EARLY EPISODE: Otto Skorzeny Part 1: The STEM Lord, Sword Fighting Enthusiast
Otto Skorzeny was Hitler's favorite Commando during WWII, he was also a total loser.
Sources:
Stuart Smith. Otto Skorzeny: The Devil’s Disciple
Dr Robert Forczk. Rescuing Mussolini: Gran Sasso 1943
Otto Skorzeny. Hitler’s Commando
Comments (16)
Behind the Bastards did a good ep on Hitler and Dr. Morell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3_3aUKfLoI
I was practicing fencing while listening to this, but the only thing that got hurt was my lightbulb.
The thing that you said at the very end about "an army of not special people" is incredibly on point
Another fun fact: the Vienna university of technology does have sports teams for football and basketball. They are called "The Robots" (I can already hear Joe shouting in the background: "Neeeeeeeerds!")
Fun fact: One of the candidates of the recent Austrian presidential elections has a scar (called "Schmiss") from the fraternity and fencing ("Mensur") he was part of. They had their PR team retouch the posters, to not show it. Those Burschenschaften/fraternities still exist and is serving as a recruiting pool for right wing parties and the identiterian fucks.
Actually I was missing this in the episode: there was no mention of the earlier membership of Skorzeny in those german-nationalistic fraternities (Burschenschaft) which were the ideological pool for Nazis, and still are. They didn't dissolve, because they were directly banned - they did because they were either integrated into Nazi-organizations or by themselves, because their main "target" was achieved. Some of those members nowadays use this to argue that they couldn't be Nazis because they were banned - smoothbrain argument. Also the fencing part was not a school sport, but a fraternity tradition. They differ those in "schlagende" and "nicht-schlagende" - so ones that are fencing and those which are not. Both are usually hardliners, but the fencing ones are that bit more extreme. Point is, Skorzeny was aligned with antisemitic Nazi-prototypes even before the legion.
The fencing thing is the corniest shit about German and Austrian rightwing culture, some fraternities still do it...
My local bar was pouring Old Crow the other night and I tried to explain what the Legion was. I was met with some very quizzical looks and then a "that is the whitest thing I've ever heard."
I'm just here to say the Nuremburg hangman wasn't from Nebraska he was from a shittier Midwest state: Kansas
Lol at the hangman who didn't know how to hang people. What a legend
Potential History has a fun video on that guy.
This episode reaffirms my long held belief that gas station sushi is more trustworthy than german memoirs from WW2
The style fencing also known as "mensur" or at least what I was told, and has to be the weirdest looking thing in the world. You stand there facing your opponent at very close distance. You are not allowed to move at all besides you arm that is hold the sword. You and your opponent rise each other's sword up above your heads and start wacking at each other's sword and head. Here is clip from an Italian documentary https://youtu.be/Qlf6i8_7UAU
There was also a thing where German students would agree to rig the duels so that they got cool scars without the whole “lose an eye/ear/nose” problem. I can respect that.
A nazi ruroni kenshin sounds horrifying.
Something that really interests me in the Nuremberg trials is the case of Rudolph Hess and how he ended up being a solitary prisoner in Spandau for decades. Not that he didn’t deserve it, but I’m confused why others like Albert Speer who used slave labor got off with less time than him. Honestly all of Hess’ life sounds insane, his flight to England is absolutely bizarre.