You're not a Nazi - direct from High Command

Donna posted back a few days on DeviantArt the wonderful little blurb "You're not a Nazi" - and got a nice amount of response to it.

The best one, however, was one of those who swears up and down they are. Rather like someone else I encountered 4 years ago while at work, but on the opposite side of the fence - claiming victim status when born after said event.

The attitude is the same - to claim one is a part of the party when in reality born in say, 1950-1960. That's when the modifier "neo" comes into action.

So, let's take a look at the thread in question, and all have a laugh. People like THIS individual responding to Donna's post aren't what we are about. (Donna's replies are bolded)

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DasBlondeBiest said the following:

I'm not sure if I'm the right type of person to be contributing after briefly looking things over. I'm guessing that maybe this is more of a fangirl type thing, whereas I might do some humorous stories but I'm more into the serious thing and I am NS. In other words, I don't have disclaimers on my page because I really am a Nazi and lots of DA people would pretty much like to see me dead,lol! But I'll pass this on and see if there are some of the younger FG types who might be interested in helping! I can think of a couple of girls right now...
Thanks!

Rummelhart said the following:

No, it's not. It's "I draw this because I want to, but I'm NOT a Nazi."

A lot of young people THINK they are Nazis without knowing the history. I mean, you wouldn't REALLY like to see all the non-whites locked up and worked to death and burned for soap, now would you? You wouldn't like to see all rights taken away from women, and their being confined to breeding, would you? I doubt it. Not really -- you'd never do such a thing, in reality.

If you think "Nazi" means you like the uniforms and the history -- then you fit in here.

Rommel wasn't a Nazi party member, by the way. It's why he couldn't get a pilot's license. But he flew anyway! (Well, he was a general. If a person wasn't a party member, they couldn't own or use a typewriter, either -- it was forbidden to non-Nazi-party members).

Donna Barr

 DasBlondeBiest said the following:


I've been studying NS ideology for many years and I'm 52 now, so I understand the difference between a "wannabee teenager" and somebody who is a serious believer which I am. My husband is Austrian and his family were supporters, and I have many elderly friends who lived in Germany at that time and still support the Reich now. Nothing disgusts me and irritates me more than this disclaimer bullshit. "I draw Notsis all the time cuz I think they are like really really cool but gosh they are are all mean and nasty and real scary. So I'm not one!" Give me a break. People like that need to drag their toys to another corner and play by themselves and leave us alone. I fully support NS ideology and that does not mean you want all "Non-white people burned up". It looks like you have been thoroughly brain-washed by pc nonsense.
Don't lecture me about what NS is and what it isn't and talk to me like I'm a 15 year old fangirl because I'm not.


"Hm..... still supporting the Nazis and believes what is known about their ideology is "pc crap."

Sounds like a foolish 15-year-old to me.

The American Nazi Party proclaimed me the AntiChrist. For good reason.

You DO know that "PC" used as an insult means "I can't say the N-word or the C-word any more and it makes me all mad and stuff!"

Thanks for the woids. They're gonna look great on the blog. :D

D"


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The best part about this? The little puke blocked Donna after her last response. Can't take the heat, don't feck with those of us with the bigger artillery pieces, you numbnuts.That's right. I went there.

Oooookay then. Excuse me while I try to stop coughing because I was laughing so hard at this Neo-nazi's little temper tantrum. They might be in their 50s, but they are still mentally in the teenage-phase of "Oh, lookit me I'm so badass check it out" (not to disparage teens here, I know some that have their heads on right, darn it.)

As an artist who draws the era, but isn't a follower of the politics (because I've read the history, talked to people who experienced it and damn the last thing y'all wanna hear is one of my honorary oma's stories about how she hid in the forests from the Russians approaching when she was 4, or the tale of one of my other German friends about how her mother was imprisoned because she bragged about her son being selected for the SS and tried to pull rank on neighbors and what not - you do NOT want to hear these, because they will give you NIGHTMARES) I find this attitude both laughable, and disturbing. This is the LAST thing we need in this world at the moment, and the absolute opposite of what being a KrautGrrl is about.

Triple Threat - Donna Barr

Donna sent us a couple of early pages for the KrautGrrls archive: Here they are without commentary, as they clearly speak for themselves more eloquently than I could today. Click on 'em to "embiggen".

April 21st, 1918 - How history is dying

Most people now don't know jack squat about what happened during World War One. After the last veteran died in early 2012, the link to that era is nearly gone, only remembered in history books or by the children of the people of that era, who too, are disappearing slowly from the face of the earth. Their kids, the Baby Boomers, the Wartime Express, as I like to call them - they are too busy with today's technology to teach their kids - my generation - about the war. Korea is a forgotten war. Vietnam is only vaguely remembered by a few (dunno if that's because of the drug-induced haze or the patent unpopularity of the whole shebang there). I can bet that if I EVER get to the ripe old age of my 70s, my son's generation won't remember even the first Gulf war conflict, Bosnia, 9/11, you name it.

 Because of the way history is taught these days, or in my opinion, NOT taught - the reasons for, the reasons why, and the reasons not to of the wars will also be forgotten, and it will happen again.

How does this tie into being a KrautGrrl?, some of you will ask me. By our artwork. By our passions. By our mere existence, no matter how small or how large we are viewed in the world of cartooning/art/deviantart/etc., we MAKE those viewers of our art remember, in a roundabout way. Our art provokes thought. Our art provokes questions that people seek answers to - either by asking us, or googling the sucker.

It also does, sadly, provoke judgment, however erroneous it might be, on our persons, as artists of the extreme, the forbidden, the "holyshitthatsaNazi". But do we quit? No. We soldier on. (and pardon that pun - there will be more as the blog continues, trust me) We continue to pursue our passion for the eras we draw, gather new material, throw in artwitching and little tidbits of history in our stuff, and totally screw up the minds of those that see our artwork and flip their shit. We educate. We ARE the history teachers of this new era - we provoke thought, however good or bad it may be. Through us, we keep history alive.


Now, in that vein, some news. Since the entries for the KrautGrrls book are slow in coming, what Donna and I have decided to do is post what we have here, and then consolidate the entries we've got perhaps by August of this year into the book. Donna can give more information than I can about the publishing aspect, since I'm more of the propaganda minister here, and the grammar Nazi - the only Nazi I ascribe to being. XD XD XD.


Since today is April 21st, 1918, as the blog title tells you, I'd like to take this time to assault your eyes with some Manfred von Richthofen art from my personal archives - stuff I've done in the past to remember our Red Baron and his equally important brother, Lothar von Richthofen.

Here we have a photograph that I have had for quite some time. Is it an original? Most definitely not. But the iconic image of Manfred and his dog, Moritz, is etched in every fangirl's memory. Our Manfred.
Of course, Manfred's sugar addiction is well-known to those that study him. And if you are fans of Bill Watterson, (Calvin and Hobbes) you might recognize the poses.
On DeviantArt, you can type in the search bar the words "Richthofen" (and various misspellings thereof), "Red Baron", "Manfred" and other tags for our subject, and come up with thousands upon thousands of images, some eye-bleach worthy, others mindnumbingly gorgeous in their execution and attention to detail (and, oh yeah, the pizza box guy). My response to this outpouring of Manfred-mania was this little gem. Poor Manfred. If he only knew.

I'll close this with one of the studies I had done a while ago for a commissioned work. Manfred still is as popular now as he was back in his era, among those that know him. Today, as we fans pause to remember him, he remains forever in our hearts.


Want to see more?

One


Two


Three


Four


Five


Six


Seven

Yes, I draw Nazis, No I'm not one!

A classic KrautGrrl cry if there ever was one.

Pedantic twerps like myself will remind those that say I draw "nazzies" (as they say it, quite frequently) that I draw Luftwaffe pilots, which were, by order of the Reich, not to be in a political group. (see HERE for more information on this claim - don't use Wikipedia - not a reliable source)

But what about the others that draw, say, Heydrich or Hitler (like the infamous and awesome SSPirate ) - you gotta take that on a case by case basis, and ASK them, dammit. Nothing bothers we KrautGrrls more than someone doing the knee-jerk reaction.

You've gotta think of it this way - you, as an individual, wouldn't want to be judged on your skin color, where you come from, what you wear, what you sound like, etc., right? Right. Then extend the same courtesy to the people that are drawing the sexy sexy uniforms and the mens (or womens) in them!

I'll go more into detail on this in later posts as my brain can come up with it; it's hard to blog with a precocious 3-year-old up in your face 24/7/365.

KrautGrrls - The Blog, the book, the reasons why we do what we do:

This blog is dedicated to the many of we misunderstood artists who are often stigmatized by our choice of subject matter on which we frequently wax poetic - the Third Reich.

Donna Barr calls us "KrautGrrls."

Our interests aren't limited to only the 3rd Reich, however. Some of us make frequent forays into Flanders Fields - but the vast majority of the world only sees "those $#%^&!#$^$ Nazis," no matter what era we draw.

We come from all corners of the world, all ages, all social classes, all sorts of talents. Some of us are teenagers (and therefore already suspect in the eyes of others), mothers, wives, grandmothers, husbands, fathers, grandfathers, or people simply interested in snazzy uniforms. Being a KrautGrrl isn't solely restricted to women. Men can also be in the "group," as it goes.

Despite the often dark memories and history our subject matter deals with, we are an open, intellectual and accepting bunch of folks. Folks who like screwing with preconceived notions.

In this blog, and the upcoming publication, readers will see all aspects of our passion revealed in its myriad forms.

The readers - and bloggers - are encouraged to maintain and partake in discourse regarding the material represented within; however, we, as a group, do reserve the right to serve obvious trolls their heads back on platters.

Enjoy the upcoming artwork, the articles and the other tidbits soon to be presented in this blog and as always, keep an open mind.

~Red

A labor of love.

For nearly 6 years now, I have been working on getting material for a biography on Luftwaffe Ace Walter Oesau. I am eternally grateful for the people I run into on the internet in the various forums that I frequent who give information and for the people on my other sites that provide me with information or ways to get said information.

I've spent quite a bit on documents, photographs, collected here and there, spent many a night sleepless doing the research. There's still more to be done, and I'm waiting for my feelers that I sent out and the favors I have asked of other people to come in with even more information.

I've read other biographies. Ones of Adolf Galland, Rudel, Marseille, Wick, Graf, Grislawski, Schnaufer, etc.

We that know our WWII history know all the "greats" of that era, save one.

Oesau.

Born in Farnewinkel on June 28th, 1913, this determined young man carved himself a path in the Heer and then changed to the Luftwaffe, despite what his mother, his aunt and his childhood sweetheart thought. It wasn't easy. The first time he soloed, he crashed the aircraft on landing and busted himself up but good, getting a chiding from the three women and a "Good job, m'boy" from Vater Oesau. He continued in this vein, married the childhood sweetheart on a Christmas vacation in 1940 and went on in 4 years to rise in the ranks. This was a singularly different man than what the world wants us to think of German people during that era. This was no Nazi. Rank meant nothing to him when there was no fighting to be had. All men on the ground shared alike at the barracks. There was no distinction. This was a man who possibly saved the life of another Holsteiner who had the temerity to respond to him in a manner that wasn't "militarisch" code, but the language of his home.

This was a man who could claim the friendship and respect of nearly everyone he met, and even the two most diametrically opposed personality-wise - Galland and Moelders.

That is why, for 6 years, I have not let up in my pursuit of the truth, the information and the research on Walter "Gulle" Oesau. I do not want this man's memory to be faded away as the years go by. I do NOT want him lumped in with the "they're all Nazis anyway" crowd. Oberstleutnant Oesau was a man that truly deserves the respect of a well-written, concise and accurate biography, and by god, I'm going to give it to him.

In other news, Author Ed Taylor is working on a biography of another very interesting LW officer, the Renaissance man and PhD, Ernst Kupfer. From what Ed's shared with me, I'm pretty darn excited for the book to come to press. It will serve to be another gem in the treasury of great Luftwaffe/war time biographies. I can't wait for it, Ed!

News and blues

It's getting to be that time of year again. By what's displayed in the stores, you'd think Chri$tmas is around the corner. It isn't. It's Samhain, or as to the non-pagan community, Halloween. The end of the Celtic/Pagan year, one of the nights when the veil between the living and the dead is supposedly the thinnest. Luckily for us, the moon will be waxing gibbous, and by the magical reasoning, it will be technically "full" since the date of the full moon is November 2nd. (I think it was Uncle Bucky's Big Blue Book O' Wisdom that first imparted this little gem of wisdom when I was a wee witchlet.)

Me? You won't find me a-dancing in the nude under the full moon. Not up here. It's too damn COLD this time of the year (and the other times of the year are chock full of things like black flies (aka noseeums) and other biting insects, so yeah, never was a nudist either.) I'm dressing up the kiddo and going on that time-honored, loved-by-dentists-everywhere tradition; Trick-r-treating. Yeah, not far, mostly to the family, a few friends and then the fire hall for cider and donuts, but still - being a parent takes some of the fun out of the Old Time Religion. Hahah.


In other news, the leaves are nearly past peak, so all them #$^#$@^ leaf peepers will be going away soon. The NJ fishheads? Not soon enough. Between Salmon and then Deer season, the sleepy backwater "town" not 7 miles from my delapidated domicile has become chock full of tourists.

The only benefit I can see is that we occasionally get the stray European or the French-Canadian down here, and since the vast majority of BillyBobs and TankaRaes here don't even speak intelligible English, I'm usually the one who's in line doing the translation service. I don't get paid for it, no. But it's fun, nonetheless.

Ran into a German when I was on my way with the kiddo to Oktoberfest in full Tracht. THAT was interesting. He was on my six like, well, Hartmann on a Yak on the Eastern Front. He ended up actually following me in his car to the festival (a goodly 45 miles out of his way) with his fishing buddies (Bavarians all) and even though I ended up losing them in the crowd (thank god) they more than likely had a good time, despite the rain. First O-fest I've been to where it was raining. Miserably cold and rainy.

We seem now, however, to be experiencing what is called an "Indian Summer" - temps back up into the low 60s, which makes my gas bill a bit easier to digest. Winterizing probably this week, as much as I can for this old house.

In the next couple of blog posts, I'll probably end up posting some recipes, as it is getting into the baking season for me, and what better than sharing recipes with people?