“Nazi Bears”: auf Deutsch
Posted by: Loren Coleman on September 26th, 2008
For those interested in the “polar bear” links, bear costumes and related bear items shown with so-called “Nazis” and World War II German soldiers (see here and here), there is a new resource for all German-reading Cryptomundians:
I have been opening a thread in a German Wehrmacht-forum about the topic, there you can find some more pics with soldiers and “bears” [auf Deutsch]. gtx/steelcut
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lol
You know I never quite understood why the Germans were so crazy about baby Knut (other than the obvious “cute” factor, it seemed a little nuts), but obviously the fascination with polar bears strikes a deep chord with the German people. Facinating.
While I’ll leave the specifics to the Saxonphiles, the ‘nazi bear’ pictures strike me as being yet another incarnation of the Wildman archetype that shows up throughout German (and European) folklore and folkritual.
My favorite book on this character is Phyllis Siefker’s ‘Santa Claus, Last of the Wild Men.’ Siefker’s thesis would suggest that this Nazi Polar Bear is both closely related to the German Pelznichol (Furry Nichalos) – the immediate forerunner to the North American Santa Claus – and has its deepest roots in the neolithic bear cults suggested by the (possible) ceremonial arrangement of cave bear skulls in caves near Velden, Germany.
Maybe the bears explicit whiteness is influenced by the German focus on Nordic and Aryan mythology at this point.
Sometimes I even believe most of the public fascination with all variety of ‘Furry Forest Men’ to be a modern expression of our love for this ancient archetype…
PAX