Männerbünde e sentimento omosociale: deresponsabilizzazione etica ed estetica

The aim of the current study is to analyze the dynamics that influenced the consolidation of the Männerbünde and the homosocial desire in the soldiers during First World War. Indeed, in the wake of the war enthusiasm all over Europe the hostility of the young people towards the familiar institutions was put into practice through the shared interventionist feeling. Therefore, the war itself became the production of Männerbünde, communities within which male individuals were linked by male bonds corresponding to a new homosocial sense of comradeship, that is a real Gesellschaftstrieb, shared by every member. The male bond – that is apparently unproblematic and established within the stillness of the trenches – is always linked to a mentor and implements the same social and hierarchical mechanisms of the society.

L’interesse dell’analisi si muove verso l’investigazione dei legami maschili instauratisi durante la Prima Guerra Mondiale e, in particolare, dei differenti livelli e modi del cameratismo omosociale in Germania. In primo luogo il legame omosociale si riscontra all’interno del concetto, fortemente sentito, di comunità e nel condiviso spirito interventista. In un secondo momento il rapporto uomo-uomo viene studiato durante la guerra combattuta dietro le trincee. In ultima analisi l’associazione maschile si rinforza durante il periodo post-bellico attraverso le figure del veterano e del milite ignoto, entrambe responsabili della creazione del mito di guerra.