If you look at the photographs of German officers from the times of the First and Second World Wars, then among them there will be a representative number of people whose faces are covered with scars. It would be logical to assume that these men left unpleasant injuries after participating in hostilities. However, as applied to the Germans, in the vast majority of cases, the reason for the scars on the face is completely different.
In fact, a variety of facial scars can be seen not only on German officers of the first half and middle of the 20th century. Wore similar "jewelry" and German scientists, philosophers, politicians, public figures. People got a scar or two in their youth while studying at the university. This is because for a long time in Germany the so-called "Menzour fencing" was very popular among students.
Menzour fencing is fights with special schleggers. It will be extremely difficult to kill such a person, if only because the saber is dull. However, it is quite possible to inflict a variety of injuries, including leaving scars on soft tissues with a schleger. They fenced on them wearing gloves - so as not to beat each other's fingers, glasses - so as not to gouge out their eyes and light chain mail - so that it would not hurt so much. This fun was official, every "correct" student was obliged to practice fencing.
Fights on schleggers were conducted according to very specific rules. The main one of them boiled down to the formula: one attack - one reflection. In other words, the students beat each other with blunt sabers in turn. In some universities, there was a variety of delights in the spirit of drinking a pint of beer after each tour. This greatly complicated the task, since it was impossible to dodge during fencing. It was necessary to stand straight and reflect the blows of the opponent's saber with the movements of your weapon. Accordingly, the more the young man got drunk, the more difficult it became for him to fence.
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They fought on schleggers not only in Germany, but also in many other European countries. Student fencing was banned only in 1933 by order of Adolf Hitler. The Germans returned their tradition after the Second World War, in 1953. Today, schleggers are fenced according to the rules of 1850, with the only difference that nowadays students use a complete set of modern protection, including for the face, which eliminates the risk of any injury and mutilation.
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