Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2023 July 12

= July 12 =

Historical mustache question
Hello. I was reading the article of the former Prime Minister of Iraq Hikmat Sulayman and I noticed the strange shape of his mustache. Any ideas why he would have his mustache in such shape? I know some cultural or religious traditions sometimes trim facial hair in certain fashion and I was wondering if this is the case. Notice that his colleague, general Bakr Sidqi also had it that way. I appreciate any answer. Regards, Thinker78  (talk) 04:09, 12 July 2023 (UTC)
 * , we have an article Toothbrush moustache discussing the style associated especially with Adolph Hitler. That article does not discuss Iraq, but these were right wing Iraqi nationalist politicians of the 1930s. Perhaps they were emulating the facial hair of the German dictator, although I do not know for sure. Cullen328 (talk) 06:12, 12 July 2023 (UTC)
 * I'm pretty sure I've seen you use this "Adolph" spelling before. I'm curious why?  Of course the particular individual involved is unsympathetic, but that doesn't seem to be a reason to change his name.  Older British authors used to "translate" foreign names into English, but that doesn't seem to be common in modern American English, at least when the source language uses the Latin alphabet. --Trovatore (talk) 18:07, 18 July 2023 (UTC)
 * People I've known and who were young in the thirties were qualifying the type as 'seductive' (various shapes are also considered as seductive). The Globe and Mail (Canada), throught the word of their writer Ian Brown, are using the term 'ultra-competitive' when describing John H. Boyd, The Globe first full time staff photographer, who was wearing that type of mustache. It can be put it comparison with the qualification of Bakr Sidqi as "the best commander in the Iraqi army and the most efficient one". Coincidentaly in the Pieds Nickelés comics from 1908 and on, "Filochard" is the one of the three anarchists who is in effect  the most concretely active. --Askedonty (talk) 19:25, 12 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Charlie Chaplin wannabes. Clarityfiend (talk) 08:08, 12 July 2023 (UTC)


 * The Third Reich and the Palestine Question p. 183 says that after the 1936 coup, Sulayman's new government sought closer ties with Nazi Germany (the preview annoyingly cuts out after that). Alansplodge (talk) 17:50, 12 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Don't know much about the 1930s, but in 1941 the 1941 Iraqi coup d'état and the Farhud occurred. AnonMoos (talk) 19:48, 12 July 2023 (UTC)

F. Roberts Johnson
When did the cartoonist and illustrator F. Roberts Johnson (active 1928; 1930s at least; see Q120593948) die? What did the initial stand for? Other biographical detail and sources welcome too, please. Andy Mabbett ( Pigsonthewing ); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 13:07, 12 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Frederick? 1900-1986. Sleigh (talk) 15:08, 12 July 2023 (UTC)
 * That's him, thank you. Your Google-foo must be better than mine. Andy Mabbett ( Pigsonthewing ); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 15:41, 12 July 2023 (UTC)

The Holocaust: Bald or short-haired women
During the Holocaust, did female Jewish inmates have their heads shaven bald or have thier hairs cut very short? 81.152.221.74 (talk) 18:40, 12 July 2023 (UTC)


 * Shaved with clippers. I think they usually didn't shave them cleanly with a razor. And of course the hairs grew back (on those who weren't immediately killed). -- Random person no 362478479 (talk) 18:59, 12 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Also this was not just done with females, men's heads were shaved to. Officially for reasons of hygiene (lice etc). -- Random person no 362478479 (talk) 19:00, 12 July 2023 (UTC)


 * Apparently Jewish women wore their hair long and the cut off hair could be used to make cloth. See Auschwitz concentration camp also photo to the right which shows women's hair on top of cloth woven from Jewish hair. Martin of Sheffield (talk) 19:22, 12 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Did the Nazis use the hair as-is, or did they de-louse it first? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 21:49, 12 July 2023 (UTC)


 * So were the women bald? Or very short-haired? 81.152.221.74 (talk) 21:41, 12 July 2023 (UTC)
 * See File:Female prisoners at Birkenau.jpg. Alansplodge (talk) 21:57, 12 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Basically a rough butch cut. It would be odd if the Nazis took the time to carefully shave the heads of victims just before killing them. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 22:46, 12 July 2023 (UTC)
 * – I'd be a bit careful with that photo. The women don't look starved as one would expect after being in a concentration camp; look at the arms, cheeks and breasts and they look normal.  Why?  On the subject of hair, it continues to grow (if well fed as these ladies appear to be) so without knowing the time between the haircut and the photo it doesn't tell us a lot.  Indeed the lady dead centre appears to have her hair in some sort of braids.  The date is 1944, are these Nazi propaganda photos? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Martin of Sheffield (talk • contribs) 07:31, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Notice the train in the background. These women probably just arrived. -- Random person no 362478479 (talk) 07:42, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
 * It was published by the US Government. Alansplodge (talk) 08:42, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Published, yes, but when was it taken and by whom? Martin of Sheffield (talk) 12:52, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
 * The Auschwitz Album is the only surviving visual evidence of the process leading to the mass murder at Auschwitz-Birkenau. It is a unique document and was donated to Yad Vashem by Lilly Jacob-Zelmanovic Meier. The photos were taken at the end of May or beginning of June 1944, either by Ernst Hofmann or by Bernhard Walter, two SS men whose task was to take ID photos and fingerprints of the inmates (not of the Jews who were sent directly to the gas chambers). The photos show the arrival of Hungarian Jews from Carpatho-Ruthenia. Many of them came from the Berehovo Ghetto, which itself was a collecting point for Jews from several other small towns. -- Random person no 362478479 (talk) 12:58, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Thanks for clarifying that. Martin of Sheffield (talk) 13:45, 13 July 2023 (UTC)