Some of you may have seen these (epic) images of Mensur fencers from Germany and their famous scars (Schmeiß), but do you know about the (very aesthetic) historical student societies that practiced it? And did you know they’re still around?
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The Studentenverbindung (Student fraternities) were formed in the german-speaking sphere and rose to their height in the mid to late 1800s. These fraternities emphasized the preservation of tradition, life long brotherhood, and the masculine art of self discipline.
Their colors and garbs are characteristics which mark different groups. There are many interesting artifacts, but nothing as interesting as the swords of the Mensur…
The Mensur is not a duel. It is not necessarily a competition. It is a mark of self control. The participants stand at equal striking distance and attack without moving forward or backwards, unlike regular fencing.
The scars resulting from such shows of courage (Schmiss, or smites) where extremely fashionable at one point. You’ve probably seen it on old pictures.
de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schmiss
de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schmiss
You can see below just how “well regarded” such a mark was at one point. While the scars are a thing of the past thanks to antiseptic, the Mensur does still exist, as do these societies, though they are much smaller and more private now.
Their all-male, tradition focused, Vaterland-loving practices have brought them under much scrutiny. In Austria, many conservative politicians are still members of these private societies.
News pages accuse them of being anti-S*metic, far-r1ght, etc etc… all because they still preserved Germanic masculine culture and look after their own. Despite the decline in numbers however, the Mensur, and the Burschenschaft societies live on.
Typo. It’s Schmiss. Schmeiss is “throw.” My bad.
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