'Eldorado' documentary explor LGBTQ+ Weimar Germany - Philalphia Gay News

Contents:

• NETFLIX EXPOS THE SECRET GAY HISTORY OF NAZI GERMANY
• THE INFAMO GAY ELDORADO CAFE IN BERL, GERMANY. NETFLIX TAK A LOOK INSI IN “ELDORADO: EVERYTHG THE NAZIS HATE”.
• GAY CLUB ELDORADO (NORTHERN CAPE)
• GAY BAR ELDORADO (MARYLAND)
• GAY CLUB ELDORADO
• GAY CLUB ELDORADO
• GAY CLUB PUERTO ELDORADO

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. 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).

THE INFAMO GAY ELDORADO CAFE IN BERL, GERMANY. NETFLIX TAK A LOOK INSI IN “ELDORADO: EVERYTHG THE NAZIS HATE”.

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 Eldorado Cafe, aka Tanzlokale für Herrenone one of the largt gay, lbian, and transvte clubs Berl, Germany is shut down ne days after a “Public Moraly” directive that gay bars, clubs, and f be closed.

GAY CLUB ELDORADO (NORTHERN CAPE)

And so began the begng of the end for hundreds of thoands of gays, lbians, drag queens, and transvt prewar Berl. Gay men would scend on the Karls-Lounge, where the waers and “Le Boys” all wore neat sailor’s outfs.

GAY BAR ELDORADO (MARYLAND)

All “amements wh dancg of a homosexual nature” were now subject to an earlier closg time of 10 pm and many bars and dance halls turned themselv to private clubs an attempt to sistep the new laws. In October 1932, the gay scene was alt an almost fatal blow when the Chief of Police orred a ban on same-sex upl dancg public. Röhm was both a lear of the Nazi Party and a quasi-openly gay man who equented the Eldorado — a game that he uldn’t mata forever.

Whisnant:As early as the turn of the century, Berl's gay scene was attractg such notoriety that equently was mentned tourist lerature, liftg up the cy's gay scene as proof of the evils of urban life and the dangers of morny; them, Berl beme the untry's Sodom and Gomorrah put together, a sure sign of the land's the stag of Berl, the Tiller Girls showed off their legs, dancg a Rockett-style performance that amazed and tillated spectators. For the general public, this world was bewilrg--and que possibly Germany's gay men and lbians, though, Berl reprented promise.

Its gay scen offered excg plac to hunt for love and happs. "Diverse, but DividMagn Hirschfeld, a Jewish German physician, sexologist and pneerg gay rights advote, was well acquated wh Berl's scene and mented on the diversy among the bars.

GAY CLUB ELDORADO

Bis the Mother Cat, Nacke vised several other bars that were gatherg plac for gay men om the workg class and lower middle class. "In many of the rtrants, effemate homosexuals felt relaxed enough to "give ee re to their feme nature.

By far the most famo was the Eldorado a nightclub whose ftive atmosphere attracted not only homosexuals but also artists, thors, celebri, and tourists wantg to admire a piece of "nt" Berl or tch a glimpse of someone Lbian Club SceneLbians uld also be found some of the bars that were voted mostly to gay men [and were] often seen the larger clubs of the 1920s, such as the Topp and the Eldorado. The Dorian Gray, one of the olst and bt-known gay clubs by the Weimar era, had a special night set asi for the turn of the century, there were also a handful of exclively lbian bars the cy. The atmosphere was generally refed; the lightg was soft and sentimental mic played the of the most famo was Chez Ma Belle Sor on Marburger Strasse, rated Greek-style and furnished wh private booths, where upl uld take refuge behd the gay bars, many of the lbian bars were segregated somewhat by class.

GAY CLUB ELDORADO

"Gay and Lbian BallsBerl's var homosexual tablishments beme famo for the elaborate gay balls that they would throw on regular ocsns.

One French observer of the cy around the turn of the century noted that gay balls were held often several tim a week different clubs durg the ftive season between October and Easter. Lbians sometim uld be found at the male gay balls, and lbian bars held their own balls.

They would s down to eat at tabl led wh flowers; the director, drsed a "gay velvet jacket, " would greet the guts and give a short dner, the tabl would be put away, and the orchtra would beg playg waltz and other lively dancg mic while the upl would dance through the night.

GAY CLUB PUERTO ELDORADO

" *Excerpt om the chapter "The Growth of Urban Gay Scen, Berl's Gay and Lbian Bars, " om Queer Inti and Polics Germany: A History, 1880-1945, by Clayton J. His first book was Male Homosexualy Wt Germany, 1945-1969: Between Persecutn and Freedom. Only weeks earlier, however, this buildg had hosted the Eldorado nightclub2—a central lotn for Berl's gay and transgenr muni.

Berl emerged as "the undisputed gay pal of the world, " and German activists like Magn Hirschfeld beme important members of an ternatnal gay rights movement. Two months after this photograph was taken, members of the SA and a Nazi stunt group plunred and vandalized Berl's Instute for Sexual Science—Magn Hirschfeld's center for amic rearch on sexualy and genr that was another inic part of Berl's gay and transgenr muni—and stroyed roughly 12, 000 books and 35, 000 photographs, along wh other lerature that they nsired "generate.

The film reveals what happened to Gottied and Manasse as the Nazis rose to power and Paragraph 175, which crimalized homosexualy, was enforced. Another gay man promently featured the film is Walter Arlen, who spryly reunts his love for Lumpi, whom he met as a teenager and shared an tense iendship. But aga, as the Nazis rose to power, Arlen and Lumpi are targeted bee they are both Jewish and gay.