The figure of the officer : class , gender , and military hierarchy in the Swiss army in the 1930 s and 1940 s

Taking the example of military education and everyday life in the Swiss army during the World War II. this article aims to address two issues that have so far only found marginal consideration in most studies of military history. First. the article attempts to explore in what way the military hierarchy was gendered. thus borrowing from Joan Scott's argument that the category of gender can be useful for studying power relationships within social institutions. Second. it will discuss the extent to which this gendered system of command and subordination was linked with the concept of class and it will examine the role of the army as a training camp for establishing relations of social power. It will be argued that the figure of the officer functions to interconnect these two aspects. since it incorporated a form of manliness which can be characterized as hegemonic masculinity. In 1944. the author of a conjugal guidebook claimed that l : The soldier is the manly man who is not afraid and who risks his life for his ideals of freedom and fatherland. The woman feels it clearly and certainly that she would not be able to fulfil her duty as a housewife and a mother without these manly goods of spiritual life. That is why for her the soldier is the essential. the complete man. (Hanselmann 1944: 155) Such declarations were frequent in Switzerland during the Second World War. As in many modern nations in the nineteenth and twentieth century, especially during periods of military conflict. the soldier was regarded as the embodiment of masculinity. adored by a female audience (Mosse 1996: lO7-19; Frevert 1997a; Kiihne 1999; Nye 2007). In several studies. however. it has been revealed that military masculinity is a much more ambiguous concept. Military comradeship for instance included tenderness and caring for other men. In other words it could feature attributes characterized as distinctly female in civil life. as Thomas Kiihne (1997) and Joanna Bourke (1996: 126-37) have pOinted out. Yet. what has not been considered in most studies to date is the possible relationship between rank and different ascriptions of masculinity. In what way does the perception of the soldier change when it is compared with the figure of the officer? This article attempts to explore first to what extent the military hierarchy was gendered. thus borrowing not least from