Date: Sat, 31 Jan 1998 23:20:48 -0800 From: Alex Damien Subject: AIDS Dissident's belief Gays support NAZIs - (one time mailing) The continued presence of chronic homophobe- baiters on the list inspires me to re-run this note I posted a few months ago. Last summer I put some effort into researching the topic of the relationship between German Naziism and homosexuality. The fact is that open homosexuals were involved in the leadership of the early Nazi movement. At a later point, it appears that Hitler pushed them somewhat into the closet in a move to court grass roots public opinion. William L. Shirer, author of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, writes that "murderers, pimps, homosexual perverts, drug addicts, or just plain rowdies were all the same to him [Hitler] if they served his purposes." (p. 50) Shirer's book was written long before the gay rights movement became prominent in the USA, and he therefore had no motive to attack and discredit it by associating homosexuals with Nazis. Another work I consulted was a book entitled Hitler's Children: The Hitler Youth and the SS, published by the University of North Carolina Press. The index referenced the following page numbers for homosexuality: 49, 50-53, 56, 83, 85, 88, 90, 96, and 102. On page 49, it says that "the discovery of homosexuality among JV [jungvolk] leaders presented new problems." On page 50, it says that "certain segments of the despised old youth movement, which always shied away from involving girls in their groups, had been known to have a homosexual problem, and the early HJ [Hitlerjugend] was widely suspected of having similar tendencies." The "old movement" is undoubtably a reference to the Wandervogel, a pre-World War I German youth group whose membership later supplied some of the recruits into early Nazi party activities. On page 51, the North Carolina book says that during the war, "the HJ boys frequently became victims of molestation at the hands of their SS tutors." Although for public relations reasons Himmler talked a hard line against homosexuality, he actually mitigated the penalties against these SS molesters and concealed their activities from the German public. I also looked at the July 1997 issue of The Gay Times, which had an article entitled "100 Years of Gay History" by Denis Staunton. He says that gay liberation began in Berlin 100 years ago, and described the city as a "delicously decadent playground" in the late 1920s. Of course, that was the period in which the Nazi party was on the rise. Staunton also mentions Ernst Roehm, whom he describes as a "homosexual Nazi leader" who was "murdered on Hitler's orders in 1934." One of Hitler's close collaborators in the planning and execution of the Nazi beer hall putsch of the early 1920s, Roehm later became chief of the Storm Troopers (SA). Of course, as a gay propagandist, Staunton would have us believe that the Nazis were always totally anti-homosexual and that poor Roehm was just another victim of heterosexist oppression. The situation wasn't quite that simple. From the works reviewed, it looks like homosexuals were heavily involved in the early stages of the Nazi movement, and retained their influence throughout the Third Reich period, although in later years they had to keep kind of quiet in order to satisfy public opinion. ROEHM: A "NICE GAY NAZI" Later I checked out another author in pursuit of information regarding allegations about the relationship between homosexuality and German Naziism. This author clearly had a pro-gay slant. The book was Homosexuality: A History by Vern L. Bullough (New York: Meridian). Regarding homosexuals in Nazi Germany, he writes: Many modern groups, perhaps recognizing the usefulness of homosexuals as scapegoats, have at times been tolerant of homosexuality, but once in power have turned against them. A good example is the German Nazi Party. Among the founders of the party was the homosexual Ernest Roehm, who has been described, even by opponents of the Nazis, as a first-class organizer who believed earnestly in social reform and was particularly tolerant of other minorities such as Jews. -- page 92 It's funny how writers paint things different ways depending on whatever their personal preferences are. Here we have a pro-gay writer trying to give us the impression that this Nazi creep was a nice guy. After all, he was gay, wasn't he? Bullough goes on to describe what this nice gay Nazi did: Roehm, encouraged by Adolf Hitler, established the first Nazi strong-arm squads which grew into the Sturmabteilung (Storm Troopers). Roehm was involved with Hitler in the famed Beer Hall Putsch in Munich which led to Hitler's arrest and confinement. It was while in confinement after this incident that Hitler wrote Mein Kampf. When Hitler was released from prison the party underwent some reorganization, and both Roehm and another homosexual, Edmund Heines, were removed from leadership. -- page 92 Hitler decided to call Roehm and Heines back into service, however, and Roehm became chief of staff of the Storm Troopers. Bullough informs us that other homosexuals such as Karl Ernst were also active in the group. Opponents of the Nazis were using the homosexuality of Roehm as a tactic to discredit the party, and Roehm ended up being killed in 1933. Some interpretations have it that Hitler had him killed in order to deprive his opponents of the opportunity to use this issue. Others say that Roehm was just one of many SA members killed in a power struggle with the SS, which regarded the SA as a threatening rival organization. Bullough writes that from this time on the Nazis conducted harsh repression against homosexuals, but another work I have quoted from said that Himmler talked a hard line against homosexuality publicly while quietly mitigating the penalties against SS members who had molested members of the Hitler Youth organization. ADOLPH BRAND & ADOLPH HITLER Some gay writers in the USA credit homosexuals in pre- Nazi Germany as making an important contribution to the modern gay political movement. This is shown by a work entitled We Are Everywhere: A Historical Source Book of Gay and Lesbian Politics, edited by Mark Blasins and Shane Phelan. It had an entire section entitled "The Emergence of a Gay and Lesbian Political Culture in Germany." The section reproduced in part a 1925 work entitled What We Want by German homosexual Adolph Brand, writing for the GDE (Gemeinschaft der Eigenen which means Community of Self-owners). Brand was against pre-marital heterosexual sex and condemned prostitution while promoting homosexuality between unmarried men. He also wrote that the procreation of children was not the goal of love, because Germany already had "enough sick and stunted people, imbeciles and idiots." Additionally, Brand made it clear that the GDE "pursues no leveling mania" and "places only those leaders at the head of the nation who are born leaders and great personalities." Of course, the editors of We Are Everywhere did not admit that there was any compatibility between homosexual politics and fascism. On the contrary, they presented the deceptive, misleading, and simplistic impression that the Nazis were entirely anti-homosexual and out to crush them. So far I have not found any literature which clearly identifies Brand as involved with the Nazi party or any of its predecessors, such as the Wandervogel. Nonetheless, it is clear from Brand's writings that the GDE did have a few things in common with the fascists. The emphasis on not pursuing a "leveling mania" appears to be a swipe at Bolshevism, which of course Hitler hated. The implications of their putting faith in a great personality to lead the nation are of course obvious. In further investigation, I took a look at Hitler's Mein Kampf, which had a section about "blood sin and desecration of the race." This was largely about syphilis, which for the most part Hitler blamed on prostitution. Interestingly enough, throughout this passage he said nothing about homosexuality, which contemporary gay activists would have us believe he was totally against and wanted to destroy. Since male-to-male sex can certainly spread syphilis, it seems very likely that Hitler would have used this occasion to attack homosexuality, if he were indeed anti-homosexual. Hitler also advocated sterilization of what he called "defective people." Like Hitler, the German homosexual Brand also condemned prostitution and the presence of "defective" people in Germany. Given this plus all the other evidence I have cited, without a doubt there was some significant overlap between the views of fascist and homosexual leaders in pre-Nazi Germany. In summary, it is clear that there were numerous homosexuals involved in the early days of the Nazi party as well as its predecessor the Wandervogel. The fact that several historians have recorded this indicates that the homosexuals certainly were not quietly "in the closet." SS officers continued throughout the Third Reich period to molest members of the Hitler Youth. Is there some compatibility between fascism and the ideological core of homosexual political movements, or is this to be seen merely as a situation in which some of the high-ranking Nazis just happened to be homosexuals? The bullying tactics that contemporary gay/AIDS activists -- and now pseudo-Rethinkers -- have used in attempts to intimidate dissenters along with their tendency to hurl the accusation "homophobe" around indiscriminantly need to be considered as we ponder this question. Are they acting in the tradition of their Nazi forebears? -- Michael Wright Sorrento95@aol.com (The above individual is regularly on and supported by some AIDS Dissidents via Mailing Lists that can be located at http://www.netcom.com/~alexdn/aidslink.html ) *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* ALEX DAMIEN:::::::::Visit Web site under continual construction @ http://www.netcom.com/~alexdn/ http://www.netcom.com/~alexdn/aids.html YOUR comments and suggestions are necessary. AlexDn@ix.netcom.com Thank you. Yes, the public is wonderfully tolerant. It forgives everything except genius. The Critic As Artist, Oscar Wilde -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-