The Gay Capal of the Neteenth Century | The New Yorker

Contents:

• ‘GREAT FREEDOM’ AND THE LONG SHADOW OF AN ANTI-GAY LAW GERMANY
• IN 'GREAT FREEDOM,' A MAN IS EED OM THE NAZIS, AND RE-IMPRISONED FOR BEG GAY
• HLER WAS GAY - AND KILLED TO HI , BOOK SAYS
• GREAT FREEDOM REVIEW – FORMIDABLY TELLIGENT GAY PRISON DRAMA THAT FDS LIBERTY SI
• ‘GREAT FREEDOM’ PROVIS A RAW, UNPROMISG LOOK AT THE PERSECUTN OF GAY MEN EAST GERMANYLOVE IS LOVEFILMMAKER SEBASTIAN MEISE’S LATT IS A GUT-WRENCHG DRAMA ABOUT GERMANY’S HISTORIL CELTY AGAST GAY MEN, LED BY AN OUTSTANDG TURN OM ACTOR FRANZ ROGOWKSI. NICK SCHAGERENTERTAMENT CRICUPDATED MAR. 05, 2022 4:18AM EST / PUBLISHED MAR. 05, 2022 12:53AM EST CANN FILM FTIVAL/FREIBTERFILM_ROHFILMGREAT FREEDOM TAK S TLE OM THE NAME OF A NIGHTCLUB THAT HANS HOFFMANN (TRANS’S FRANZ ROGOWSKI) ATTENDS 1969 AT THE NCLN OF SEBASTIAN MEISE’S WRENCHG DRAMA (OUT NOW THEATERS)—AN TABLISHMENT OF UNHIBED HOMOSEXUALY, NOW THAT GERMANY’S ANTI-GAY PARAGRAPH 175 STATUTE HAS BEEN RELAXED. NOHELS, TE EEDOM IS A TRICKY AND PLITED MODY THE DIRECTOR’S LONG-AWAED FOLLOW-UP TO 2011’S STILL LIFE, PECIALLY FOR HANS, WHO’S REPEATEDLY RCERATED OVER S UNR THE AFOREMENTNED LAW FOR THE CRIME OF WANTG TO BE WH OTHER MEN. A PORTRA OF LIBERATN FLOURISHG UNEXPECTED PLAC, PULS WH QUIET ANGUISH, LONGG AND FIANCE, LED BY A ROGOWSKI PERFORMANCE THAT NVEYS ASTONISHG PTHS MIMALIST GTUR.HANS IS TRODUCED AN OPENG MONTAGE OF 16MM FILM CLIPS SHOT OM BEHD A TTAGE’S BATHROOM SK MIRROR; EACH SNIPPET, HE ENGAG A SEXUAL ACT WH A STRANGER, TH MAKG CLEAR HIS PROCLIVI. THIS SURREPTLY RERD MATERIAL IS EVINCE A 1968 URT SE AGAST HIM, WHICH ENDS WH A SWIFT NVICTN AND A SENTENCE OF 24 MONTHS. IN EAST GERMANY, PARAGRAPH 175 OUTLAWS SUCH BEHAVR, AND HANS IS SENT OFF TO PRISON, WHERE HE GO THROUGH AN ADMTANCE PROCS LIKE A SEASONED PRO. JT AS THE THORI’ MERA STARED AT HIM WHILE HE PLEASURED HIS PARAMOURS, SO TOO DO GUARDS NOW STAND BY AND WATCH AS HANS STRIPS OUT OF HIS CLOTH AND SPREADS HIMSELF FOR SPECTN, UNRLG HOW SOCIETY SYSTEMATILLY GAZ AT HIM (OFTEN THE NU, AS WHEN HE’S LATER THROWN TO SOLARY NFEMENT), AND DAMNS HIM FOR WHAT SE. HANS OPERAT A SEWG MACHE THE LNDRY ROOM, AND ’S THERE THAT HE NOTIC LEO (ANTON VON LUCKE), ONE OF THE MEN WH WHOM HE’D PREVLY SHARED SOME BATHROOM-STALL TIMACY AT THE TTAGE. THOUGH HANS MAY BE THE OBJECT OF EVERYONE ELSE’S NMNATORY SCTY, HE’S A MAN WHOSE OWN EY ARE TENSELY GEY AND NFINT, SENDG D MSAG THROUGH SMALL, SLY LOOKS AND LIKEMD EXPRSNS, SUCH AS THE SE THAT SOMETIM CREEPS, ALMOST IMPERCEPTIBLY, TO THE RNER OF HIS MOUTH. ROGOWSKI’S TURN IS MARVELO FOR BEG SO ILED AND YET SO MUNITIVE, AND NO MATTER HANS’ PERSECUTN AND MONIZATN—CLUDG OM FELLOW MAT WHO OBJECT TO HIS HOMOSEXUALY—HE RRI HIMSELF WH UNFLAPPABLE NFINCE. HE’S A MAN WHO KNOWS WHO HE IS, WHAT HE WANTS, AND HOW HE N GET , EVEN A PLACE WHERE THE NCRETE WALLS AND HUMORLS GUARDS ARE TERMED TO KEEP HIM ALONE AND ALIENATED OM ANY SPARK OF JOY.THOUGH HANS HAS EY FOR LEO—A TIMID TEACHER WHO’S SPENDG HIS FIRST STT BEHD BARS, AND WHO ULTIMATELY FDS HANS A RELIABLE PROTECTOR AND PARTNER—HIS LASTG RELATNSHIP IS WH VIKTOR KOHL (GE FRIEDRICH), WHO 1968 IS A JUNKIE ON THE VERGE OF A NEW PAROLE HEARG. HANS AND VIKTOR’S NNECTN IS THE NARRATIVE THROUGH-LE OF GREAT FREEDOM, WHICH SOON LEAPS BACKWARD TIME TO 1945 TO WNS HANS FIRST ENTERG THE SAME PRISON AS A MTACHE-EE YOUNGER MAN. A RECENT RINT OF A NAZI NCENTRATN MP, HANS HAS TRAD ONE TENTN CENTER FOR ANOTHER, AND HE’S IMMEDIATELY PLACED A CELL WH VIKTOR, WHO’S DISGTED AT HAVG TO SHARE SPACE WH A HOMOSEXUAL MAN. NEVERTHELS, UPON HEARG ABOUT HANS’ WWII ORAL, HE OFFERS TO TATTOO SOMETHG OVER THE PERMANENT INTIFITN NUMBERS LG HANS’ FOREARM, THEREBY IATG A BOND THAT WILL VELOP OVER THE ENSUG YEARS. BETWEEN VIKTOR’S TATTOO NEEDLE PIERCG HANS’ SK, HANS’ STRAW POKG HOL A BIBLE ORR TO TRANSM A SECRET MSAGE TO A LOVER, THE CIGARETTE THAT’S PERPETUALLY BETWEEN HANS’ LIPS, A STIRRG PAT BSH, AND A MAN BLOWG FURLY TO A SAXOPHONE, PHALLIC AND SEXUALIZED IMAGERY ABOUNDS GREAT FREEDOM, ALBE WH A SUBTLETY THAT’S ENMIC TO THE PROCEEDGS. MEISE OFTEN LEANS HEAVILY ON SILENCE AND LAMENTG TMPET TO ADD WEIGHT AND SORROW TO HIS DRAMA, AS WELL AS OPPRSIVE DARKNS THAT AT TIM SEEMS TENT ON SWALLOWG HANS WHOLE. IN SUCH A BLEAK ENVIRONMENT, HANS’ MATCH PROVI THE ONLY FLICKER OF LIGHT—AN UNRSTATED VISUAL METAPHOR FOR HIS TERNAL ATTEMPTS TO KEEP HIS TE SELF ALIVE A WORLD THAT SEEKS TO ANNIHILATE .IN A 1957 PASSAGE, HANS SUFFERS JAIL WH BOYIEND OSKAR (THOMAS PRENN), WHO ARTICULAT HOW MUCH HE ADMIR HANS FOR HIS FEARLSNS, A QUALY WHICH OSKAR SAYS HE LACKS. GREAT FREEDOM IS A FILM ABOUT LIVG AND LOVG NO MATTER THE HIGH ST, AND THE PA, MISERY AND TRAGEDY THAT DOG SO N ENTAIL. HANS IS TRAPPED BETWEEN BEG HIMSELF AND SOMEONE WHO N SAFELY SURVIVE A NATN THAT SPIS HIM, AND THE PATH HE CHARTS IS A JAGGED ONE, MARKED BY PFALLS HE DON’T FOREE OR DON’T RE TO HEED. HIS RAPPORT WH VIKTOR IS SIARLY RAGGED, WH VIKTOR FALLG TO SUBSTANCE ABE AND PENNCE AT THE SAME TIME THAT HE DRAWS CLOSER TO HANS. THEIR UNN IS FED THROUGH BLUNT SEXUAL ACTS OF NEED, POWER AND SIRE, AND MEISE SHOOTS THEM—AND THE RT OF HIS TRYSTS—WH AN EXPLICNS THAT’S TUNE WH THE OVERARCHG ROUGHNS AND LDNS OF HIS STORY’S I. “IN SUCH A BLEAK ENVIRONMENT, HANS’ MATCH PROVI THE ONLY FLICKER OF LIGHT—AN UNRSTATED VISUAL METAPHOR FOR HIS TERNAL ATTEMPTS TO KEEP HIS TE SELF ALIVE A WORLD THAT SEEKS TO ANNIHILATE .” IN A LATE SCENE, HANS AND VIKTOR WATCH NEIL ARMSTRONG TAKE HIS MOMENTO FIRST STEPS ON THE MOON, TO WHICH VIKTOR MENTS, “I THOUGHT WOULD BE MORE EXCG.” HAPPS, HOWEVER, DISCREET FORMS MEISE’S FILM, SUCH AS VIA HANS’ EFFORTS TO HELP VIKTOR SHAKE HIS DG HAB BY FIRST KNEELG BI HIM AS HE VLENTLY P TO A TOILET, AND AFTERWARD CRADLG HIM A WARM EMBRACE. GREAT FREEDOM SUGGTS THAT THERE’S EEDOM GIVG AND RECEIVG SELFLS LOVE, AND TH ’S THE SIGHT OF VIKTOR CRAWLG TO BED TO SPOON WH HANS (ON THE NIGHT FOLLOWG THE NSUMMATN OF THEIR RELATNSHIP) THAT ROUNDS THE LOUST, EXUDG AN ACHG TENRNS THAT’S FAR MORE PROFOUND THAN THE PRR RNALY DULGED BY EHER MAN.MEISE’S HAB OF SPYG ON HIS CHARACTERS DOORWAYS AND WDOWS, AS WELL AS THROUGH OTHER VISUAL AM, SPEAKS TO HANS AND VIKTOR’S STATE OF NSTRICTG NFEMENT. YET DURG THE FALE, HANS DISVERS THAT EMANCIPATN ISN’T AS CLEAR-CUT AS SEEMS, AND THAT PERHAPS THE PLACE WHERE ONE FEELS MOST EE HAS LTLE TO DO WH WALLS, BARS, OR L. GREAT FREEDOM RAIS SUCH QUTNS BUT WISELY REF TO OFFER PEDANTIC ANSWERS, STEAD CHOOSG TO ACCEPT—AS HANS DO—THE MSY AMBIGUY OF MORN LIFE. NICK SCHAGER
• REVIEW: A PERSECUTED GAY MAN FDS TE LIBERATN BETIFULLY BTERSWEET ‘GREAT FREEDOM’
• ‘GREAT FREEDOM’ PATS A HNTG PORTRA OF AN IMPRISONED GAY MAN

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

” Victor (Ge Friedrich) stammers disbelief, more to himself than to Hans (Franz Rogowski) fictnal character of Hans, liberated om a Nazi ncentratn mp at the end of World War II only to be sent directly to prison, is based on a chillg and often overlooked chapter German postwar is repeatedly arrted unr Paragraph 175, a law crimalizg sex between men that the Nazis expand jt a uple of years to their regime, and which was kept on the books for s law was ed, sometim wh elaborate stg operatns, to nvict up to 50, 000 gay men Wt Germany between 1945 and 1994 — roughly as many as were arrted durg the which the Nazis ed . “For gay men, the Nazi era did not end 1945, ” said Peter Rehberg, the archivist of Schwul Mm, a gay cultural stutn Sebastian Meise, the director of “Great Freedom, ” read about the men who went om the ncentratn mps to prison bee of their sexualy, “really changed my unrstandg of history, ” he said a telephone terview om Vienna.

But for many s, postwar Germany’s treatment of gay men was also neher liberal nor 1935, the Nazis strengthened Germany’s law crimalizg homosexualy, which was origally troduced the 1870s.

IN 'GREAT FREEDOM,' A MAN IS EED OM THE NAZIS, AND RE-IMPRISONED FOR BEG GAY

He moved to Paris 1960 search of more and his wrg partner Thomas Reir llected many stori om Bermbach’s generatn of gay men durg the six years they spent rearchg and wrg the script for “Great Freedom, ” visg the archiv at the Schwul Mm and the Magn Hirschfeld Foundatn, which llects terviews wh men affected by the, Paragraph 175 did not stop gay culture om evolvg Wtern Germany; the German tle of the film, “Grosse Freihe, ” is a nod to a venerable gay bar Berl where the penultimate scene tak place. The tle of the chapter, “The German Inventn of Homosexualy, ” telegraphs a prcipal argument of the book: although same-sex love is as old as love self, the public disurse around , and the polil movement to w rights for , arose Germany the late neteenth and early twentieth centuri. Beachy, a historian who teach at Yonsei Universy, Seoul, ends his book by notg that Germans hold gay-pri celebratns each June on what is known as Christopher Street Day, honor of the street where the Stonewall prott unfold.

By the begng of the twentieth century, a non of gay lerature had emerged (one early advote ed the phrase “Stayg silent is ath, ” nearly a century before aids activists ed the slogan “Silence = Death”); activists were bemoang negative pictns of homosexualy (Thomas Mann’s “Death Venice” was one target); there were bat over the ethics of outg; and a schism opened between an clive, mastream factn and a more rto, anarchistic wg. The towerg legacy of German ialism and Romanticism, which helps to expla why the gay-rights movement took root Germany, has self bee somewhat obscure, pecially outsi the German school system. The episo suggts the gree to which the German cultural and tellectual tradn, particularly the Romantic age, which stretched om Goethe and Schiller to Schopenher and Wagner, embolned those who me to intify themselv as gay and lbian.

”) Schopenher proceed to expound the dub theory that nature promoted homosexualy olr men as a way of disuragg them om ntug to surprisgly, Karl Herich Ulrichs seized on Schopenher’s cur piece of advocy when he began his mpaign; he quoted the philosopher one of his g-out letters to his relativ. Ulrichs might also have mentned Wagner, who, “Die Walküre” and “Tristan und Isol, ” picted illic passns that many late-neteenth-century homosexuals saw as allegori for their own experience. Magn Hirschfeld, his 1914 book “The Homosexualy of Men and Women, ” noted that the Wagner ftival Bayrth had bee a “favore meetg place” for homosexuals, and quoted a classified ad, om 1894, which a young man had sought a handsome pann for a Tyrolean bicyclg expedn; was signed “Numa 77, general livery, Bayrth.

HLER WAS GAY - AND KILLED TO HI , BOOK SAYS

The most revelatory chapter of Beachy’s book ncerns Leopold von Meerscheidt-Hüllsem, a Berl police missner the Wilhelme perd, who, perhaps more than any other figure, enabled “gay Berl” to blossom. A week later, a grim irony, this enigmatic protector killed himself—not on acunt of his homosexual associatns but bee he was exposed as havg taken brib om a lnaire banker acced of statutory rape.

) Hirschfeld, who was born 1868, a year after Ulrichs’s speech Munich, began his radil activi 1896, publishg a pamphlet tled “Sappho and Socrat, ” which told of the suici of a gay man who felt erced to marriage. His tert effemacy among homosexual men, his attentn to lbianism, and his fascatn wh cross-drsg among both gay and straight populatns (he ed the word “transvtism”) offend men who believed that their lt for fellow-mal, pecially for younger on, ma them more virile than the rt of the populatn.

” There is no mentn, for example, of the theatre and mic cric Theo Anna Sprüngli, who, 1904, spoke to the Scientific-Humanarian Commtee on the subject of “Homosexualy and the Women’s Movement, ” helpg to gurate a parallel movement of lbian activism. Employg the alias Anna Rülg, Sprüngli proposed that the gay-rights and femist movements “aid each other reciprolly”; the prcipl at stake both stggl, she wrote, were eedom, equaly, and “self-termatn. After Sprüngli gave her historic speech—one that may have exacerbated the spl between the “masculist” and the “sexologil” factns of the gay movement, as Beachy lls them—she said nothg more about lbianism.

GREAT FREEDOM REVIEW – FORMIDABLY TELLIGENT GAY PRISON DRAMA THAT FDS LIBERTY SI

Yet her sudn silence suggts how quickly gas n slip the goln years of the Weimar Republic, which occupy the last chapters of “Gay Berl, ” gays and lbians achieved an almost dizzyg gree of visibily popular culture. They uld see themselv onscreen films like “Mädchen Uniform” and “Different om the Others”—a tale of a gay vlist driven to suici, wh Hirschfeld featured the supportg role of a wise sexologist. Disdaful reprentatns of gay life were not only lamented but also protted; Beachy pots out that when a 1927 Komische Oper revue lled “Strictly Forbidn” mocked gay men as effemate, a monstratn at the theatre prompted the Komische Oper to remove the offendg sk.

‘GREAT FREEDOM’ PROVIS A RAW, UNPROMISG LOOK AT THE PERSECUTN OF GAY MEN EAST GERMANYLOVE IS LOVEFILMMAKER SEBASTIAN MEISE’S LATT IS A GUT-WRENCHG DRAMA ABOUT GERMANY’S HISTORIL CELTY AGAST GAY MEN, LED BY AN OUTSTANDG TURN OM ACTOR FRANZ ROGOWKSI. NICK SCHAGERENTERTAMENT CRICUPDATED MAR. 05, 2022 4:18AM EST / PUBLISHED MAR. 05, 2022 12:53AM EST CANN FILM FTIVAL/FREIBTERFILM_ROHFILMGREAT FREEDOM TAK S TLE OM THE NAME OF A NIGHTCLUB THAT HANS HOFFMANN (TRANS’S FRANZ ROGOWSKI) ATTENDS 1969 AT THE NCLN OF SEBASTIAN MEISE’S WRENCHG DRAMA (OUT NOW THEATERS)—AN TABLISHMENT OF UNHIBED HOMOSEXUALY, NOW THAT GERMANY’S ANTI-GAY PARAGRAPH 175 STATUTE HAS BEEN RELAXED. NOHELS, TE EEDOM IS A TRICKY AND PLITED MODY THE DIRECTOR’S LONG-AWAED FOLLOW-UP TO 2011’S STILL LIFE, PECIALLY FOR HANS, WHO’S REPEATEDLY RCERATED OVER S UNR THE AFOREMENTNED LAW FOR THE CRIME OF WANTG TO BE WH OTHER MEN. A PORTRA OF LIBERATN FLOURISHG UNEXPECTED PLAC, PULS WH QUIET ANGUISH, LONGG AND FIANCE, LED BY A ROGOWSKI PERFORMANCE THAT NVEYS ASTONISHG PTHS MIMALIST GTUR.HANS IS TRODUCED AN OPENG MONTAGE OF 16MM FILM CLIPS SHOT OM BEHD A TTAGE’S BATHROOM SK MIRROR; EACH SNIPPET, HE ENGAG A SEXUAL ACT WH A STRANGER, TH MAKG CLEAR HIS PROCLIVI. THIS SURREPTLY RERD MATERIAL IS EVINCE A 1968 URT SE AGAST HIM, WHICH ENDS WH A SWIFT NVICTN AND A SENTENCE OF 24 MONTHS. IN EAST GERMANY, PARAGRAPH 175 OUTLAWS SUCH BEHAVR, AND HANS IS SENT OFF TO PRISON, WHERE HE GO THROUGH AN ADMTANCE PROCS LIKE A SEASONED PRO. JT AS THE THORI’ MERA STARED AT HIM WHILE HE PLEASURED HIS PARAMOURS, SO TOO DO GUARDS NOW STAND BY AND WATCH AS HANS STRIPS OUT OF HIS CLOTH AND SPREADS HIMSELF FOR SPECTN, UNRLG HOW SOCIETY SYSTEMATILLY GAZ AT HIM (OFTEN THE NU, AS WHEN HE’S LATER THROWN TO SOLARY NFEMENT), AND DAMNS HIM FOR WHAT SE. HANS OPERAT A SEWG MACHE THE LNDRY ROOM, AND ’S THERE THAT HE NOTIC LEO (ANTON VON LUCKE), ONE OF THE MEN WH WHOM HE’D PREVLY SHARED SOME BATHROOM-STALL TIMACY AT THE TTAGE. THOUGH HANS MAY BE THE OBJECT OF EVERYONE ELSE’S NMNATORY SCTY, HE’S A MAN WHOSE OWN EY ARE TENSELY GEY AND NFINT, SENDG D MSAG THROUGH SMALL, SLY LOOKS AND LIKEMD EXPRSNS, SUCH AS THE SE THAT SOMETIM CREEPS, ALMOST IMPERCEPTIBLY, TO THE RNER OF HIS MOUTH. ROGOWSKI’S TURN IS MARVELO FOR BEG SO ILED AND YET SO MUNITIVE, AND NO MATTER HANS’ PERSECUTN AND MONIZATN—CLUDG OM FELLOW MAT WHO OBJECT TO HIS HOMOSEXUALY—HE RRI HIMSELF WH UNFLAPPABLE NFINCE. HE’S A MAN WHO KNOWS WHO HE IS, WHAT HE WANTS, AND HOW HE N GET , EVEN A PLACE WHERE THE NCRETE WALLS AND HUMORLS GUARDS ARE TERMED TO KEEP HIM ALONE AND ALIENATED OM ANY SPARK OF JOY.THOUGH HANS HAS EY FOR LEO—A TIMID TEACHER WHO’S SPENDG HIS FIRST STT BEHD BARS, AND WHO ULTIMATELY FDS HANS A RELIABLE PROTECTOR AND PARTNER—HIS LASTG RELATNSHIP IS WH VIKTOR KOHL (GE FRIEDRICH), WHO 1968 IS A JUNKIE ON THE VERGE OF A NEW PAROLE HEARG. HANS AND VIKTOR’S NNECTN IS THE NARRATIVE THROUGH-LE OF GREAT FREEDOM, WHICH SOON LEAPS BACKWARD TIME TO 1945 TO WNS HANS FIRST ENTERG THE SAME PRISON AS A MTACHE-EE YOUNGER MAN. A RECENT RINT OF A NAZI NCENTRATN MP, HANS HAS TRAD ONE TENTN CENTER FOR ANOTHER, AND HE’S IMMEDIATELY PLACED A CELL WH VIKTOR, WHO’S DISGTED AT HAVG TO SHARE SPACE WH A HOMOSEXUAL MAN. NEVERTHELS, UPON HEARG ABOUT HANS’ WWII ORAL, HE OFFERS TO TATTOO SOMETHG OVER THE PERMANENT INTIFITN NUMBERS LG HANS’ FOREARM, THEREBY IATG A BOND THAT WILL VELOP OVER THE ENSUG YEARS. BETWEEN VIKTOR’S TATTOO NEEDLE PIERCG HANS’ SK, HANS’ STRAW POKG HOL A BIBLE ORR TO TRANSM A SECRET MSAGE TO A LOVER, THE CIGARETTE THAT’S PERPETUALLY BETWEEN HANS’ LIPS, A STIRRG PAT BSH, AND A MAN BLOWG FURLY TO A SAXOPHONE, PHALLIC AND SEXUALIZED IMAGERY ABOUNDS GREAT FREEDOM, ALBE WH A SUBTLETY THAT’S ENMIC TO THE PROCEEDGS. MEISE OFTEN LEANS HEAVILY ON SILENCE AND LAMENTG TMPET TO ADD WEIGHT AND SORROW TO HIS DRAMA, AS WELL AS OPPRSIVE DARKNS THAT AT TIM SEEMS TENT ON SWALLOWG HANS WHOLE. IN SUCH A BLEAK ENVIRONMENT, HANS’ MATCH PROVI THE ONLY FLICKER OF LIGHT—AN UNRSTATED VISUAL METAPHOR FOR HIS TERNAL ATTEMPTS TO KEEP HIS TE SELF ALIVE A WORLD THAT SEEKS TO ANNIHILATE .IN A 1957 PASSAGE, HANS SUFFERS JAIL WH BOYIEND OSKAR (THOMAS PRENN), WHO ARTICULAT HOW MUCH HE ADMIR HANS FOR HIS FEARLSNS, A QUALY WHICH OSKAR SAYS HE LACKS. GREAT FREEDOM IS A FILM ABOUT LIVG AND LOVG NO MATTER THE HIGH ST, AND THE PA, MISERY AND TRAGEDY THAT DOG SO N ENTAIL. HANS IS TRAPPED BETWEEN BEG HIMSELF AND SOMEONE WHO N SAFELY SURVIVE A NATN THAT SPIS HIM, AND THE PATH HE CHARTS IS A JAGGED ONE, MARKED BY PFALLS HE DON’T FOREE OR DON’T RE TO HEED. HIS RAPPORT WH VIKTOR IS SIARLY RAGGED, WH VIKTOR FALLG TO SUBSTANCE ABE AND PENNCE AT THE SAME TIME THAT HE DRAWS CLOSER TO HANS. THEIR UNN IS FED THROUGH BLUNT SEXUAL ACTS OF NEED, POWER AND SIRE, AND MEISE SHOOTS THEM—AND THE RT OF HIS TRYSTS—WH AN EXPLICNS THAT’S TUNE WH THE OVERARCHG ROUGHNS AND LDNS OF HIS STORY’S I. “IN SUCH A BLEAK ENVIRONMENT, HANS’ MATCH PROVI THE ONLY FLICKER OF LIGHT—AN UNRSTATED VISUAL METAPHOR FOR HIS TERNAL ATTEMPTS TO KEEP HIS TE SELF ALIVE A WORLD THAT SEEKS TO ANNIHILATE .” IN A LATE SCENE, HANS AND VIKTOR WATCH NEIL ARMSTRONG TAKE HIS MOMENTO FIRST STEPS ON THE MOON, TO WHICH VIKTOR MENTS, “I THOUGHT WOULD BE MORE EXCG.” HAPPS, HOWEVER, DISCREET FORMS MEISE’S FILM, SUCH AS VIA HANS’ EFFORTS TO HELP VIKTOR SHAKE HIS DG HAB BY FIRST KNEELG BI HIM AS HE VLENTLY P TO A TOILET, AND AFTERWARD CRADLG HIM A WARM EMBRACE. GREAT FREEDOM SUGGTS THAT THERE’S EEDOM GIVG AND RECEIVG SELFLS LOVE, AND TH ’S THE SIGHT OF VIKTOR CRAWLG TO BED TO SPOON WH HANS (ON THE NIGHT FOLLOWG THE NSUMMATN OF THEIR RELATNSHIP) THAT ROUNDS THE LOUST, EXUDG AN ACHG TENRNS THAT’S FAR MORE PROFOUND THAN THE PRR RNALY DULGED BY EHER MAN.MEISE’S HAB OF SPYG ON HIS CHARACTERS DOORWAYS AND WDOWS, AS WELL AS THROUGH OTHER VISUAL AM, SPEAKS TO HANS AND VIKTOR’S STATE OF NSTRICTG NFEMENT. YET DURG THE FALE, HANS DISVERS THAT EMANCIPATN ISN’T AS CLEAR-CUT AS SEEMS, AND THAT PERHAPS THE PLACE WHERE ONE FEELS MOST EE HAS LTLE TO DO WH WALLS, BARS, OR L. GREAT FREEDOM RAIS SUCH QUTNS BUT WISELY REF TO OFFER PEDANTIC ANSWERS, STEAD CHOOSG TO ACCEPT—AS HANS DO—THE MSY AMBIGUY OF MORN LIFE. NICK SCHAGER

The openns of Berl’s gay scene attracted visors om more benighted lands; Christopher Isherwood lived the cy om 1929 to 1933, enjoyg the easy availabily of htlers, who, Beachy’s book, have a somewhat exhstg chapter to the gay muny, the masculist-sexologil spl persisted. Some of Brand’s associat were flirtg wh Nazism, and not jt a metaphoril sense; one of them later beme the lover of Ernst Röhm, the head of the Brown the First World War, a new figure entered the ay: Friedrich Radszuwe, an entreprenr who tablished a work of gay publitns, cludg the first lbian magaze, Die Frnd.

Röhm never ma a secret of his homosexualy, and Hler chose to overlook ; although the Nazi lear had nounced Hirschfeld and the gay movement as early as 1920, he was too pennt on Röhm’s army of thugs to reject him. Eyewns acunts om Hler's former lovers, and historil documents that for the first time illumate mours that have circulated for over half a century, are disclosed Hler's Secret: The Double Life of a Dictator rpected German historian Lothar Machtan even claims his book that Hler orred the aths of several high-rankg Nazis to prevent the secret of his homosexualy om Röhm, the lear of Hler's Sturm Abteilung or Storm Troopers, tried to blackmail Hler by threateng to reveal his sexualy. Acrdg to Erich Ebermeier, a lawyer and wrer who viewed Hler's ary fil years later: 'Dpe his bravery towards the enemy, bee of his homosexual activy he lost out on a promotn to non-missned officer.

REVIEW: A PERSECUTED GAY MAN FDS TE LIBERATN BETIFULLY BTERSWEET ‘GREAT FREEDOM’

Machtan says that Hler was particularly drawn to Rudolf Hs, his puty, who was known party circl as 'black Emma' and wh whom he had spent months Landsberg, then, did the Nazis persecute homosexuals, sendg hundreds of thoands of them to their aths labour mps and the gas chambers? Opn|Hs, Homosexualy and the Third Reich ADVERTISEMENTJuly 10, New York Tim ArchivSee the article s origal ntext om July 10, 1991, Sectn A, Page 18Buy ReprtsTimMache is an exclive benef for home livery and digal the ArchiveThis is a digized versn of an article om The Tim’s prt archive, before the start of onle publitn 1996. Ocsnally the digizatn procs troduc transcriptn errors or other problems; we are ntug to work to improve the archived the Edor:In "Brish Fil Hi Tth About Hs Plot" (letter, June 21), Wolf Rudiger Hs, the son of Rudolf Hs, alleg that ascribg homosexualy to his father was one of the K.

The Third Reich huiated self wh unprovoked aggrsn, unparalleled barbary, war crim of every sort, genoci and, last of all, the extermatn of at least 10, 000 homosexuals, 90 percent of whom were cizens of the Reich.

Wae, "The Psychopathic God: Adolf Hler, " 1977, clar (page 235) that "Hler was closely associated wh Ernst Rohm and Rudolf Hs, two practicg homosexuals who were among the very few people wh whom he ed the faiar du.

‘GREAT FREEDOM’ PATS A HNTG PORTRA OF AN IMPRISONED GAY MAN

"And the Italian gay activist Massimo Consoli, his 1984 "Homot" (page 39) c thors who allu to the homosexualy not jt of Rudolf Hs, but also of many of the early Nazi Party lears, disclosed by "Ernst Ttis" "Das Drte Reich Stellt Sich Vor" of 1933 (pag 100-12). Grosse Freihe (Great Freedom) is the name of the Fassbr-ish gay bar this film wh a dungeon-style sex club beneath: director and -wrer Sebastian Meise leav to to gge the exact level of irony his tle. Perhaps he se their remblance to prison, whose terrs themselv remble the public lavatori where Hans broke the law, that prison to which lifer Hans had an stutnalised loyalty, part of the lost generatns of gay men whose entire liv were potlsly Freedom is a formidably telligent and well-acted prison movie and also a love story – or perhaps a paradoxilly platonic bromance, stretchg om the end of the send world war to the moon landg.

In the 60s, Hans has a prison moment wh Leo (Anton von Lucke), the young teacher arrted wh him the toilet, and for whom Hans mak a self-sacrificial gture to secure his ’s real relatnship is wh his cellmate, a stolid straight man lled Viktor (Ge Friedrich), like Hans a recidivist veteran of the system who is ially overwhelmed wh homophobic disgt at Hans, but then feels passn on seeg his tattoo.

It is not unmon to hear homosexualists (those both "gay" and "straight" who promote the legimizatn of homosexualy) characterize "gay rights" as the natural third wave of civil rights activism (followg blacks and women).