Introduction: Analysing the Afrikamütze—Why, What and How?

A revised, provisional introduction for a proposed 2nd edition of my The Afrikamütze Database exploring why, what and how we should and can study the material culture of the Third Reich—specifically the Afrikamütze, an everyday cap issued to German forces in North Africa and the wider Mediterranean region. In it I argue that the study of the Afrikamütze, and by extension analogous material, has a meaningful contribution to make to our understanding of WW2. The study of the material culture of war is of considerable popular (as opposed to elitist) interest, and should not be dismissed out of hand for politically correct reasons but embraced objectively for what it is and what it can tell us about the period to which it belongs. Readers of "The Afrikamütze Database" and my Uncle Herbert's Africa Cap... (also uploaded on Zenodo) will recognise parts of it. Opinions are of course welcome...