Verbindung...

by Chris Creemer

As a young man I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to travel to Germany to study.

Here I encountered the rather strange version of fraternities that are still common in Germany.

The "Verbindung" are famous for the duelling that still goes on.

The are also notoriously conservative, bordering on extreme right wing views, which does make them somewhat unpopular in certain circles these days.

And they do require members to dress and behave according to strict rules or "Comments".

The thing about the Verbindung is that they are very wealthy and they own marvellous buildings and offer low rent accommodation to students who are often cash strapped and away from home for the first time.

It is a way of enticing prospective new members to visit them. As a foreign visitor I was unsure how they would respond to me when a fellow student introduced me to some members but I was treated with great respect and openness. This is something that can be unusual in Germany, at least at that time.

So I found myself in an extremely comfortable room .complete with free meals. I intended to stay only for a week or two until I could find some accommodation..

I was in the care of one of the members usually called a "Fuxe" who looks after visitors and prospective members.

He was a tall blond man in his early 20s. His striking blues eyes set of his square jaw and severe short back and sides parted hair which was heavily oiled into place.

It soon became apparent that getting accommodation was going to be tougher than I thought and very much more expensive than I imagined. After three weeks fruitless search and with study becoming more and more important the option of staying at the Verbindung House was more and more appealing.

But then it became apparent that if I were to stay in the House I would need to comply with some of the House Rules.

This was fair enough and seemed mainly to involve participating at social events (otherwise known as drinking sessions) and to abide by the clothing standards required by the House.

The clothing standards were very conservative. Suit and tie, polished shoes etc. Sunday best every day! I could live with that – just – but the haircut standards were straight out of the 1930s!

So as I sat in the barber's chair with my "Bundesbruder" watching I heard him tell the barber that I was a new "wedgie" and I needed a haircut acceptable in the Verbindung, I began to feel very uncertain.

This was 1972!!! Long hair wasn't just IN it was de rigeur!!!

I felt the clippers. I knew I was getting a very severe haircut.

The clippers vibrated up the sides of my head and very quickly it was shorn naked. The barber began to snip and trim and I watched as more and more of my long brown locks fell to the floor. I looked across at my Bruder who was smiling as he saw the change take place.

The barber continued by creating a very severe parting.

He snipped and trimmed and then slapped hot lather on my neck and around my ears.

He picked up an old fashioned straight razor which seemed appropriate in the circumstances, and carefully shaved my neck and about an 1" above my ears totally clean of hair.

Finally, I felt hair oil being massaged into my newly shorn head. My hair was combed flat and held rigidly in place by the goop that had been applied.

I looked at my image in the mirror.

It was like a trip back in time. I looked like a 1930s youth. My hair slicked back, shining in the lights of the barbershop, completing the image with my suit, shirt with a neat tie of a very conservative young man.

I tried to pay the barber but he refused payment explaining that new Bundesbruders got their first haircut free.

Before long I came to appreciate the new look and my friends and brothers at the Verbindung and somehow the other students at the university seemed untidy and lax. My grades certainly improved and I found I no longer mixed in company outside the Verbindung.

My short greased hair and tidy appearance in suit and tie or traditional clothing became second nature.

I even began to train for the Mensur ...the strange duelling competitions in which all Bundesbruder take part and it explains the scare on the my right side of my face, but that is a story for another time.

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