The Gay Nazis

Among the lies our teachers tell us, there is the claim that homosexuals were persecuted by the Nazis. There were certainly some homosexuals in the concentration camps; but Hitler himself estimated the number of homosexuals in Germany to be two million. Of these, between 10,000 and 15,000 went to the concentration camps. This does not sound like an attempt at wholesale eradication. At a minimum, it is just not comparable to what happened to the Jews or the gypsies.

And, counter to this claim, there have been persistent rumours since the 1920s that Hitler and the top echelon of the Nazi Party were themselves actually gay.

It is not questioned that Ernst Roehm, the head of the SA or “stormtroopers,” was gay—openly so. So were most of the SA’s leadership.

I was vaguely aware of all this when I picked up Albert Speer’s autobiography. I also knew that Theodor Adorno, who was in Germany at the time, insisted that homosexuality was totalitarian by its nature.

Knowing this, I find intriguing hints of gayness in Speer’s book, even though Speer never broaches the subject.

Hitler, he notes, “only used the intimate German ‘du’ with four men: Hermann Esser, Christian Weber, Julius Streicher--and Ernst Roehm.” (p. 156).

So he considered himself intimate with Roehm, a homosexual, with all that might imply. And Hitler was apparently not one to bestow such intimacy indiscriminately.

At another point in Speer’s book, an associate explains why Speer could apparently do no wrong in Hitler’s eyes: “Do you know what you are? You are Hitler’s unrequited love.” (p. 196). There is no question that Speer was a very handsome young man. As was Hitler, when Roehm took him under his wing and brought him into the Nazi party.

After Rudolf Hess fled to England, Hitler declared that he was, if ever captured, to be hanged. But Hess himself, in prison, confided to Speer that “he would have made it up with me. I’m certain of it.” (p. 253). On what could he base such certainty of the power of his physical presence—except a confidence in some special emotional bond between them?

Speer reports with “astonishment” a discussion with Goering in which the Reichsmarshall’s face was “obviously rouged,” his fingernail lacquered; and he was wearing a large ruby brooch (Speer, p. 358).

Hitler, of course, never married, and he really seems, in Speer’s account, to show very little interest in women. He allowed the company of women, but “as a rule only married women were admitted, usually with their husbands” (p. 191). Perhaps not to cause scandal; or perhaps to avoid the possibility of female sexual approaches. There was Eva Braun, of course, but she may only have been cover—so adoring that she would accept neglect or sexual impotence and not spread gossip. Geli Raubal, the only other woman publicly connected with Hitler, was either murdered or committed suicide in Hitler’s apartment. The revelation of his homosexuality might explain that.

Just from this, we have as much evidence as is commonly used to “prove” that a famous figure is homosexual, if he is an artist or a writer. We have about as much, for example, as we have on Oscar Wilde. It is difficult, by the nature of the thing, to have more—one’s sexual activities are normally not public, after all, and homosexuality was illegal in Germany before Hitler came to power.

But, it turns out, there is far more. For example, the Munich police had Hitler listed as a known homosexual and male prostitute. This site has collected many more references which seem to add up to a picture of a gay Hitler:

http://www.e-z.net/wtv/v-icht-1.htm

It all, on reflection, seems to fit.