The toothbrush moustache is a style of moustache in which the sides are vertical (or nearly vertical) rather than tapered, giving the hairs the appearance of the

bristle A bristle is a stiff hair or feather (natural or artificial), either on an animal, such as a pig, a plant, or on a tool such as a brush or broom. Synthetic types Synthetic materials such as nylon are also used to make bristles in items such a ...

s on a

toothbrush A toothbrush is an oral hygiene tool used to clean the teeth, gums, and tongue. It consists of a head of tightly clustered bristles, atop of which toothpaste can be applied, mounted on a handle which facilitates the cleaning of hard-to-reach a ...

that are attached to the nose. It was made famous by such comedians as

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is conside ...

and

Oliver Hardy Oliver Norvell Hardy (born Norvell Hardy; January 18, 1892 – August 7, 1957) was an American comic actor and one half of Laurel and Hardy, the double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted from 1926 to 1957. He appeared with his ...

. The style first became popular in the United States in the late 19th century; from there it spread to Germany and elsewhere, reaching a height of popularity in the interwar years, before becoming unfashionable after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

due to its strong association with

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

leader

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...

. The association has become strong enough that the toothbrush has also become known as the "Hitler moustache". In the post-war years, the style was worn by some notable individuals, including several

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i politicians and American real-estate developer

Fred Trump Frederick Christ Trump Sr. (October 11, 1905 – June 25, 1999) was an American real estate developer and businessman. A member of the Trump family, he was the father of Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States. In partnership w ...

. From the 1960s onwards, it has appeared in works of popular culture, including cartoons, caricatures, and comedy—usually eliciting the association with Hitler.

19th century to World War II

In the United States

The toothbrush originally became popular in the late 19th century, in the United States. It was a neat, uniform, low-maintenance style that echoed the standardization and uniformity brought on by industrialization, in contrast to the more flamboyant moustaches typical of the 19th century such as the

imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * Imperial, Texas ...

walrus The walrus (''Odobenus rosmarus'') is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in the fami ...

, handlebar,

horseshoe A horseshoe is a fabricated product designed to protect a horse hoof from wear. Shoes are attached on the palmar surface (ground side) of the hooves, usually nailed through the insensitive hoof wall that is anatomically akin to the human ...

, and

pencil A pencil () is a writing or drawing implement with a solid pigment core in a protective casing that reduces the risk of core breakage, and keeps it from marking the user's hand. Pencils create marks by physical abrasion, leaving a tra ...

moustaches.

was one of the most famous wearers of the toothbrush moustache, first adopting it in 1914 after his first film, "Making a Living", for his Mack Sennett silent comedies. In a 1933 interview, Chaplin said he added the moustache to his costume because it had a comical appearance and was small enough so as not to hide his expression.

leader

was a fan of Chaplin films, but according to cultural historian Ron Rosenbaum, "there is no evidence (though some speculation) that Hitler modeled his 'stache on haplin's. Chaplin took advantage of the noted similarity between his onscreen appearance and that of Hitler in his 1940 film ''

The Great Dictator ''The Great Dictator'' is a 1940 American anti-war political satire black comedy film written, directed, produced, scored by, and starring British comedian Charlie Chaplin, following the tradition of many of his other films. Having been the onl ...

'', where he wore the moustache in a

dual role A dual role (also known as a double role) refers to one actor playing two roles in a single production. Dual roles (or a larger number of roles for an actor) may be deliberately written into a script, or may instead be a choice made during produc ...

, one of which parodied Hitler. Comedian

also adopted the moustache style—using it at least as early as the 1921 film ''

The Lucky Dog ''The Lucky Dog'' (1921) is the first film to include Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy together in a film before they became the famous comedy duo of Laurel and Hardy. Although they appear in scenes together, Laurel and Hardy play independently. L ...

''. Although

Groucho Marx Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (; October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977) was an American comedian, actor, writer, stage, film, radio, singer, television star and vaudeville performer. He is generally considered to have been a master of quick wit an ...

donned a larger moustache, novelty Groucho glasses (marketed as early as the 1940s) often elicit the toothbrush. American film producer

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

is sometimes claimed to have worn the style (1920s–1930s), but his facial hair was a more traditional (i.e. notched) moustache limited to the width of the nose. Another prominent animation producer,

Max Fleischer Max Fleischer (born Majer Fleischer ; July 19, 1883 – September 25, 1972) was an American animator, inventor, film director and producer, and studio founder and owner. Born in Kraków, Fleischer immigrated to the United States where he becam ...

, had a toothbrush moustache.

Clarence D. Martin Clarence Daniel Martin (June 29, 1886 – August 11, 1955) was an American politician who served as the 11th governor of Washington from 1933 to 1941. A member of the Democratic Party, he was appointed to fill a vacancy in the Washington House ...

, the 11th governor of

Washington state Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a U.S. state, state in the Northwestern United States, Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first President of the United States, U.S. p ...

(1933–1945), donned a toothbrush during his tenure.

In Germany

Bundesarchiv Bild 183-S33882, Adolf Hitler (cropped2)

The style was introduced in Germany in the late 19th century by visiting Americans. Prior to the toothbrush, the most popular style was called the 'Kaiser moustache', perfumed and turned up at the ends, as worn by German emperor Wilhelm II. By 1907, enough

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

were wearing the toothbrush moustache to elicit notice by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' under the headline "'TOOTHBRUSH' MUSTACHE; German Women Resent Its Usurpation of the aiser moustache. The toothbrush was taken up by German automobile racer and folk hero Hans Koeppen in the famous 1908 New York to Paris Race, cementing its popularity among young gentry. Koeppen was described as "Six-feet in height, slim, and athletic, with a toothbrush mustache characteristic of his class, he looks the ideal type of the young Prussian guardsman." By the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

, even some of the German royals were sporting the toothbrush; Crown Prince Wilhelm can be seen with a toothbrush moustache in a 1918 photograph that shows him about to be sent into exile. German serial killer Peter Kürten (1883–1931) took up the style and eventually reduced it to only the

philtrum The philtrum ( la, philtrum from Ancient Greek ''phíltron,'' lit. "love charm"), or medial cleft, is a vertical indentation in the middle area of the upper lip, common to therian mammals, extending in humans from the nasal septum to the tuberc ...

. Hitler originally wore the Kaiser moustache, as evidenced by photographs of him as a soldier during World War I. There is no agreement as to what year he first adopted the toothbrush. Alexander Moritz Frey, who served with Hitler during the First World War, claimed that the latter wore the toothbrush style in the trenches after he was ordered to trim his moustache to facilitate the wearing of a

gas mask A gas mask is a mask used to protect the wearer from inhaling airborne pollutants and toxic gases. The mask forms a sealed cover over the nose and mouth, but may also cover the eyes and other vulnerable soft tissues of the face. Most gas mas ...

. A 1914 photograph by

Heinrich Hoffmann Heinrich Hoffmann or Hoffman may refer to: Hoffmann *Heinrich Hoffmann (photographer) (1885–1957), German photographer *Heinrich Hoffmann (author) (1809–1894), German psychiatrist and author * Heinrich Hoffmann (sport shooter) (1869–?), Germa ...

purports to show Hitler with a smaller moustache, but was probably doctored to serve as

Nazi propaganda The propaganda used by the German Nazi Party in the years leading up to and during Adolf Hitler's dictatorship of Germany from 1933 to 1945 was a crucial instrument for acquiring and maintaining power, and for the implementation of Nazi polici ...

. According to other sources, Hitler did not wear the style until 1919. Despite the photographic evidence of his much larger moustache during the First World War, Hitler's sister-in-law, Bridget Hitler, said she was responsible for giving Hitler his toothbrush moustache before the war—considered by most scholars to be fiction designed to cash in on Hitler's notoriety. Bridget claimed that Adolf spent a "lost winter" at her home in Liverpool in 1912–13. The two quarreled a lot, mostly, she said, because she could not stand his unruly Kaiser moustache. He cut it, as she says in her memoirs, but that in doing so—as in most things—he went too far.

Anton Drexler Anton Drexler (13 June 1884 – 24 February 1942) was a German far-right political agitator for the Völkisch movement in the 1920s. He founded the pan-German and anti-Semitic German Workers' Party (DAP), the antecedent of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) ...

, a mentor of Hitler, wore a notched version of the toothbrush.

Friedrich Kellner August Friedrich Kellner (1 February 1885 – 4 November 1970) was a German mid-level official and diarist who worked as a justice inspector in Laubach from 1933 to 1945. Kellner was an infantryman in a Hessian regiment during the First ...

, a

Social Democrat Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soc ...

who campaigned against Hitler, also wore the style. Many notable Nazis besides Hitler donned it, including

Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...

, Karl Holz,

Ernst Röhm Ernst Julius Günther Röhm (; 28 November 1887 – 1 July 1934) was a German military officer and an early member of the Nazi Party. As one of the members of its predecessor, the German Workers' Party, he was a close friend and early ally ...

and Hitler's chauffeur Julius Schreck. Additionally, an apparent body double of Hitler was found wearing the style in the aftermath of the dictator's death.

Other places

The toothbrush was quite popular in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

in the early 20th century. A Chaplin-influenced clown named Karandash had a version of it. Many Soviet officers and soldiers wore it up until

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. In more unique displays, Commander

Pavel Dybenko Pavel Efimovich Dybenko (russian: Павел Ефимович Дыбенко), (February 16, 1889 – July 29, 1938) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a leading Soviet officer and military commander. Prior to military service Pavel Dybenko was b ...

paired the style with his beard and Major General Hazi Aslanov wore a variant covering only the philtrum. English author

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalit ...

wore it during the early 1930s. Spanish general

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War and thereafter ruled over Spain from 193 ...

, the dictator of Spain from 1939 to 1975, had a toothbrush throughout the 1930s. FredTrump1950-02

Post–World War II

After World War II, the style fell from favour in much of the world due to its strong association with Hitler, but some notable people continued to wear it. American real-estate developer

, the father of former U.S. president

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

, sported it from as early as 1940 until perhaps 1950, although during the war he began concealing his German ancestry. Several politicians of

( formed as a state in 1948) flaunted the style, some for much of their careers.

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n chancellor

Julius Raab Julius Raab (29 November 1891 – 8 January 1964) was a conservative Austrian politician, who served as Federal Chancellor of Austria from 1953 to 1961. Raab steered Allied-occupied Austria to independence, when he negotiated and signed the Austri ...

exhibited it in

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijiangs ...

while negotiating for restored independence. Hitler's dentist,

Hugo Blaschke Hugo Johannes Blaschke (14 November 1881 – 6 December 1959) was a German dental surgeon notable for being Adolf Hitler's personal dentist from 1933 to April 1945 and for being the chief dentist on the staff of ''Reichsführer-SS'' Heinrich Him ...

(), wore a similar style—displaying an explicit toothbrush later in life. The style was utilized in cartoon works beginning as early as the 1960s.

Osamu Tezuka Osamu Tezuka (, born , ''Tezuka Osamu''; – 9 February 1989) was a Japanese manga artist, cartoonist, and animator. Born in Osaka Prefecture, his prolific output, pioneering techniques, and innovative redefinitions of genres earned him such ...

's ''

Astro Boy ''Astro Boy'', known in Japan by its original name , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Osamu Tezuka. It was serialized in Kobunsha's ''Shōnen'' from 1952 to 1968. The 112 chapters were collected into 23 '' tankōbon'' ...

'' manga and the anime series of the same name feature characters with the style, the latter including caricatures resembling nasal hair. The early 1960s American animated sitcom '' The Jetsons'' features a character with the moustache style—

George Jetson George J. Jetson is a fictional character from the animated television series '' The Jetsons''. He is the patriarch of the Jetson family. He is the husband of Jane Jetson and the father of teenage daughter Judy and son Elroy. Fictional charact ...

's boss, Cosmo Spacely. Additionally, American comic-book artist

Steve Ditko Stephen John Ditko Page contains two reproductions from school yearbooks. A 1943 Garfield Junior High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen Ditko". A 1945 Johnstown High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen J. Ditko" under extracurricular act ...

's original design for

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the Si ...

supporting character J. Jonah Jameson sports a toothbrush moustache, apparently meant to make him seem Hitleresque and thus antagonistic; most subsequent comic and cartoon appearances of the character maintain the style or a variant thereof. The British sitcom ''

On the Buses ''On the Buses'' is a British television sitcom that was broadcast on ITV from 1969 to 1973. It was created by Ronald Chesney and Ronald Wolfe, who wrote most of the episodes. It spawned three spin-off feature films and a stage version. Desp ...

'' (1969–1973) features a comedic villain who wears the style. Inspired by Chaplin (and disregarding associations with Hitler), keyboardist Ron Mael of the American rock band Sparks maintained a toothbrush moustache throughout most of the 1970s and 1980s. The band received mainstream attention in 1974 with "

This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us" is a song by American pop band Sparks. Written by Ron Mael, it is the opening track on their third studio album '' Kimono My House'' (1974), and was the lead single from the album. Although it did not ...

", popularized via British music television series ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

''. While watching this,

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

allegedly phoned his former

Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developm ...

bandmate

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...

and referenced the similarity of Mael's appearance to Hitler. The 1982 Sparks song "Moustache" includes the lyrics: "And when I trimmed it very small / My

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

friends would never call," referencing the association with Hitler and his role in enacting

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europ ...

. The band once had a booking to perform on a French television show cancelled due to Mael's moustache. In later years, Mael wore a pencil-variant of the toothbrush. Mugabe 1979 a

Former

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

an president

Robert Mugabe Robert Gabriel Mugabe (; ; 21 February 1924 – 6 September 2019) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. He served as Leader of the ...

wore the philtrum-only style from as early as 1976 to as late as

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

. Between 1985 and 1989, the British children's television drama series ''

Grange Hill ''Grange Hill'' is a British children's television drama series, originally produced by the BBC and portraying life in a typical comprehensive school. The show began its run on 8 February 1978 on BBC1, and was one of the longest-running program ...

'' featured an authoritarian teacher played by Maurice Bronson (who also portrayed Hitler in several productions) wearing the toothbrush style. In a 1992 home movie,

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lamp Richard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colomb ...

lead singer

Kurt Cobain Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – April 5, 1994) was an American musician who served as the lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter of the rock band Nirvana. Through his angst-fueled songwriting and anti-establishment persona ...

invoked a Hitler moustache (via fake eyelashes) while wearing a dress to mock a pejorative

letter to the editor A letter to the editor (LTE) is a letter sent to a publication about an issue of concern to the reader. Usually, such letters are intended for publication. In many publications, letters to the editor may be sent either through conventional ma ...

about his wife,

Courtney Love Courtney Michelle Love (née Harrison; born July 9, 1964) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, and actress. A figure in the alternative and grunge scenes of the 1990s, her career has spanned four decades. She rose to prominence as ...

. This was featured in the 2015 documentary '' Cobain: Montage of Heck'' and shared online to promote the film. In

Mike Judge Michael Craig Judge (born October 17, 1962) is an American actor, animator, writer, producer, director and musician. He is the creator of the animated television series ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' (1993–1997, 2011, 2022–present), and the co-cre ...

's 2006 comedy film ''

Idiocracy ''Idiocracy'' is a 2006 American science fiction comedy film directed by Mike Judge and co-written by Judge and Etan Cohen. Starring Luke Wilson, Maya Rudolph, Dax Shepard, and Terry Crews, the film tells the story of Corporal Joe Bauers (W ...

'', the society of a greatly dumbed-down future believes that Charlie Chaplin, not Hitler, led the Nazis. In 2009, English comedian

Richard Herring Richard Keith Herring (born 12 July 1967) is an English stand-up comedian and writer, whose early work includes the comedy double act Lee and Herring (alongside Stewart Lee). He is described by ''The British Theatre Guide'' as "one of the lea ...

created a stand-up show titled ''Hitler Moustache'' in which he wears the facial-hair style in an attempt to "reclaim the toothbrush moustache for comedyit was Chaplin's first, then Hitler ruined it." Herring wore the moustache for about a week, during which time he was anxious about the judgements he thought were being made of him. In May 2010, American basketball star

Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. His biography on the official NBA website states: "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the g ...

appeared in a

Hanes Hanes (founded in 1900) and Hanes Her Way (founded in 1985) is a brand of clothing. History Hanes was founded in 1900 by John Wesley Hanes (one of Winston-Salem's wealthiest and most influential business men) at Winston, North Carolina under th ...

commercial sporting a hybrid of the toothbrush and pencil moustache, along with a soul patch. This prompted Jordan's friend

Charles Barkley Charles Wade Barkley (born February 20, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player who is a television analyst on TNT. Nicknamed "Sir Charles", "Chuck", and "the Round Mound of Rebound", Barkley played 16 seasons in the Nati ...

to say, "I don't know what the hell he was thinking and I don't know what Hanes was thinking. I mean it is just stupid. It is just bad, plain and simple." In 2014, a photograph of Israeli Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (; ; born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is currently serving as Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of ...

and German Chancellor

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Opp ...

provoked online amusement due to the former's pointing finger casting a Hitleresque shadow onto the latter's face. Late that same year,

Southern All Stars , also known by the abbreviations and SAS, are a Japanese rock band that first formed in 1974. The band is composed of Keisuke Kuwata (lead vocals and guitars), Yuko Hara (vocals and keyboards), Kazuyuki Sekiguchi (bass), Hiroshi Matsuda (dr ...

frontman

Keisuke Kuwata is a Japanese multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and frontman for the Southern All Stars, as well of his own solo band, the Kuwata band. He has also done a significant amount of scoring music for films. He went to Aoyama Gakuin University ...

briefly donned a toothbrush moustache during a televised performance, prompting online speculation as to the reason. The moustache has come to be a symbol of satire and protest, maligning people in power perceived to be acting like Hitler. In 2021,

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

changed its app logo following complaints that part of the design, meant to look like a piece of tape sealing a box, resembled a Hitler moustache. Contrarily, some facial-hair media outlets have endorsed the moustache as being appropriate to wear again—especially variations diverging from the strictly rectangular version made famous by Hitler and emphasizing that many other notable individuals brandished it.

Other notable wearers

Nazi Germany

Karl Maria Demelhuber Karl Maria Demelhuber (26 May 1896 – 18 March 1988) was a German SS functionary during the Nazi era. Reaching the rank of ''Obergruppenführer'' (General) in the Waffen-SS during World War II, he commanded the SS-Standarte Germania, 6th ...

(

image An image is a visual representation of something. It can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or somehow otherwise feed into the visual system to convey information. An image can be an artifact, such as a photograph or other two-dimensio ...

) *

Sepp Dietrich Josef "Sepp" Dietrich (28 May 1892 – 21 April 1966) was a German politician and SS commander during the Nazi era. He joined the Nazi Party in 1928 and was elected to the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic in 1930. Prior to 1929, Dietrich was A ...

(

) *

Irmfried Eberl Irmfried Eberl (8 September 1910 – 16 February 1948) was an Austrian psychiatrist and medical director of the euthanasia institutes in Brandenburg and Bernburg, who helped set up and was the first commandant of the Treblinka extermination camp ...

(

) *

August Eigruber August Eigruber (16 April 1907 – 28 May 1947) was an Austrian-born Nazi Gauleiter and ''Reichsstatthalter'' of Reichsgau Oberdonau (Upper Danube) and Landeshauptmann of Upper Austria. He was convicted of war crimes at Mauthausen-Gusen con ...

(

) *

Hermann Esser Hermann Esser (29 July 1900 – 7 February 1981) was an early member of the Nazi Party (NSDAP). A journalist, Esser was the editor of the Nazi paper, '' Völkischer Beobachter'', a Propaganda Leader, and a Vice President of the Reichstag. In t ...

(

) * Gottfried Feder (

) * Edmund Glaise-Horstenau (

) *

Ernst-Robert Grawitz Ernst-Robert Grawitz (8 June 1899 – 24 April 1945) was a German physician and an SS functionary (''Reichsarzt'', "arzt" meaning "physician") during the Nazi era. Biography Grawitz was born in Charlottenburg, in the western part of Berlin, ...

* Jakob Grimminger * Erich Koch (

) * Hans Krebs (

) * Hinrich Lohse (

) * Emil Maurice (

) *

Artur Phleps Artur Gustav Martin Phleps (29 November 1881 – 21 September 1944) was an Austro-Hungarian, Romanian and German army officer who held the rank of '' SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS'' (lieutenant general) in the Waffen-SS ...

(

) * Lothar Rendulic (

) *

Gerd von Rundstedt Karl Rudolf Gerd von Rundstedt (12 December 1875 – 24 February 1953) was a German field marshal in the '' Heer'' (Army) of Nazi Germany during World War II. Born into a Prussian family with a long military tradition, Rundstedt entered th ...

(

) *

Fritz Sauckel Ernst Friedrich Christoph "Fritz" Sauckel (27 October 1894 – 16 October 1946) was a German Nazi politician, ''Gauleiter'' of Gau Thuringia from 1927 and the General Plenipotentiary for Labour Deployment (''Arbeitseinsatz'') from March 1942 unti ...

(

) *

Otto Skorzeny Otto Johann Anton Skorzeny (12 June 1908 – 5 July 1975) was an Austrian-born German SS-''Obersturmbannführer'' (lieutenant colonel) in the Waffen-SS during World War II. During the war, he was involved in a number of operations, including t ...

(

) *

Julius Streicher Julius Streicher (12 February 1885 – 16 October 1946) was a member of the Nazi Party, the '' Gauleiter'' (regional leader) of Franconia and a member of the '' Reichstag'', the national legislature. He was the founder and publisher of the vir ...

(

) *

Franz Ritter von Epp Franz Ritter von Epp (born Franz Epp; from 1918 as Ritter von Epp; 16 October 1868 – 31 January 1947)Lilla, Joachim: Epp, Franz Ritter v.'. In: Staatsminister, leitende Verwaltungsbeamte und (NS-)Funktionsträger in Bayern 1918 bis 19 ...

(

) * Christian Wirth (

) *

Kurt Zeitzler Kurt Zeitzler (9 June 1895 – 25 September 1963) was a Chief of the Army General Staff in the '' Wehrmacht'' of Nazi Germany during World War II. Zeitzler was almost exclusively a staff officer, serving as chief of staff in a corps, army, and ...

(

)

Soviet Union

* Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov (

) * Ivan Bagramyan (

) *

Aleksandr Bezymensky Aleksandr Ilyich Bezymensky (russian: Александр Ильич Безыменский, links=no; 1898 – 26 June 1973) was a Soviet poet, screenwriter and journalist. He was the father of war historian Lev Bezymensky, who wrote ''The D ...

(

) * Naftaly Frenkel (

) * Leonid Govorov (

) * Vladimir Karpov * Semyon Krivoshein (

) * Bogdan Kobulov *

Leonid Kubbel Leonid Ivanovich Kubbel (russian: Леонид Иванович Куббель; 1891 or 1892 – 1942) was a Russian composer of chess endgame studies and problems. Life He was born in Saint Petersburg at the end of 1891, or beginning of 1892 ...

(

) *

Grigory Kulik Grigory Ivanovich Kulik ( ua, Григорій Іванович Кулик; russian: Григо́рий Ива́нович Кули́к, Grigóriy Ivánovich Kulík; 9 November 1890 – 24 August 1950), a Soviet Union, Soviet military commande ...

(

) *

Genrikh Lyushkov Genrikh Samoilovich Lyushkov (russian: link=no, Генрих Самойлович Люшков; 1900 – 19 August 1945) was an officer in the Soviet secret police and its highest-ranking defector. A high-ranking officer of the NKVD, he pla ...

(

) * Vasil Mzhavanadze (

) * Ivan Panfilov (

) *

Roman Ivanovich Panin Roman Ivanovich Panin (; 28 September 1897 – 1 June 1949) was a Soviet major general from during World War II. An Imperial Russian Army junior officer in World War I, he joined the Red Army in 1919. Panin fought in the Russian Civil War and con ...

(

) * Pavel Rotmistrov (

) * Minay Shmyryov (

) *

Genrikh Yagoda Genrikh Grigoryevich Yagoda ( rus, Ге́нрих Григо́рьевич Яго́да, Genrikh Grigor'yevich Yagoda, born Yenokh Gershevich Iyeguda; 7 November 1891 – 15 March 1938) was a Soviet secret police official who served as directo ...

(

) *

Georgy Zhukov Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov ( rus, Георгий Константинович Жуков, p=ɡʲɪˈorɡʲɪj kənstɐnʲˈtʲinəvʲɪtɕ ˈʐukəf, a=Ru-Георгий_Константинович_Жуков.ogg; 1 December 1896 – ...

(

)

Israel

* Yitzhak Ben-Aharon (

) * Eliyahu Dobkin (

) *

Levi Eshkol Levi Eshkol ( he, לֵוִי אֶשְׁכּוֹל ;‎ 25 October 1895 – 26 February 1969), born Levi Yitzhak Shkolnik ( he, לוי יצחק שקולניק, links=no), was an Israeli statesman who served as the third Prime Minister of Israe ...

(

) *

Yitzhak Shamir Yitzhak Shamir ( he, יצחק שמיר, ; born Yitzhak Yezernitsky; October 22, 1915 – June 30, 2012) was an Israeli politician and the seventh Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms, 1983–1984 and 1986–1992. Before the establishment ...

(

) * Moshe Sharett (

) *

Zalman Shazar Zalman Shazar ( he, זלמן שז"ר; born Shneur Zalman Rubashov; be, Шнэер За́льман Рубашо́ў; russian: Шне́ер За́лмен Рубашо́в; November 24, 1889 – October 5, 1974) was an Israeli politician, author ...

(

) *

Yisrael Yeshayahu Yisrael Yeshayahu Sharabi (; 20 April 1908 – 20 June 1979) was an Israeli politician, minister and the fifth Speaker of the Knesset. Biography Born in Sadeh, Yemen, to a Jewish weaver by trade, he was sent to Sana'a at an early age where he ...

(

)

Others

Siad Barre Mohamed Siad Barre ( so, Maxamed Siyaad Barre, Osmanya script: ; ar, محمد سياد بري; c. 1910 – 2 January 1995) was a Somali head of state and general who served as the 3rd president of the Somali Democratic Republic from 1969 to 19 ...

(

) * Hulusi Behçet (

) * Dobri Bozhilov (

) *

Abdalá Bucaram Abdalá Jaime Bucaram Ortiz ( ; ; born 20 February 1952) is an Ecuadorian politician and lawyer who was President of Ecuador from 10 August 1996, to 6 February 1997. As President, Abdalá Bucaram was nicknamed "El Loco Que Ama" ("The Madman W ...

(

) *

Carlos Castillo Armas Carlos Castillo Armas (; 4 November 191426 July 1957) was a Guatemalan military officer and politician who was the 28th president of Guatemala, serving from 1954 to 1957 after taking power in a coup d'état. A member of the right-wing Nation ...

(

) *

Arthur Compton Arthur Holly Compton (September 10, 1892 – March 15, 1962) was an American physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1927 for his 1923 discovery of the Compton effect, which demonstrated the particle nature of electromagnetic radia ...

(

) * Charles Culley (

) *

Dragiša Cvetković Dragiša Cvetković ( sr-cyr, Драгиша Цветковић; 15 January 1893 – 18 February 1969) was a Yugoslav politician active in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. He served as the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia from 1939 to 1941. ...

(

) *

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Governm ...

(

) *

Immanuvel Devendrar Immanuvel Devendrar (9 October 1924 – 11 September 1957), who later took the name Immanuel Sekaran, was a freedom fighter, civil rights activist, former soldier and a party worker for the Indian National Congress in Tamil Nadu, India, who was ...

(

) *

Douglas Valder Duff Douglas Valder Duff DSC (1901, Rosario de Santa Fe, Argentina – 23 September 1978, Dorchester, England) was a British merchant seaman, Royal Navy officer, police officer, and author of over 100 books, including memoirs and books for children. ...

(

) *

Alois Eliáš Alois Eliáš (29 September 1890 – 19 June 1942) was a Czech general and politician. He served as prime minister of the puppet government of the German-occupied Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia from 27 April 1939 to 27 September 1941 bu ...

(

) * Edward M. Fram (

) *

Sadegh Hedayat Sadegh Hedayat ( fa, صادق هدایت ; 17 February 1903 – 9 April 1951) was an Iranian writer and translator. Best known for his novel ''The Blind Owl'', he was one of the earliest Iranian writers to adopt literary modernism in their caree ...

(

) * Paolo Iashvili (

) *

Avetik Isahakyan Avetik Sahak Isahakyan ( hy, Ավետիք Սահակ Իսահակյան; October 30, 1875 – October 17, 1957) was a prominent Armenian lyric poet, writer and public activist. Biography Isahakyan was born in Alexandropol in 1875. He was edu ...

(

) *

Ahmad Javad Ahmad Javad ( az, Əhməd Məhəmmədəli oğlu Cavad; May 5, 1892 – October 13, 1937) was an Azerbaijani poet who is best known for writing the words of the National Anthem of Azerbaijan used under the 1918–1920 Democratic Republic of Az ...

(

) *

Gustavo Jiménez Gustavo Jiménez (5 April 1886 – 15 March 1933) was a Peruvian colonel who served as Interim President of Peru, officially as the President of the Provisional Government Junta, in 1931. Jiménez, who was born in Tarma, organised one of several ...

(

) *

Amanullah Khan Ghazi Amanullah Khan (Pashto and Dari: ; 1 June 1892 – 25 April 1960) was the sovereign of Afghanistan from 1919, first as Emir and after 1926 as King, until his abdication in 1929. After the end of the Third Anglo-Afghan War in August 1 ...

(

) *

Fumimaro Konoe Prince was a Japanese politician and prime minister. During his tenure, he presided over the Japanese invasion of China in 1937 and the breakdown in relations with the United States, which ultimately culminated in Japan's entry into World W ...

(

) *

Yevhen Konovalets Yevhen Mykhailovych Konovalets ( uk, Євген Михайлович Коновалець; June 14, 1891 – May 23, 1938), also anglicized as Eugene Konovalets, was a military commander of the Ukrainian National Republic army, veteran of the Uk ...

(

) * Jean-Marie Loret *

Ludwig von Mises Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises (; 29 September 1881 – 10 October 1973) was an Austrian School economist, historian, logician, and sociologist. Mises wrote and lectured extensively on the societal contributions of classical liberalism. He is ...

* Frank McGee (

) *

Davud Monshizadeh Davud Monshizadeh ( fa, داوود منشی‌زاده; 28 August 1914 – 13 July 1989) was the founder of the SUMKA (the "Iranian National Socialist Workers Party") and a supporter of Nazism in Germany during World War II and in Iran after th ...

(

) * Ihsan Nuri (

) *

Julius Nyerere Julius Kambarage Nyerere (; 13 April 1922 – 14 October 1999) was a Tanzanian anti-colonial activist, politician, and political theorist. He governed Tanganyika as prime minister from 1961 to 1962 and then as president from 1962 to 1964, af ...

(

) *

Hermann Obrecht Hermann Obrecht (26 March 1882 – 21 August 1940) was a Swiss politician and member of the Swiss Federal Council (1935–1940). He was elected to the Swiss Federal Council on 4 April 1935 and handed over office on 31 July 1940. He was affiliate ...

(

) * Waldemar Pabst (

) * Wilhelm Pieck *

Marcel Pilet-Golaz Marcel Pilet-Golaz (31 December 1889 – 11 April 1958) was a Swiss politician. He was elected to the Swiss Federal Council on 13 December 1928 and handed over office on 31 December 1944. He was affiliated to the Free Democratic Party. Du ...

(

) * Abdul Karim Qassem (

) *

Sayyid Qutb Sayyid 'Ibrāhīm Ḥusayn Quṭb ( or ; , ; ar, سيد قطب إبراهيم حسين ''Sayyid Quṭb''; 9 October 1906 – 29 August 1966), known popularly as Sayyid Qutb ( ar, سيد قطب), was an Egyptian author, educator, Islamic ...

(

) *

Ramakrishna Ranga Rao Raja Sri Ravu Svetachalapati Sir Ramakrishna Ranga Rao KCIE (20 February 1901 – 10 March 1978) was an Indian politician and ''zamindar'' who served as the Chief Minister of Madras Presidency from 5 November 1932 to 4 April 1936 and 24 ...

(

) * Mahmud Salman (

) * Ferdinand Sauerbruch (

) *

Walter H. Schottky Walter Hans Schottky (23 July 1886 – 4 March 1976) was a German physicist who played a major early role in developing the theory of electron and ion emission phenomena, invented the screen-grid vacuum tube in 1915 while working at Siemen ...

(

) * Kurt Schuschnigg (

) *

Jean Sibelius Jean Sibelius ( ; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often ...

* Bakr Sidqi (

) * Mehmed Spaho (

) *

Rafael Trujillo Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina ( , ; 24 October 189130 May 1961), nicknamed ''El Jefe'' (, "The Chief" or "The Boss"), was a Dominican dictator who ruled the Dominican Republic from February 1930 until his assassination in May 1961. He ser ...

(

) *

Georgios Tsolakoglou Georgios Tsolakoglou ( el, Γεώργιος Τσολάκογλου; April 1886 – 22 May 1948) was an officer of the Hellenic Army who became the first Prime Minister of the Greek collaborationist government during the Axis occupation in 1941� ...

* Adolf Windaus (

) *

Yordan Yovkov Yordan Stefanov Yovkov ( bg, Йордан Стефанов Йовков) (November 9, 1880 – October 15, 1937) was a prominent Bulgarian writer from the interwar period. Biography Born in the village of Zheravna, Yovkov studied at First Sofia M ...

(

)

References

Notes Citations {{Human hair Adolf Hitler Charlie Chaplin Moustache styles Nazi symbolism