According to Konrad Heiden, author of the 1944 book Der Fuehrer: Hitler's Rise To Power, in May 1927 Adolf Hitler called together the Munich S.A. and shouted,

"The clique from the Bratwurstglöckl are all fairies: Heinz, Röhm, Zentner, and the rest. Am I supposed to take accusations from such people?" ( Heiden, page 294 )

by Bruce Wilson on Fri Sep 03, 2010 at 11:33:59 AM EST

Bruce, sounds like Lively did some David Barton-type investigation.

by wilkyjr on Fri Sep 03, 2010 at 12:07:54 PM EST

I clearly remember hearing and reading this when I was in a dominionist "denomination" 30 years ago... it was preached at least a couple of times (that Hitler was gay), and I read it several times in the "denomination's" publications.

I believed it for years, until I learned that gays were singled out for persecution too.

by ArchaeoBob on Fri Sep 03, 2010 at 01:16:56 PM EST

I don't know if anyone here really needs to be educated on the subject, but the source of the myth is the fact that Ernst Rohm was gay. The early Nazi Party had many colorful whackos who disagreed with each other (Hitler was Party Member #5). There were those like Goebbels who only wanted socialism for whites (like Medicare I guess), those like Goering who had connections to the recently-overthrown Kaiser's elite and merely wanted an elitist state, those like Himmler who wanted to fully restore feudalism and serfdom, and then there was Ernst Rohm............................................................. ................................................................. .... There were a lot of street toughs like Rohm creating right-wing gangs called Freikorps in 1919; many German soldiers had discovered their homosexuality in the trenches, but many more discovered that they liked being armed thugs. Rohm's faction also hated industrialization and capitalism. Their intent was to overthrow the ownership of the factories, or perhaps instead to close all the factories and force everyone to become farmers.......................................................... ................................................................. ...... All of these nuts were of use to Hitler; under his "fuehrer principle" one's loyalty was the only thing that mattered because Hitler was the sole decision-maker. Those who became a problem to him were at first thrown out of the party, but as his power grew he gained the means to eliminate his rivals, one after another.......................................................... ................................................................. ..... It didn't really matter what Rohm's platform was until Hitler came to power promising the corporations and Army that they'd be protected in his new order. Rohm's militia was a threat to both, so Hitler wiped out its entire leadership as proof of his sincerity. The survivors were subjugated to Hitler's new priority of upholding traditional institutions by loading them up with loyalists, and increasing childbirth rates to enlarge the Aryan population....................................................... ................................................................. ... So nothing remained of Rohm's economic or social radicalism. The 3rd Reich was a capitalist state with a party-run military-industrial complex. And Himmler's growing importance and Germany's occupation practices seem to show that Hitler was moving further towards neo-feudalism and neo-slavery. Why, then, should Rohm's sexual preferences have mattered?........................................................ ........................................................ (And finally, note that if Rohm's decentralized agrarian militia state had won out over Hitler's vision, there would have been no WW2 because Germany would have been too backward to invade even Poland.)

by super390 on Fri Sep 03, 2010 at 01:34:48 PM EST

If accurate history of the Nazi era was being taught the parallels to the more extreme elements of our Religious Right would be all too obvious.  That's why they have to rewrite it.

I was very concerned about the recent articles published by JTA and the Jewish Daily Forward in which they repeated discredited conspiracy theories about Hitler being partially Jewish. http://www.talk2action.org/story/2010/8/24/18554/3489/

Not only are these claims discredited, but the idea that Hitler was gay (and partially Jewish) is a vital component for some versions of the New World Order ideology that we are seeing pop up in political dialogue.  The victims must be made into the villains - otherwise they can't claim that history is a cosmic battle between good and evil, with right wing Christians always fighting on the side of the angels.  They are rewriting history to claim that Nazism was a product of the political Left.  If they were teaching history instead of conspiracy theories, it would be clear that whatever Nazism eventually became, it was a product and partner of the political Right and was marketed to Germans and as a  holy bulwark to protect Christianity from "atheistic Bolshevism."  Hitler stated in 1934, "We have therefore undertaken the fight against the atheistic movement, and that not merely with a few theoretical declarations: we have stamped it out."  

Nazism was viciously anti-gay and promoted what today's Right calls "family values" for Aryan Germans.  The Nazis displayed "degenerate art" supposedly slated for destruction in the Entartete Kunst exhibit, including art they claimed demeaned Christianity. Their famous book burnings included the huge archives of Magnus Hirschfield on homosexuality.


by Rachel Tabachnick on Fri Sep 03, 2010 at 03:29:54 PM EST

Years ago I read a small book titled "The Men with the Pink Triangle." It is a first person account of persecution of homosexuals in the Nazi death camps. I just checked on Amazon.com, and it is still available. As I recall, it is a chilling account of what really happened.

by MLouise on Fri Sep 03, 2010 at 03:39:27 PM EST

It's well known that Hitler was obsessed with his half-niece Geli Raubal. His relationship with her was no doubt of a sexual nature. When she died of a gunshot wound, he went into a great depression.

He also had a long relationship with Eva Braun, whom he ultimately married hours before they died.

Those that say he was gay are just trying to smear homosexuals with the 'Hitler taint'. They are probably dealing with strong homosexual tendencies within themselves and are projecting their self hatred on to those who are openly gay... IMHO.

by COinMS on Sat Sep 04, 2010 at 10:36:49 AM EST

"It is  reported that Chancellor Adolf Hitler gives to the temperance movement the prestige of his personal example since he neither uses intoxicants nor smokes"  ...Official Report of the Fifth Baptist World Congress.
    Goes to show some "official reports" don't always get the record straight.  

by wilkyjr on Tue Sep 07, 2010 at 08:42:32 AM EST