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 Charisma, Fakes and the
Material Culture Record of the
Afrikakorps

by
Mike Seager Thomas

ARTEFACT SERVICES RESEARCH PAPERS 7 2018

Artefact Services
Lewes
mseagerthomas@gmail.com

Research Papers 7

Charisma, Fakes and the Material Culture Record of the Afrikakorps

by Mike Seager Thomas

Text, graphics and page set by Artefact Services

© 2018 Mike Seager Thomas
Cover picture: author’s coll.
 CHARISMA, FAKES AND THE AFRIKAKORPS 1

Charisma, Fakes and the

Material Culture Record of the
Afrikakorps

by Mike Seager Thomas

The material culture of the WW2 German Afrikakorps1 (Fig. 1) is of great

popular interest, but because of the low academic status of 20th-century
military antiquities, and a concomitant lack of academic interest in these,
it has received little scholarly attention. Till now the little work done on it
has been by lay enthusiasts, the focus of this typo-historical (Bender & Law
1973; Borg & Twiname 2010; Davis 1973, 160–70; Küchler 1973; Kurtz
2004; McGuirk 1987; Thomas 1998; Scipion & Bastian 1996; Pritchett 2014,
chapter 4; Williamson 1991 etc.), with just the occasional nod to what it can
tell us about, and its meaning in the past (McGuirk 1987, 133, 138–40; 2014;
Seager Thomas 2017, 36–37, 45, tab. 3). But as with other categories of
material culture, there is more to it than this. Amongst the more important
omissions is what it means to us, the curators of the extant record today. A
key aspect of this and the centre point of this essay is “charisma”, a property
analogous to that possessed by charismatic individuals and imputed by us to
institutions and cultural and (particularly) religious objects (Shils 1965; Taves
2016). It is my contention here that we cannot fully understand the material
culture of the Afrikakorps without understanding this charisma, and the way
it affects how we, as enthusiasts who “get it”, as disinterested bystanders,
and as idealists and cynics, who see in it something to oppose or use, interact
with and affect the record.

THE CHARISMA OF MILITARY ANTIQITIES

War and Romance

Few who have had the misfortune to experience war would describe it as
romantic but there are a few episodes in history when it, or a party to it, has
come to seem so: Napoleon and the French Empire, the Confederate States
of America, T.E. Lawrence’s revolt in the desert, the Spanish International
Brigades, the Flying Tigers, and, in deeper time, the Crusades and the conquests
of Alexander the Great. Possible recent candidates include the fights for and
against Daesh or Islamic State. Why do these stand out from the everyday
horror of war? Not one after all is without its darker, in some cases, much
darker side. Recurrent themes include a charismatic leader, a cause, an exotic
setting, daring-do, triumph in adversity and, in the end, an heroic failure.
Napoleon, Lawrence and Alexander were charismatic. Napoleon carried with
him the idea of the French Nation, and the ideals, first of the Republic and
2 MIKE SEAGER THOMAS

Figure 1.
A classic Afrikakorps collection. A first pattern Tropenhelm, a period postcard
of Field Marshal Rommel, a sand-camouflaged M35 helmet, a sand-camouflaged
gasmask case and a 1943 diary, issued to German troops in North Africa. The only
wrong note is struck by the cap, which though crusty, is of a date (1943) and
make (Mayser), not currently known to have seen service in Africa. Photo: Edward
Cotterell

then the French Empire; the Confederate States of America championed the
idea of States Rights, in the face of apparent usurpations by the US federal
government; the International Brigades fought fascism. Napoleon, Lawrence,
the Flying Tigers, the Crusaders and Alexander, all fought in exotic locales.
Most are known for their daring-do and though for a while they triumphed, in
the end all proved a waste of life and matériel.
The WW2 German Afrikakorps is another. Because of the charisma of
its commanding officer, Erwin Rommel, its dash, its honourable conduct (one
Afrikakorps veteran attributed his survival on capture in France by troops
of Leclerc’s 2nd Armoured Division to his “Afrika” cuff title, which set him
apart from many other German soldiers: Höller & Reisner 2012) and the
perceived nature of the theatre in which it was engaged, it has captured the
imagination of many, from Winston Churchill, who acknowledged Rommel’s
success in Parliament and in his The Grand Alliance (1950, 176–7), and
writers like Basil Liddell-Hart, who compared Rommel to Lawrence (1953, xiv)
and Jean Lartéguy who in The Praetorians likened his French paratroopers

1
While technically the Afrikakorps comprised only some of the German units that served in
North Africa, the name is and—up to a point—was, synonymous with the German expedition
as a whole, a fact demonstrated by the issue of the Afrikakorps cuff title (Fig. 2) to all
German Army units serving there, and its unofficial adoption by Luftwaffe personnel (McGuirk
1987, 154, 174). I use the name in this wider sense.
 CHARISMA, FAKES AND THE AFRIKAKORPS 3

favourably to the men of the Afrikakorps (1963, 19), to filmmaker J. Lee

Thompson, who directed the 1958 film of Christopher Landon’s Ice Cold in
Alex (1957), which sums up the now popular view of the WW2 North African
campaign and the Afrikakorps in the classic line: “All against the desert,
the greater enemy”.2 The consequence of this has been the setting aside
of any opprobrium accruing to it—and its material culture—as part of Adolf
Hitler’s aggressive war machine, the rehabilitation in the public imagination
of a group of men among whom inevitably were supporters of Hitler (Fay
1945, 193; Irving 1979) and, as with the relics of Napoleon, the Confederacy
and Lawrence’s revolt before it, the acquisition by or attribution to its
material culture of charisma (Major 2008; Seager Thomas 2017, 14–15).

Charisma and the material culture of the Afrikakorps

Charisma, insofar as it pertains to objects, partakes of two things, the
intrinsic properties of the object, such as size and fineness, and its social
meaning, in part our response to these intrinsic properties and, and in part
attributed to the object—in our imaginations—by its cultural, historical and
environmental associations. Individual charismatic objects can possess one
or other of these properties, or both. Most, however, partake of both, or of
the latter only. A lay observer unaware of the context of an Easter Island
moai, for example, would very likely be awed by and revere it for its size
and appearance alone, but for most of us, its charisma would be added to
by the knowledge that it was the product of an isolated Stone Age culture
and the debate that surrounds the disappearance of this, and, were we to
encounter it on the island, by its abandonment like the head of Ozymandius
in Shelly’s famous poem, face down, broken at the neck and in the middle of
nowhere.
In several recent scholarly discussions of Charismatic Objects (e.g.
Parker 2018; Wingfield 2010), the combination of intrinsic and imparted
properties, and implicitly their charisma, is acknowledged.
But objects do not need to be beautiful or physically impressive to have
charisma. Potentially, an association with a place, an event or a person of
perceived importance, can render them charismatic. Though not usually in
these terms, the possession by objects of such imparted properties is also
acknowledged, particularly by those interested in the material culture of
religion (e.g. Taves 2016; Paine 2013, 118), from which the idea derives,
but also the collecting and museum community, which daily values objects,
not for their intrinsic properties, which in many cases are of little note,
but because their associations have rendered them charismatic—historic
Test match cricket balls (Synge 2005), Napoleon’s bicorn hat and other
Napoleon memorabilia (Reevell 2014), the Duchamp’s urinal (The Economist
2010), and so on. This relationship is very like that of a relic to a Saint:
the closer the association, the more potent—the more charismatic—the
object.
The material culture of the Afrikakorps is mostly of this second type. It
includes a few surviving armoured vehicles, the size of which certainly inspires
awe, even though all have now been detached from their original, Ozymandian
contexts, but for the most part it consists of humbler material, tropical
uniforms and personal equipment, the charisma of which derives wholly from

2
A paraphrase of Landon’s original text, which reads, “All against one—against the greater
enemy.”
4 MIKE SEAGER THOMAS

its association with the North African military campaign; and once again, the
closer the association, the more charismatic the object. For a piece of WWII
German Army tropical kit to partake of the charisma derived from association
with the Afrikakorps, it must fall within a restricted date range and conform
typologically to what we know to have been issued for use in the desert (e.g.
McGuirk 1987, 132–87). (Because of the loosening of the link with the desert
campaign, late material, which may have seen service elsewhere, will be less

Figure 2.
An Afrikakorps cuff title still attached to the cut-off sleeve of an early WW2 German
Army tropical tunic. Though it has no history, except that it was first came to light
in Scotland, its configuration strongly suggests that it is an original Afrikakorps
piece, probably the souvenir of an allied (Scottish?) serviceman. Photo: author
 CHARISMA, FAKES AND THE AFRIKAKORPS 5

Figure 3.
Hinge from the
engine hatch of a
German PzKw III
tank knocked-
out in La
Mornaghia military
cemetery, outside
Tunis. I found
the hinge and
two others in the
exhumed cemetery
in the early 1970s.
Its service in the
North African
theatre, therefore,
is undeniable.
Photo: author

charismatic than early material). Better still, it will be “crusty”. In many cases
this will diminish it as an object per se, but it enhances its charisma, because
it shows that it was actually used, and reinforces the essential connection
between it and the all-important campaign (e.g. Kurtz 2004, 112). Finally,
and best of all, it will have a plausible veteran provenance: “Capturée par
un soldat australien à Tobrouk, cette casquette a de grands chances d’avoir
appartenu à un homme du Schützen-Regiment 115” (Borg & Twiname 2010,
21), or some such thing. The cut-off shown (Fig. 2) is without a veteran
provenance but the cuff title, the sleeve to which it is attached and the way it
is attached are authentically Afrikakorps, its “crustiness” convincing, and the
configuration of the artefact as a whole— if faked—more costly than the parts
from which it would have had to be fashioned. Almost certainly therefore it
is authentic Afrikakorps. The tank hinge (Fig. 3) is also authentic. It has a
known wartime (Austin 1943, pl. 11) (Fig. 4) and recent history (I picked
it up myself at the former German war cemetery of La Mornaghia, Tunisia
(Thurston 1973, 186), after the graves had been cleared and the rest of the
tank taken away).3 Neither is awe-inspiring but for those who “get it” it, both
have charisma.

Figure 4. b
Newsreel photo
of the tank from
which the hinge
shown in Figure
3 comes, shown
shortly after its
destruction on the
6th or 7th of May
1943. The tank—
without three
of its original
hinges!—is now
in the Munster
Tank Museum,
Germany. Photo:
Austin 1943, pl. 11
6 MIKE SEAGER THOMAS

THE IMPLICATIONS OF CHARISMA FOR THE MATERIAL

CULTURE RECORD

The importance of this charisma is of course a matter for debate. Not everybody
finds bits of grubby cloth and rusty metal charismatic, indeed to many they
are repugnant, especially if like these they are associated with war; while
others, as we have seen, attribute the same property to quite different but
likewise intrinsically meaningless things. But it does exist, at least in the
imagination, and this has an effect on the way we interact with those things
that we endow with it—including the material culture of the Afrikakorps.

Figure 5
The binoculars used by German troops
in the desert were occasionally
camouflaged, but not usually (McGuirk
1987, 250, 173). Photo: Mike Donne
coll.

To begin with, interest in the charismatic is greater than it is in the everyday.

A quick survey of the books on the WW2 North African campaign with
the name “Afrikakorps” or “Afrika Korps” in their titles on Amazon uk and
Bookfinder.com threw up over a hundred, including eight on uniforms (Appx 1).
These include original texts in English, French, Italian, German and Spanish.
War and military antiquities are ever popular topics of course, but if we compare
these numbers to those of books on the campaign with titles including the
names of the Afrikakorps’ less charismatic British and Commonwealth foes, the
“Eighth Army”, “8th Army” and “Desert Rats” in their titles, there is only just
over half this number including only one on uniforms (Appx 2). Most of these
are in English. The difference in the numbers of books with Rommel and his
self-publicising but uncharismatic opposite number, Montgomery, in the title is
even greater. There is also a demand for, and concomitant hike in the monetary
value of the objects themselves, which the market does its best to satisfy and
exploit. The result of this is four-fold. Firstly, a massive fraud is perpetrated

3
At the time of its destruction, the tank was part of Kampfgruppe Irkens (Bender & Law 1973,
109). It may very well have been the last Afrikakorps tank knocked-out.
 CHARISMA, FAKES AND THE AFRIKAKORPS 7

on the interested but ill-informed public—the naïve, young, the ignorant,

the stupid and the enthusiastic—on whom vast numbers of “fakes,” in the
broadest sense of the word, are passed off (Seager Thomas 2015); secondly,
the integrity of the record is damaged (Seager Thomas 2018 in prep.), and its
interpretative value diminished; thirdly, the uncertainty introduced into the
authentic material record by some of these fakes results in the destruction
of the authentic material record’s charisma; and finally, a completely new
range of artefacts is created, which trade on the charisma of the past.

AFRIKAKORPS FAKES

Figure 6n
Later issues binoculars were painted dark yellow in the factory (Rottman & Volstad
1991, 4) but it is unlikely that any of these reached Africa. Those shown here are
authentic but the description of them as “DAK Afrikakorps” is false. Photo: ebay

Innocuous and destructive fakes

The remainder of this essay details three groups of everyday but destructive
Afrikakorps “fakes” for which, in different ways, charisma as characterised
above is central to a full understanding of them. All three provide insights
into the nature of this charisma, and/ or have significant implications for the
integrity of the Afrikakorps material culture record. But these are not the
only Afrikakorps fakes out there. Most commonplace of all are unmodified,
German WW2 material culture with no relationship to the North African
campaign, which is passed-off again and again as Afrikakorps, and good and
bad Afrikakorps uniform and equipment reproductions, many of which are
deliberately distressed to give them a period “feel”, and in many cases belong
to clearly distinguishable groups of fakes, which likewise are passed off
again and again as Afrikakorps (Seager Thomas 2015; 2017; 2018 in prep.)
Figures 5–8 show three typical examples. The abundance of these illustrates
8 MIKE SEAGER THOMAS

Figure 7.
Two fake Afrikamützen (Africa caps). Both sport authentic eagles and cockades
and have been distressed to make them look authentic. Obvious giveaways in
these pictures are the maker’s name, Gg Schwert, not in fact a manufacturer of
Afrikamützen, the eyelet rivets, which are steel rather than zinc (rare in this model
of cap) and the absence of stitching on the underside of the peak. Photos: author
(right); Militaria Market (bottom left); Wallis & Wallis, Lewes (top left)

Figure 8.
A ribbon of fake Afrikakorps
cuff titles (for a comparison of
real and fake Afrikakorps cuff
titles see Seager Thomas 2015,
16–17). Photo: ebay
 CHARISMA, FAKES AND THE AFRIKAKORPS 9

the wider context of faking to which the other fakes described here belong.
Like these others, they exploit the charisma attributed to the real thing. A few
have sneaked into the literature (e.g. Kurtz 2004, 339 middle; McGuirk 1987,
pl. 23 left; Scipion 1996, 12 bottom, 16.p, 35 bottom etc.) and into museum
collections (WAF 2007), but overall their impact on the authentic Afrikakorps
material culture record is minimal, as with just a little knowledge—readily
available online—most of us can identify the groups to which they belong,
ad hoc or related to a particular faking operation, and distinguish them from
the real thing (Seager Thomas 2018 in prep.), and it is not my intention to
discuss them in detail here. Their interest is as examples of contemporary
material culture, which tell us about the military antiquities market and
the gullibility of collectors, not the material culture of the Afrikakorps.

Figure 9.
An officers’ Afrikamütze first restored or upgraded (it is impossible to tell which)
by the replacement of its issue insignia with fancy “officers’” insignia (left),
and later restored to its “original” condition (right). The replacement eagle is
probably too late for the cap, which is of an early date, while the stitching imitates
techniques associated with two different periods for the cap maker: early (the
eagle), and early to late (the cockade). Photos: WAF (left); VirtualGrenadier (right)

Undocumented restoration and modification

The first of the groups of fakes I wish to consider in detail consists of
undocumented restorations and modifications of otherwise original material.
These are carried out because the restorer or modifier wants something as
close as possible to what was used or worn in the desert (a Charismatic
Object), because they wish to complete a set, or, if the restoration or
modification carried out is unidentifiable, because it is profitable, objects
used in the desert and associated with particular formations (such as Panzer
Divisions) being scarce and therefore valuable. For the most part it involves
the restoration of insignia, which was removed by order, in captivity, or
after the war and the addition of insignia that was not originally present
(Figs 9 & 10). The consequences of restoration and modification for the
object and the wider record are threefold. Firstly, one phase of its history
is given a false pre-eminence over another. Indeed, evidence of a later
history may be lost for good. Secondly, and most important for the student
of material culture, our understanding of the category to which the object
10 MIKE SEAGER THOMAS

Figure 10.
The other ranks cap shown here looks authentic but it has been modified
twice, by the replacement of its original eagle and application or
replacement of the soutache, the addition of a sweatband (to make the the
soutache application look more plausible?) and the application of several
faux stamps, and by the reapplication of the replacement eagle and the
replacement of the white soutache with the pink soutache and the removal
of the sweatband. The purpose of these modifications was to create the
appearance an unaltered original Afrikamütze related to a desirable
formation, which was particularly charismatic and therefore particularly
valuable. The result is a cap with no charisma at all. Photos: AKF (inset &
bottom); Hermann Historica Auctioneers, Munich (top and middle)
 CHARISMA, FAKES AND THE AFRIKAKORPS 11

belongs is muddied, through the introduction into the record of plausible

errors, such as minor anachronisms and variant applications—the wrong
eagle or cockade for the period, the wrong technique of application for the
manufacturer. While for some objects, the record is sufficiently extensive to
show these errors up, for others it is not. For example, till recently the only
example of an officers’ tropical side cap or Schiffchen in the public record had,
for a cap of its date by its maker, incorrectly replaced insignia (Figueroa 1996,
fig. 54), so that when it was copied by fakers, so too was its incorrectly applied
insignia (WAF 2016)!4 Finally, by inserting an element of doubt between the
object and its history, in this case about whether or not it saw service in
the all important the desert campaign, it destroys the former’s charisma.

Figure 11.
Helmet worn by Knight’s Cross
holder Georg Briel of the 90th
Light Division. Briel’s helmet is
probably hand-painted (cf. the
helmets in Figure 1 and on the
cover, which are shinier and
probably spray painted). Because
of the greater variability in
hand-painted camouflage, it is
easier to fake convincingly. Photo:
Mike Donne coll.

Unidentifiable fakes
The second group comprises fakes that cannot be distinguished from the real
thing, because they copy this exactly, or because we do not know for sure
what the real thing looked like.
Typical of the former is the desert camouflaged M35 or M40 steel helmet
(Fig 11 & cover). These were standard issue helmets, hand or spray painted
in theatre, with a variety of different “sand” colours, to which desert sand
was sometimes added or applied (McGuirk 1987, 150, 173). I have spent
hours studying such helmets, and although in many cases it is easy enough

4
The cap is by Robert Lubstein and dated 1941. It has a hand-sewn eagle and a hand-sewn
cockade like some earlier Lubstein tropical peaked caps (Borg & Twiname 2010, 30; McGuirk 1987,
pl. 46 left), but unlike most other earlier and all other 1941-dated tropical caps by this maker
(e.g. Borg & Twiname 2010, 23, 31; McGuirk 1987, pls 28, 29, 46, right; Pritchett 2014, 282).
12 MIKE SEAGER THOMAS

to distinguish the real from the fake (the former usually because they have an
authentic-looking, difficult to simulate patina; the latter usually because the
faker failed convincingly to achieve this, or because the sand-coloured paint
overlies obvious traces of age), in others it is impossible to discern anything
that would place it in one group or the other. Once again, therefore, the link
between the object and the desert campaign is broken, and both the helmet’s
charisma and interpretative value destroyed.
Typical of the latter is the unofficial Sonderverband 288 metal badge (Fig.
12). These were made by local craftsmen, who, by the look of the badges, cast

Figure 12.
“Real” and “fake” Sonderverband 288 metal badges. The morphology of that on
the left is comparable (though not identical) to a badge in the only know period
photo that shows a Sonderverband 288 metal badge being worn (WAF 2013) and
similar to that of badges believed to have been brought home from North Africa by
allied veterans (WRF 2012). It is assumed to be authentic. The type to the right is
assumed to be a fake, because of the absence of period analogues. In fact, owing
to the absence of an official template for what were unofficial, locally made objects,
there can be no proof whether such badges are real or not except for a veteran
provenance. Photos: unknown (left); author (right)

them in sand moulds, and finished them off by hand. The result was an object
that was never exactly the same, that is easy to copy, and, because it was not
based on an official template, need not be the only possible authentic variant.
The consequence of this is exactly the same as for helmets, we don’t know
whether some are real or fake, the link between the object and the desert
campaign is broken, and its charisma and interpretative value destroyed.

Fantasy objects
The last group consists of obvious modern reproductions (Seager Thomas
2015, fig. 5), memorabilia, such as mugs and T-shirts (Fig. 13), and
inventions (often described by collectors as “fantasy objects”) (Figs 14–15),
all of which have been tagged with an Afrikakorps label, but which for the
 CHARISMA, FAKES AND THE AFRIKAKORPS 13

most part were neither intended

to, nor could ever fool a student of
Afrikakorps material culture. Why,
one wonders, do these exist? The
former are sometimes described
as “for re-enactors”, but the actual
numbers of re-enactors, though
these are widespread, is hardly
sufficient to account for the very
many objects on sale. And why
buy a mug or a T-shirt depicting
a general who died over 70 years
ago or a “fictitious” object? The
answer, once again, is charisma.
Just as in the later 19th-century
merchandizers cashed-in on the
charisma of Napoleon, making a
living out of making and selling
Figure 13.nn
Napoleon busts, death masks and
door-stops, so merchandizers Modern mug showing a photo of Erwin
Rommel. Photo: etsy
today cash-in on the charisma
of successful football teams, popular films, and other contemporary icons,
amongst which—for the reasons outlined earlier—are Rommel and the
Afrikakorps. Obviously these objects are not actually charismatic but for
those who “get it” their appeal is similar. Naïve copies and fantasy objects
are sometimes passed off on the unwary as authentic Afrikakorps, but
the differences between them and authentic material is great, and their
affect on the authentic material culture record minimal; their importance,
rather, lies in the insight they provide into the potency of charisma,
even at a considerable remove, in this field of material culture studies.

Figure 14.
Fantasy objects. Left: matchbox holder showing the Sonderverband 288 badge.
When these first appeared, they were described as “acquired at the estate sale of
a prominent collector”. This spurious history has since been dropped. Their sudden
appearance on the market, and the apparently official stamp on the reverse, gave
their real nature away. Right: hilt of an authentic WW2 German bayonet etched
post-war with an Afrikakorps palm. Dress bayonets were etched; field bayonets,
like this one, were not. Photos: ebay (inset); the Saleroom (right); unknown (left)
14 MIKE SEAGER THOMAS

Figure 15.
Fake cloth “Afrikakorps” document. Again no such thing existed. The 90th Light
Division was never officially part of the Afrikakorps, while the palm is a copy
of that which appears on a stamp printed in Tunisia for use by German forces
stationed there in 1943, later than the document’s purported date. Around the time
the document came up for sale on ebay, so too did the original photograph used,
obviously no longer needed. Photo: ebay

“FOUR LEGS GOOD, TWO LEGS BAD.”

The property of “charisma” as attributed to the material culture of the

Third Reich is of course dangerous. Nazism was, and for many continues
to be, charismatic. But the charisma of Rommel and the Afrikakorps,
and the charisma of Nazism per se are not the same, and hence the
rehabilitation of one in popular culture and not the other. Nonetheless the
swastika continues to inhibit (Fig. 16), contributing to the low academic
status of 20th-century military antiquities, referred to in my introduction,
and maintaining the focus of students of Afrikakorps material culture
on the typo-historical,5 to the exclusion of fields of study, such as design
aesthetics, symbolism, functionality, resource procurement, etc., which, if
studied in relationship to most other categories of material culture, would be
deemed self-evidently “respectable”. In this way too charisma works against
our wider knowledge of Afrikakorps material culture and our relationship
to it.

5
This is my inference. The inhibition (e.g. BBC News 2005) and the failure of most
publications on Afrikakorps material culture to consider such topics, despite clear hints of its
wider interpretative potential (see notes 8 and 9), are matters of fact.
 CHARISMA, FAKES AND THE AFRIKAKORPS 15

CONCLUSION

The relationship(s) of the foregoing are obviously complex. Central to a full

understanding of them are: the history of the object, the imputation to it of
charisma and a belief or lack of belief in this, the effect of charisma on the
object’s value, faking, the misconstruction, through ignorance, of the nature
of charisma, the paradigms (anti-war, anti Nazi) consciously opposed to it, the
destruction of charisma, and the distortion, contamination and destruction
of the record. For different stakeholders, the importance of these varies.
For the collector, most important are history and charisma; for the student
of material culture, the integrity of the record; for the politically actuated,
their particular political paradigm; for the faker profit. These of course are
completely irreconcilable, their interaction and impact on the way we interact
with the object leaving confusion in their wake, which the faker exploits.
We have seen the results of this for the material culture of the Afrikakorps.

Figure 16.
Sonderverband 288 cloth patch for
sale in Germany, where the display of
the swastika remains illegal. Photo:
Militärische Antiquitäten Emig

Apart from the stated impact on the material culture record of the
Afrikakorps, these observations are also important because it is not the only
material culture record so affected, and they provide a model of what might
usefully be addressed in dealing with these others. It also of course provides
a starting point in our dealings with the problems surrounding Afrikakorps
material culture itself. What this might be depends on our particular cultural
paradigm.
The centre point of this essay has been “charisma”. The implications of
this for our understanding of the material culture of the Afrikakorps are clear
and there is little more to say about it, but the property’s relationship to,
and implications for many other categories of material culture have yet to be
recognized and explored. This then is perhaps the next step in the study of
charisma. For the material culture of the Afrikakorps, charisma is only one,
albeit a key aspect of its meaning. Other previous omissions, such as its
meaning in the past and those paradigms that are consciously opposed to it,
have been touched upon here, and these could be explored further.6 Others
hardly touched upon include the aesthetic appeal of Afrikakorps uniforms,
when compared to those of British and Commonwealth troops (German
16 MIKE SEAGER THOMAS

uniforms are repeatedly acknowledged to have been more stylish than those
of the allies),7 functionality8 and resource procurement.9 Just as we cannot
fully understand Afrikakorps material culture without understanding charisma,
and its affect on how we interact with the record, we may not be able fully
to understand it without also understanding these things and their affect on
how we interact with it. These then are perhaps the next steps in the study
of Afrikakorps material culture.

6
One possibility is suggested by a 1987 collectors guide, which, quoting Juvenal, related
the collection of Third Reich material culture to a noble desire to possess the arms of the
vanquished (Lumsden 1987, 1). 70 years after the end of WW2 and in the wider context of
military antiques collecting this view is no longer sustainable. But for earlier collectors, there
might be something to it.
7
In 1999, the British editor of the men’s magazine GQ was fired for putting Erwin Rommel and,
in a separate entry, “The Nazis” on a list of the 200 most stylish men of the 20th-century (The
Guardian 1999; Lyall 1999).
8
In terms of its suitability for wear in the desert, Toppe et al. (1952, 8–9) considered the
(stylish) WW2 German uniform inferior to its (less stylish) British counterpart.
9
Preliminary work by the present writer has identified differences and changes over time in
the materials used by different makers of afrikamützen (Seager Thomas 2017, 36–37, 45, tabs
2–5), while McGuirk (2014) has argued that the manufacture of early tropical uniforms was
focused around Berlin, and only spread later.
 CHARISMA, FAKES AND THE AFRIKAKORPS 17

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***
20 MIKE SEAGER THOMAS

Appendix 1. Books with the names Afrikakorps or Afrika Korps

in the title on Amazon uk and bookfinder.com

Author Date Title Languages Type

Alman, Karl 1968 Knights of the Wehrmacht: English, History
1975 Knight’s Cross Holders German
of the Afrikakorps;
Ritterkreuzträger des
Afrikakorps
Balin, George 1985 Afrika Korps. Tanks English Heavy equip-
Illustrated 17 ment
Barber, Jack 1998 The War, the Whores and English Memoir
the Afrika Korps
Barker, A.J. 1978 Afrika Korps English History
Barron, Leo 2017 Patton’s First Victory: How English History
General George Patton
Turned the Tide in North
Africa and Defeated the
Afrika Korps at El Guettar
Battistelli, Pier 2006 Afrikakorps Soldier 1941–43 English History
Paolo
Battistelli, Pier 2006 Rommel’s Afrika Korps: English, History
Paolo Tobruk to El Alamein; German
Rommels Afrika Korps: von
Tobruk bis El Alamein
Baxter, Ian 2008 Images of War: Afrika- English Photos
Korps

Bender, R & Law, R. 1973 Uniforms Organization and English Uniforms/

History of the Afrikakorps personal
equipment
Bergot, Erwan 1975 L’Afrikakorps: Les corps English, History
1976 d’Elite; French
The Corps d’Elite: Afrika
Korps
Blanco, Richard 1982 Rommel, the Desert History
Warrior: the Afrika Korps in
World War II
Bradford, George 2008 Rommel’s Afrika Korps: El English History
Agheila to El Alamein
Hering, Burkhard 1957 Ärmelstreifen Afrikakorps German ?Memoir
Canales Torres, 2012 La Palmera y la Esvástica: Spanish History
Carlos La Odisea del Afrika Korps
Carell, Paul 1960 Foxes of the Desert: the English, History
1961 Story of the Afrikakorps; French,
2004 L’Afrikakorps; German
Die Wüstenfüchse: mit
Rommel in Afrika
Carruthers, Bob 2012 The Afrika Korps in Combat English History
Chamberlain, Peter 1971 Afrika Korps: German English Uniforms/
& Ellis, Chris Military Operations in the Personal
Western Desert, 1941-42 equipment
 CHARISMA, FAKES AND THE AFRIKAKORPS 21

Author Date Title Languages Type

Charles Rivers 2017 The Afrika Korps: the English History
editor History of Nazi Germany’s
Expeditionary Force in North
Africa during World War II
Charles Rivers 2017 Erwin Rommel and the English History
editor Afrika Korps: the History
of Nazi Germany’s most
Famous Commander and
Army during World War II
Cockle, Tom 1995 Armour of the Deutsches English Heavy equip-
1999 Afrikakorps ment
Cowles, V 1986 Den Gegner im Rücken. German History
Nordafrika 1943. Sabotage
am Deuschen Afrikakorps
durch die SAS (Special Air
Service)
Culver, Bruce 1979 Afrikakorps in Action. English History
Weapons no. 4
DAK General Staff 2008 Afrikakorps 1941: the English History
Official History Published by
the General Command of
the German Afrikakorps
De Lannoy, 2008 Afrikakorps 1941–1943: La English & History
François Campagne de Libye-Egypte French
The Libya–Egypt Campaign
Dittman-Bayerlein, 2004 The Private Afrikakorps English Photos
Fritz & Spayd, P. A. Photograph Collection of
Rommel’s Chief-of-Staff
Generalleutnant Fritz
Bayerlein
Drabe, Wilhelm 2013 Mußestunden: Gedanken German Memoir
des Deutschen Landsers
Wilhelm Drabe während
des Feldzuges beim
Afrikakorps im 2. Weltkrieg
und seiner anschließenden
Gefangenschaft
Ellis, Chris 2001 21st Panzer Division English History
Rommel’s Afrika Korps
Spearhead
Eschbach, Herbert 1958 Tobruk-Kilometer 31. Das German Unknown
Deutsche Afrikakorps im
Kampf um Tobruk. Band 3.
Soldatengeschichten aus
aller Welt
Fisher, D. 2011 Afrika Korps English Uniforms/
personal
equipment
Fitère, Jean-Marie 1980 Panzers en Afrique: Rommel French History
et l’Afrikakorps
Forty, George 1978 Afrika Korps at War, Vol. 1: English History
the Road to Alexandria
Forty, George 1978 Afrika Korps at War, vol. 2: English History
the Long Road Back
22 MIKE SEAGER THOMAS

Author Date Title Languages Type

Freund, Armin 2013 Als Flaksoldat beim German Memoir
Afrikakorps: Von Thüringen
nach Tobruk
Frey, Hellmuth 2010 Für Rommels Panzer German Memoir
durch die Wüste: als
Divisionsnachschubführer
beim Deutschen Afrikakorps
Fry, Michael & Sib- 1989 Der Wüstenfuchs. Erwin German History
ley, Roger Rommel und das Deutsche
Afrikakorps.
Fuller, A. 2002 Drawn to Battle: Sketches English Art
of the 51st Highland
Division from El Alamein
until the Defeat of Rommel
and the Afrika Korps
Garcia-Gazquez, 2011 D.A.K. Deutsches Afrika Spanish Modelling
Joaquin, Jiménez, Korps
Mig, Pérez Michel &
Redondo, Javier
Generalkomman- 1943 Marsch und Kampf des German
do des Deutschen 1994 Deutschen Afrikakorps.
Afrikakorps
Gerfaut-Kluber, 1968 Cinq de “l Afrika Korps” French Novel
Hans
Gillono, Claude 2008 Panzers of Kasserine. The History
Afrika Korps In Tunisia
Henning, Otto 2008 Als Panzerschütze beim German Memoir
Deutschen Afrika Korps
1941-1943: ein 17 Jähriger
Kriegsfreiwilliger in der
Aufklärungs-Kompanie
(mot.) 580
Kriebel, Rainer, 1999 Inside the Afrika Korps: The English History
Gudmundsson, Crusader Battles, 1941-
Bruce 1942
Krieg, Emil 1988 La Disfatta dell’Afrikakorps Italian History
Kuchler, Heinz 1973 D.A.K. Deutsches Italian Uniforms/
Afrikakorps Uniformi e Personel
Distintivi equipment
Kühn, Volkmar 1977 Rommel in the Desert: English, History
1985 Victories & Defeat of the German
Afrika-Korps. 1941-1943;
Mit Rommel in der Wüste:
Kampf und Untergang des
Deutschen Afrikakorps
1941-1943
Kurowski, Franz 1996 Knights of the Wehrmacht: English History
Knight’s Cross Holders of
the Afrikakorps
Kurowski, Franz 1978 Das Afrika Korps: Erwin English, History
2010 Rommel and the Germans German
in Africa, 1941-43;
Das Afrika Korps: Der
Kampf der Wustenfuchse
 CHARISMA, FAKES AND THE AFRIKAKORPS 23

Author Date Title Languages Type

Kurtz, Robert 2004 Afrikakorps: Army Luftwaffe English Uniforms/
Kriegsmarine Waffen-SS: personal
Tropical Uniforms, Insignia equipment
& Equipment of the German
Soldier in World War II
Kurtz, Robert 2004 Personal Groupings, Award English Uniforms/
Documents and Ephemera personal
of Rommel’s Afrikakorps: equipment
Army - Luftwaffe - Krieg-
smarine
Law, Richard 1967 D.A.K. Deutsches English Uniforms/
Afrikakorps 1941-1943: personal
German Army in Africa equipment
Lewin, George 1977 The Life and Death of the English History
1979 Afrika Korps
2003
Lewin, George 1977 Rommel As Military English History
Commander: Legendary
Leader of Hitler’s Afrika
Korps
Lucas, James 1998 Rommel’s Year of Victory: English Art
the Wartime Illustrations
of the Afrika Korps by Kurt
Caesar
Luftwaffen Kriegs- 1943 Balkenkreuz über German
berichter Kompanie Wüstensand (Farbbilderwerk
vom Deutschen Afrikakorps)
Mabire, Jean 1993 Les paras de l’Afrikakorps French History
Macksey, Kenneth 1968 Afrika Korps; English, History
J. 1970 Das Afrikakorps; French,
1992 Afrikakorps: Rommel et ses German,
hommes Spanish
McGuirk, Dal 1992 Afrikakorps: Self Portrait English History,
photos
Mitcham, Samuel 1982 Rommels Desert War: the English History
Life and Death of the Afrika
Korps
Mitcham, Samuel 1984 Triumphant Fox: Erwin English History
Rommel and the Rise of the
Afrika Korps
Möbius, Ingo 2012 Ein Grenadier Entscheidet German Memoir
eine Schlacht: die
Erinnerungen von Günter
Halm, dem Jüngsten
Ritterkreuzträger des
Afrikakorps
Morales Loza, 1956 El Tesoro del Afrika Korps: Spanish History
Néstor Verídica Historia de Acción,
Emoción y Dramatismo
Nafziger, George F 1997 The Afrika Korps: an English History
Organizational History
1941-1943
24 MIKE SEAGER THOMAS

Author Date Title Languages Type

Neher, Kurt 1953 Nordafrika Findet Keinen German Travel
Frieden: Bericht einer Reise
Durch die Ehemaligen
Kampfgebiete des
Deutschen Afrikakorps
Nicol, Christopher 1999 The Afrika Korps English Novel
(Alan Savage)
Palliser, J. 2017 Afrika Korps (1) English Novel
Peitz, Bernd 2005 Afrikakorps: Rommel’s English, Photos
Tropical Army in Original German
Color;
Das Afrikakorps: in Original-
Farbfotografien
Penkala, Alice 2016 Schokolade für das Afrika- German Novel
Corps
Pitt, Barrie 1969 The Edge of Battle: an Epic English Novel
Story of Desert Combat in
the Days of the Afrika Korps
Preuss 2016 L’Arte di Guerra dell’Afrika Italian Art??
Korps
Rondeau, Benoît 2013 Afrikakorps: L’Armée de French
Rommel
Sanna, Daniele 2013 Il Caos dei Comandi. Italian History
L’Afrika Korps e gli Italiani a
El Alamein
Schirmer, Alois 2014 Mit der 90. Leichten German Memoir
Afrikadivision bis zum
Bitteren Ende: Quo
Vadis Afrikakorps?
Nachrichtensoldaten der
Nachrichtenabteilung
190 Verichten von
Neuen Fronteinsätzen,
Gefangenschaft und
Heimkehr
Schmidt, Heinz 1951 With Rommel in the Desert: English, Memoir
Werner in Victory and Defeat With German
the Commander of the
Afrika Korps
Schulz, Johann 1975 Brückenkopf Tunis. Das German ?Memoir
Deutsche Afrika-Korps in
Tunesien
Scipion, Jacques, 1996 Afrikakorps: Tropical English, Uniforms/
Bastian, Yves Uniforms of the German French personal
Army 1940-1945; equipment
Afrikakorps: Les Tenues
Tropicales Allemande
 CHARISMA, FAKES AND THE AFRIKAKORPS 25

Author Date Title Languages Type

Shales, Julien 2015 Infantry Artillery and English History
Tank Combat in Libya and
Egypt, volume 1: A detailed
fighting account of 2nd
Armoured Division, 9th
Australian Division, 3rd
Indian Motor Brigade, 7th
Support Group and 22nd
Guards Brigade in combat
with the Afrikakorps and
units from the Ariete,
Brescia, Bologna, Pavia and
Trento Divisions, February–
May 1941
Silvester, Claus 1962 Journal d’un Soldat de French Memoir
l’Afrika-Korps
Sonnenkalb, Horst 2014 Deutsche Panzer im German Memoir
Wüstensand. Erinnerungen
an das Deutsche Afrika-
Korps.
Spayd, P.A. 2003 Bayerlein: from Afrikakorps English Photographic
to Panzer Lehr history
Stahl, Peter 1972 Afrikakorps: an illustrated English Photographic
history history
Thomas, Nigel 1992 The German Army 1939- English, Uniforms/
2011 45 (2) North Africa and the Spanish personal
Balkans; equipment
El Afrikakorps Y Las Fuerzas
Alemanas en los Balcanes
Tildem R. & Ralston 2017 Brigata Ramcke e Italian Photographic
W. Afrikakorps ad El Alamein history
Time-Life 1990 The Third Reich: Afrika- English, History
1992 korps; Italian,
Il Terzo Reich: Afrikakorps; Spanish
El III Reich y Hitler:
Afrikakorps
Try, Rex 1999 Mussolini’s Afrika Korps: English History
The Italian Army in North
Africa, 1940–1943
Vázquez García, 2012 Afrika Korps: los Guerreros Spanish History
Juan de Rommel
Von Esebeck, 1984 Das Deutsche Afrikakorps: German History
Hanns Gert Sieg und Niederlage
Von Esebeck, 1949 Afrikanische German History
Hanns Gert Schicksalsjahre: das
Deutsche Afrikakorps unter
Rommel
Walentan, Paul 2017 Mein Tagebuch 1941 & German Diary
Johann 1942: mit der Kolonne
651 im Deutschen Afrika
Korps: Transkribiert und
Herausgegeben von
Hermann Seidl
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 Clarification of Vinegar.

For those who desire an extra fancy product of extraordinary brightness,

suitable for bottling, it will be necessary to subject the vinegar to a special
process of clarification known as fining. According to Bioletti[*], the best
results are obtained by using isinglass. This is employed at the rate of from
one-half to three-fourths of an ounce of isinglass to each one hundred
gallons of vinegar.
[*] Bioletti, Frederic T., Grape Vinegar, Bull. 227, California Exp. Sta.,
1912.

"The isinglass is cut into small pieces and soaked for twelve to twenty-
four hours in a little water containing acetic or tartaric acid equal in weight
to the isinglass used. When thoroughly soft it is then rubbed several times
through a fine sieve, gradually adding a little more water until a perfectly
fluid liquid is obtained. This fluid is then well mixed with a little vinegar
and thoroughly stirred into the cask. With some vinegars it is necessary to
add a little tannin, from one-half to one-seventh the amount of the isinglass
used. This tannin should be added at least twenty-four hours before the
finings.

When the finings have settled and the vinegar is perfectly bright it is
ready for bottling."

Pure Cultures for Vinegar Making.

Reference has been made above to the use of pure cultures, both yeast
and acetic acid bacteria, for vinegar making. For a little more than one year,
the Bacteriological Laboratory of the Colorado Experiment Station has been
supplying these at fifty cents (50c) per set, post paid, sufficient for one
barrel, to those who care to give them a trial. Full printed directions for
their use are included. These cultures have been selected because of certain
properties which they possess which make them especially suited to the
vinegar industry. No guarantee, either expressed or [Page 14] implied, goes
with the cultures, since it is not the purpose of the Experiment Station to
exploit these products, but rather to distribute them at the cost of production
for experimental purposes. Inasmuch as one of the cultures is to be added to
the sweet cider, the set should be obtained a few days, not longer, before the
cider is to be made.

Requests for cultures should be addressed to the Bacteriological

Laboratory, Colorado Experiment Station, Fort Collins, Colorado, and
should be accompanied by a remittance of fifty cents (50c).

Directions For Using Pure Cultures in Making Vinegar

Preparation of Yeast Culture.

1. For each barrel of sweet cider, sterilize one two-quart Mason jar by
washing thoroughly and boiling for five minutes in clean water.

2. Cover the top of the jar with a single layer of clean muslin or cheese
cloth just removed from boiling water and secure it in place by a string tied
about the neck of the can.

3. Select 6 or 8 medium sized ripe apples; pare and quarter or slice

them; add one quart of water and boil till soft; strain liquid through clean
cloth while hot into Mason jar, first removing the cloth covering from the
top.

4. Make up the volume of liquid to approximately one quart with

boiling water; add 4 tablespoonfuls of sugar and replace the cloth
immediately.

5. When the liquid has cooled thoroughly, partly remove the cloth
covering and add the contents of the culture bottle marked "Yeast." Replace
the cloth. Just previous to opening the culture bottle, shake thoroughly and
immerse the lip and cork only, ten second in boiling water. Do not touch the
lip while removing cork.

6. Keep the jar in subdued light at a temperature of 75 degrees F. to 90

degrees F. After two to four days the foaming characteristic of alcoholic
fermentation should appear.
 7. After four to six days, add the entire contents of the yeast jar to the
barrel of freshly made sweet cider. The barrel must not be more than two-
thirds full; it should be placed on its side, and the bung-hole be left open, or,
better, plugged loosely with a tuft of clean cotton batting.

8. Keep the barrel at 75 degrees F. to 85 degrees F.

[Page 15]

Preparation of Acetic Culture.

1. Three to four weeks after the yeast culture has been added to the cider
prepare the Acetic Culture in precisely the same manner as described for
the yeast in paragraphs 1 to 6 above. See that all of the culture is removed
from the bottle; rinse with a little cooled boiled water if necessary. Do not
shake the jar while the culture is developing.

2. By the end of one to two weeks, a white, gelatinous film or

membrane should be visible on the surface of the liquid. This is a growth of
acetic acid bacteria and constitutes the "Mother of Vinegar."

3. When this acetic membrane is well formed, which will require about
two weeks, with a clean sliver of wood, previously dipped into boiling
water, remove the membrane from the jar, but do not lay it down; pour the
contents of the jar into the barrel of cider, now fermented, to which the
yeast was added some five or six weeks before; next drop the sliver with the
attached acetic film into the barrel through the bung-hole. The wood will
serve to float the acetic membrane on the surface of the hard cider and
thereby hasten its development by keeping it in contact with the air.

4. Keep the barrel at 65 degrees F. to 75 degrees F. till the vinegar has

formed.

5. When vinegar of satisfactory quality has been obtained, in three to six

months, draw off and store at a cool, even temperature in casks which are
kept full and tightly bunged.
 6. Both of these cultures can be propagated indefinitely by employing a
small portion of the jar cultures in the same manner as the original bottle
starters.
 *** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOME-MADE
CIDER VINEGAR ***

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