Academic fencing/Mensur

Further to discussion in the comments in the last entry, when I think of duels I think of pistols - the form of fencing with swords seems more Continental. Incidentally, it appears that it doesn't fit with the Nazi images in the Citroen advert, as the corporations were banned in the Third Reich. In the late 1960s I encountered law students in Erlangen involved in schlagende Verbindungen - the students' associations that still kept up the tradition of fencing without complete protection. The thing to do was to get a wound on the side of the face, a Schmiss. It seemed a different world from 1968 Berlin. The liberal past of the students' organizations had been left behind. Von der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts bis in die 1930er Jahre war der Schmiss das Erkennungszeichen mitteleuropäischer Akademiker schlechthin, das durchaus mit Stolz getragen wurde, symbolisierte es doch das nach damaliger Auffassung herrschende Ideal eines tatkräftigen, unerschrockenen Mannes, der auch vor bedrohlichen Situationen nicht zurückschreckt. I find a Wikipedia article on Academic fencing that has all these terms explained - the equivalent German article is Mensur. Until the first half of the 19th century all types of academic fencing can be seen as duels, since all fencing with sharp weapons was about honour. No combat with sharp blades took place without a formal insult. Compared to pistol duels, these events were quite harmless. The fight was regularly ended when an injury occurred which caused a wound with a length of at least one inch and with at least one drop of blood coming out from it. It was not uncommon that students fought approximately 10 to 30 duels of that kind during their university years.[citation needed] ... During the first half of the 19th century and some of the 18th century, students believed that the character of a person could easily be judged by watching him fight with sharp blades under strict regulations. Academic fencing was more and more seen as a kind of personality training by showing countenance and fairness even in dangerous situations. Student corporations demanded that their members fight at least one duel with sharp blades during their university time. The p…