HOMO HITLER?
More than 120.000 books and thesis's has been made about Hitler and Nazism. A few of them have speculated about Hitlerīs alleged homosexuality, but only "Pink Swastica" has outed Hitler outright based on rather dubious sources. Lothar Machtan, Modern History Professor at Bremen University has better credentials but in his book "Hitlerīs Geheimnis- Das Doppelleben eines Diktators" really donīt offer new evidence.
Renowned historian and caretaker of the the Hitler-familyīs heritage, Werner Maser, has talked with at least 20 women who had sexual relations with Hitler. Furthermore Eva Braunīs diary (not even mentioned by Machtan) bear witness to the fact that they had sex regularly .
So maybe Hitler was bi-sexual, but some sinister Freudian theories are launched somehow connecting the evilness of the man with his homosexuality. This spin-doctoring will play well to a lesser educated Christian audience, just wait and see.
Lothar Machtan, Modern History Professor at Bremen University:-
"Hitlerīs Geheimnis-
Das Doppelleben eines Diktators"
Alexander Fest Verlag, Berlin, 2001
462 pages, 22,90 Euro
Book lifts covers on Hitler's "gay friendships"
Adolf Hitler had numerous homoerotic friendships in the
1920s and the dictator's later life can only be understood by taking into
account his gay preferences, a German historian has said.
In a book to be launched at next week's Frankfurt book fair, Lothar
Machtan, Modern History Professor at Bremen University, hopes to shed new
light on old speculation that the Nazi leader was a closet homosexual.
"Adolf Hitler was fond of men. He had a homosexual nature," Machtan told
Die Welt daily in an interview due for publication on Saturday. "This
seems at first quite trivial. But it is a detail that helps us to see his
biography from another angle."
Machtan, author of "Hitler's secret -- the double life of a dictator",
said the subject had been taboo among historians, partly because examining
Hitler's private life might be seen as a step towards humanising him and
excusing his crimes.
Machtan said there was also no irrefutable proof that Hitler was gay.
"The job of the historian is to examine the facts and put them together in
a plausible way. From them comes indicative evidence that Hitler was
fixated on his own sex his whole life, but a mistake in that can never be
ruled out," he said.
"One must be very careful with the expression 'homosexual activities'
because we do not know how Hitler lived them out. We can say that until
the late 20s Hitler had a range of homoerotic friendships. Many of them
were characterised by contemporaries as homosexual," he said.
Machtan said that from 1930 Hitler felt that his past could be used
against him and this was behind his decision in 1934 to have killed many
former gay friends from his time in Munich, including Ernst Roehm, the
leader of his stormtroopers.
Tens of thousands of German gays later perished in concentration camps at
the hands of the Nazis.
Machtan said he did not believe that Hitler's homosexuality had anything
to do with his decision to murder Europe's Jews, although he said there
was evidence that time spent living a gay lifestyle in Vienna had helped
fuel his anti-Semitism.
Hitler suffered from prejudice against homosexuals but also benefited from
his experiences in male societies in Munich where he learned to manipulate
a kind of erotic charisma, he said.
"This kind of self stage-managing was completely new in those days. It was
existential acting," Machtan said. "It initiated his career in the
homosocial milieu of the men's associations and later on the stage of
great politics."
Adolf Hitler was homosexual and had a number of
homoerotic relationships in his youth, a German historian has asserted in
a new book to be published Monday in 12 countries.
Lothar Machtan, a professor of history at Germany's University of Bremen,
writes in his new book "Hitler's Secret - The Double Life of a Dictator"
that the future Nazi leader cultivated close, affectionate relationships
with a number of men in his youth that had heavily erotic overtones.
"We can say that Hitler had several homoerotic friendships up through the
1920s," Machtan told Die Welt newspaper.
"Many of them would be described by people today as homosexual."
He said that Hitler during this period belonged to a circle of male
friends in the southern German city of Munich that had a "homosexual
orientation".
There is no definitive "proof" that Hitler had sex with men, Machan said.
But he asserted there was clear circumstantial evidence of homoerotic
relationships throughout Hitler's early life.
Machan said his theory was relevant to the study of the history of the
Nazi period both in terms of the new light it shed on Hitler as a man and
the role it might have played in the Fuehrer's political decisions.
"From 1930 on, Hitler felt that he could be blackmailed for his past,"
Machan said.
"From that point, he was forced again and again to defend himself against
such attempts."
Machtan writes that Hitler's later relationship with Eva Braun, his
companion during the length of his rule whom he married shortly before
their double suicide in 1945, was only for show and probably never
consummated.
Rumors about Hitler's possible homosexuality have surfaced repeatedly
since World War II, but Machan said he presents fresh accounts and
previously unpublished documents that led new credence to the theory.
The book, which attracted extensive attention in Germany's weekend press,
will be presented this week at the giant Frankfurt Book Fair.
Machtan, 52, has been a professor at the University of Bremen since 1989,
specializing in 19th and 20th century history. He is the author of a
successful 1998 biography of the first chancellor of the German empire,
Otto von Bismarck.
The Frankfurt Book Fair, the world's largest event of its kind, will run
October 9-15 and draw more than 6,600 exhibitors from 105 countries to
Germany's financial capital.
German historian claims Hitler was a closet homosexual in new book
- A German historian launched a new book at the Frankfurt Book Fair on Wednesday that revives old speculation that Adolf Hitler was a closet homosexual.
Lothar Machtan, author of "The Hidden Hitler," said in an interview with The Associated Press that long-ignored evidence strongly suggests the Nazi dictator had homosexual tendencies but that he masked his leanings because they conflicted with his ruthless drive for power.
"You can reduce it to one sentence: Adolf Hitler was attracted to men," said Machtan, 52, a Bremen University professor. "Or, he had homosexual leanings."
Historians have long assumed that Hitler never consummated his relationships with women, including his longtime companion Eva Braun. Previous biographers have raised questions about Hitler's sexual orientation.
But no major biography has claimed outright that Hitler was gay.
English historian Alan Bullock, author of "Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives" said that not enough was known about Hitler to make such a statement.
"You can make a case that maybe he was, but it seems highly improbable," Bullock said in a telephone interview. "I'd want more evidence."
Machtan said his key evidence was a letter written in 1948 by Hans Mend to a German diplomat saying that he had seen Hitler lying in the hay with "his male whore" while serving in France during World War I in 1915.
The letter has been examined by other historians, but Machtan says he is the first to take it seriously.
Machtan theorizes that Hitler's internal struggle with his sexuality formed part of his charisma and created a bond with his closest associates.
"The Hidden Hitler" was released Wednesday in 12 languages, including English. Machtan is launching a U.S. book tour on Friday.
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