Ernst Röhm, The Hight-Rankg Gay Nazi - JSTOR Daily

Contents:

• HLER WAS GAY - AND KILLED TO HI , BOOK SAYS
• GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME
• NETFLIX EXPOS THE SECRET GAY HISTORY OF NAZI GERMANY
• GAY HLER
• NEW EVINCE OM HIS DOCTORS SHOWS HLER WAS GAY
• 'GLAMOUR BOYS': BOOK TELLS STORY OF GAY BRISH MPS WHO FORAW HLER'S THREAT
• ERNST RöHM, THE HIGHT-RANKG GAY NAZI

HLER WAS GAY - AND KILLED TO HI , BOOK SAYS

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.

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? It is unclear how many of the men publicly or privately intified as gay or were part of gay muni and works that had been tablished Germany before the Nazi rise to power. Gay newspapers and journals, such as Die Frndschaft (Friendship) and Der Eigene (translated varly, but this ntext implyg “his own man”), ntributed to the growth of gay works.

Fally, 1936 SS lear and Chief of the German Police Herich Himmler tablished the Reich Central Office for the Combatg of Homosexualy and Abortn (Reichszentrale zur Bekämpfung r Homosexualät und r Abtreibung).

GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME

Unverg the histori of gay men durg the Nazi era was difficult for much of the twentieth century bee of ntued prejudice agast same-sex sexualy and the ongog enforcement of Paragraph 175. A few years later, May 2008, the Memorial to Homosexuals Persecuted unr Nazism (Denkmal für die im Natnalsozialism verfolgten Homosexuellen) was unveiled nearby Tiergarten park central Berl.

NETFLIX EXPOS THE SECRET GAY HISTORY OF NAZI GERMANY

At the centre of this myth were claims, eher that Hler surround himself wh homosexuals – although Ernst Röhm was ually the only one they uld name – or that the Führer was himself homosexual. Th: ‘Roehm is a notor homo-sexual, and he has equently abed his ary power as a supreme master over young men a terrible manner’; and, a ltle further down the list: ‘[Edmund] He belonged to the circle around the homo-sexual Roehm’ and was therefore, lerally by associatn, homosexual himself.

This list uld be prolonged to hundreds, for one lunatic office giv another lunatic a post; one murrer, who is a Police Chief, mak another murrer a Capta of Police; one homosexual ‘youth regenerator’ mak another homosexual his A.

There is hardly much pot argug, on the ntrary, that lunatic, murrer and homosexual alike – if one really mt lump them together – are likely to avoid appotg lunatics, murrers and homosexuals, rpectively, for fear of drawg attentn to themselv.

GAY HLER

Röhm’s homosexualy uld be overlooked so long as he remaed eful; the moment he did not, beme a reason for gettg rid of him – as is ma perfectly clear this entry Goebbels’ diary:. But the myth of llective perversn had a purpose to serve the anti-Nazi stggle – which was rarely noticeably pro-homosexual self – and the facts of the matter uld be allowed to lie fallow.

’ a subsectn head ‘The Bachelor’ discs the mours of homosexualy, impotence and syphilis: ‘Almost all of them are whout foundatn, bee those who really know will not or n no longer tell. He mentns the open homosexualy of Röhm and He – ‘The i which they held almost publicly more than once aroed storms of prott wh the Nazi Movement self’ – and the fact that Count Helldorf’s affair wh ‘the adventurer Hansen, alias Steschneir’ did not st the former his job as Berl’s chief of police.

NEW EVINCE OM HIS DOCTORS SHOWS HLER WAS GAY

Yet, spe the signs of dulgence towards homosexualy wh Nazism – ‘He protected his followers as long as he believed he was sure of their fahfulns’ – Billger nclus by reeratg that ‘there is no known basis for the assumptn that Hler himself is homosexual – or ever has dulged homosexualy. Homosexual, impotent, mono-tticular or fted wh syphilis – Hler’s manift cleverns had to be unrmed by creatg the imprsn of a volatile hysteric whose polil perversy had origs sexual perversn. For a while, the homosexualy of Ernst Röhm was a favoure topic among left-wg journalists, attractg a range of negative rpons om ridicule to moral outrage, all signed to unrme the broar Nazi claim to social disciple and moral superry.

Fally, the left-wg poet and journalist Kurt Tucholsky wrote a short say for Die Weltbühne (26 April 1932) straightforwardly entled ‘Röhm’, which he ma a simple and rather touchg plea for the homophobic propaganda to stop. It is not clear whom he means by ‘we’ his climactic peroratn – is vaguely possible that he is a homosexual intifyg wh fellow homosexuals, but more probable that he means fellow leftists, which se he is overstatg the Left’s mment to homosexual law reform – but his rhetoric requir the llective first person to remd the Left of the requirement for solidary:. His argument that Röhm is, as were, a ‘good’ homosexual and servg of the urty of a private life nnot have rried much weight anti-Nazi circl, where the slightt ht of sexual sndal among men who had laid such a substantial claim to the moral high ground would be veloped to s fullt propagandistic potential.

In a sense, Tucholsky’s terventn nnot be accepted as valid the stggle agast Nazism; but is a timely and persuasively genero ntributn to the argument about homosexual equaly. He do, though, allow one way which the knowledge about Röhm’s homosexualy n legimately be ed agast the Nazis while not beg ed agast homosexuals: ‘If Goebbels screech or Hler thunrs about the moral y of morn tim, then should be poted out that there are obvly homosexuals among the Nazi troops. 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).

'GLAMOUR BOYS': BOOK TELLS STORY OF GAY BRISH MPS WHO FORAW HLER'S THREAT

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). Hler's legacy liv on primarily through his name, which has been noted as unual for today's standards (though the word 'gay' was ed terchangeably wh 'happy' at the time of his birth and the name 'Hler' did not hold the same nnotatns as did followg World War II). Christiane Northup, a matriarch of women’s alternative health, who rose to fame on the strength of several “Oprah” appearanc and btsellg books, published by the New Age self-help platform Hay Hoe, whose founr, Louise Hay, was famo for tellg gay men dyg of AIDS that they jt didn’t love themselv enough.

Army terrogator Herman Merl, who was a medil technician who terviewed Hler’s doctors, Karl Brandt and Hler’s primary physician, Theodor Morell, wrote “Homosex” the space provid for Hler’s sexualy. LONDON (Thomson Rters Foundatn) - A group of gay and bisexual Brish lawmakers were among the first to sound the alarm about Adolf Hler’s fascist threat, but - dismissed as “glamour boys” and warmongers - their warngs ially fell on af ears, acrdg to a new a time when gay sex was still illegal Bra, their cisn to break ranks wh then prime mister Neville Chamberla’s policy of appeasg Hler the 1930s was all the more urageo, said the book’s thor Chris Bryant.

“The ernment whips knew how to stroy a person if they wanted to, so gog agast the ti was really a difficult thg to do, ” he told the Thomson Rters Foundatn a vio ll om his nstuency south “The Glamour Boys: The Secret Story of the Rebels who Fought for Bra to Defeat Hler”, Bryant tells how the seven or eight gay and bi members of a group of rebels drew the prime mister’s was Chamberla who dubbed the group the “glamour boys”, a dig at the sexualy of some of their members, and orred secury servic to tap their an untold LGBT+ story of World War Two history, Bryant’s book suggts the fact that some of the rebels were gay and bisexual gave them a unique Hler me to power the early 1930s, the German pal was a haven for LGBT+ people wh members of Brish high society – cludg lawmakers – makg equent trips to sample the sexually liberated nightlife.

ERNST RöHM, THE HIGHT-RANKG GAY NAZI

Members of the group were also among the first to vis the Dach ncentratn mp and “mt have noticed the signifint number of homosexual prisoners”, Bryant wr the nnectn to the untry and the German people gave the MPs a eper unrstandg of 1930s Germany, he also gave their enemi an easy means to dismiss the rebels’ ncerns at a time when homophobia was the norm. “In a sense they put the glamour to the Glamour Boys and thereby gave their powerful polil opponents a stick wh which to beat the whole group, ” wr Bryant, the first gay MP to hold his civil partnership the Palace of Wtmster.

“For a b of this story, you need a queer eye for queer history, ” Bryant said, cg a bgraphy of one of the rebel MPs, Victor Cazalet, which “omted any reference to his homosexualy” said he hoped future historians would take greater note of the pivotal role played by the gay and bisexual MPs.