, what are your feelings about this notion of a Nazi fetish? Do you find it reprehensible, tolerable, acceptable, or something entirely different. Please share your thoughts with the group. There is no proper or improper response, however, please treat this topic seriously. Try to avoid personal attacks as well.
My guess is that some people in the scene find Nazi wear sexy because it suggests the ultimate in domination and sadism. Many submissives would be drawn to that.
However, I think that the wider context of Nazism cannot be ignored; a sexy dominant uniform is not enough to erase the most comprehensive war crimes in a century.
I can understand why some might find it sexy, but I think they need to keep the costumes to private play.