Rediscovered an heirloom

[hutch--]

I had a tube of a leather conditioner that I had used on another leather jacket so I got stuck into the overcoat and pumped heaps into it then rubbed it in by hand and it seems to have done wonders.

Having been stored for a very long time it was a bit stiff and felt like what you would imagine a straight jacket was like to wear but after repeated cleaning then conditioning its starting to feel like a wearable garment at last. I am hoping it will stretch around the shoulders a bit now that it has loosened up some.

I have to try and match one of the buttons as it is missing one and slightly move the outer buttons to get just a little more room in it but apart from that it has turned out well.

[Schneiderfrei]

Perhaps a Krampus Mask??

[hutch--]

> Perhaps a Krampus Mask??

I have struggled to comprehend this one but to no avail, could you enlighten me here ?

[Schneiderfrei]

Well, if you google "Krampen" - image, you will see a mask. I thought if you wore such a mask with your coat, it would soften the image of the coat from the nasty SS imagery.

Have a look.

G

Chances are I was pulling your leg.

[posaune]

Hutch
Krampus is the "partner" of the holy Nikolaus (not the CocaCola Hohoh-man). It is a custom in the alps (5. - 6. December). Very terrifying.
In our region it is Knecht Ruprecht - he is not so bad and ugly as Krampus. He is punishing the bad kids. St. Nikolaus will and can not punish the children because he is a holy man and loves them. Krampus does it instead.  Believe me it is horrible for the children.
lg
posaune
https://www.expedia.de/explore/reiselexikon-krampus

[Schneiderfrei]

Hehe.

[hutch--]

I looked up a few photos from ww2 and the overcoat is more like Gestapo than SS. Not much of a gain in terms of respectability but at least you are free of all the badges and shiny bits. I did a search on Draža Mihajlović as this overcoat was bought in Belgrade somewhere in the 1960s and found these images at the following URL.

https://kulturasjecanja.org/en/brcko-draza-mihajlovic-monument/

A reasonable match for the one I have.

Now I have a question for posaune, I know the word "landsknecht" as highly skilled mercenaries in the middle ages and among many other tasks, helped defend Vienna against the last Ottoman siege of Vienna. I can get the "lands" part of the word, basically lowland farmers but I don't understand that actual semantics of the word.

[posaune]

I think it has its origin in the Schweiz. Here it was used to differ between the people coming from the mountain or from the lowlands "Lants". (The swiss were thought high in the science and gruelty of war. They had the "Reisläufer". If I remember right from school, they did not make prisoners they butchered all. Very effective! Since today you have the "Schweizer Garde" which is the palace guard of the Papst).
But it is more likely that the name came from the weapon they fight with. They were foot fighting and had a Pike or "Lanze".They were hired warriors payed by the Kaiser (Habsburger) so  servants (Knechte).
hope it answers the question. By the way their clothing was very interesting nand colorfull - nothing so drap as an leather coat.
Those leather coats were mostly worn in the army, after the war and before. They were no inventions of the Nazis.
lg
posaune

[hutch--]

Thanks posaune,

I knew it was a person with a good knowledge of German history that could answer this question. I have seen photos of recreations of the landsknech and they were very well dressed and interestingly enough I remember a woodcut from the 15th century where they looked very different to ordinary soldiers.

Australia in the southern parts can be very cold in the winter, its a quirk that the great southern ocean in winter produces snow at a higher latitude that is normal but it is different to the dry cold of the northern hemisphere, it has higher humidity and can cut through you right down to the core of your bones and this is where the old overcoat beats most thing I wear in the cold. Lucky Sydney does not get all that cold in the winter all that often.

I guess looking like a "Chetnik" is less contentious that looking like the Gestapo.