‘On the same level as the Nazis’: the film about Germany’s postwar persecutn of gay men | Film | The Guardian

Contents:

• NETFLIX EXPOS THE SECRET GAY HISTORY OF NAZI GERMANY
• ‘ON THE SAME LEVEL AS THE NAZIS’: THE FILM ABOUT GERMANY’S POSTWAR PERSECUTN OF GAY MEN
• ‘GREAT FREEDOM’ AND THE LONG SHADOW OF AN ANTI-GAY LAW GERMANY

NETFLIX EXPOS THE SECRET GAY HISTORY OF NAZI GERMANY

Which didn’t stop burly Hler nfidante and head of the Nazi SA paraary wg Ernst Röhm, a not-terribly-closeted gay man, om equentg the tablishment. As the film explas, the SA had a strong homoerotic element, a disgt wh women and femy they somehow ed to jtify homosexualy – for a time, anyway. At a certa pot, Röhm’s iendship wh Hler uld only take him so far a Nazi regime creasgly set on eraditg homosexualy.

Röhm is but one player this ncise, ftly told doc that the Eldorado as a lnchg pad to a broar story about beg gay Nazi Germany. The film never out and yells , but is also a remr of the Fal Solutn tenor that still acpani much anti-gay and anti-trans rhetoric and, creasgly, policy.

He was also a bohemian spir who had a passnate homosexual relatnship wh Manasse Herbst, a Galician Jewish actor who fled Germany 1936.

‘ON THE SAME LEVEL AS THE NAZIS’: THE FILM ABOUT GERMANY’S POSTWAR PERSECUTN OF GAY MEN

Hirschfeld, a groundbreakg sexologist, both gay and Jewish and therefore a prime target of Nazi Germany, was thankfully not prent when his stute was ransacked by mardg Nazi youth (here aga, there are photos). Here we experience the nce that thrived before the fall, at a hiaway for those whose differenc would soon mark them for prison, exile, or, many s, ath ( is timated that between 5, 000 and 15, 000 gay people died the ncentratn mps for vlatg Paragraph 175). The show is notable for s plex gay and bisexual characters and storyl, which range om difficult g out stori to passnate threome sex scen.

One of the lead characters is a gay woman, and as LGBTQ TV shows go, this one do a particularly good job highlightg issu of queer parentg, cludg relatns wh the sperm donor and brgg a same-genr partner to your baby’s life. One of the ma characters is a closeted gay gang member, who fac a closed-md Catholic fay and an arranged marriage to a woman, among other hardships.

The seri don’t shy away om LGBTQ storyl and the reali of homophobia, and there are several queer characters who provi bisexual, gay and trans reprentatn the ma st. One of the characters equents a gay bar, where baret performers drs drag, and the wild sex parti picted the show are apparently pretty historilly accurate. This Rsian web seri is particularly important bee was produced the wake of Rsia’s homophobic “anti-gay propaganda” law, which sentially banned talkg about beg queer or promotg LGBTQ ntent to mors.

‘GREAT FREEDOM’ AND THE LONG SHADOW OF AN ANTI-GAY LAW GERMANY

Created by Manolo Caro, who also created The Hoe of Flowers, this pellg thriller is about a young gay man whose nservative fay is tryg to set him up wh the dghter of a fay iend.