UC Santa Barbara > History Department > Prof. Marcuse > Courses > Hist 133B Homepage > 133B Book Essays Index page > Student essay
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A Carefully Construed Framework, However Unyielding: The Exploration of Hitler's Homosexuality in His Ascent to Power Book Essay
on: Lothar Machtan,
by Michelle Duperrault for Prof. Marcuse's lecture course |
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& Abstract |
and Links |
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About Michelle Duperrault I am a third-year double major in Global Studies and Political Science with an emphasis in International Relations and a minor in French. I am very interested in studies on the Holocaust and genocide in general. I have traveled to over 15 countries, including Germany in the summer of 2008. For this class, I was interested in learning more about who Hitler was through a less traditional perspective. For that reason, I chose to explore the less known possibilities of his homosexuality. Abstract (back to top) In The Hidden Hitler, professor Lothar Machtan maintains that although thousands of scholars have attempted to understand and explain Adolf Hitler, he is the first to uncover the secret of Hitler the man. Machtan explores the possibilities of the homosexual relationships Hitler may have had before his ascent to a political career with detailed accounts of the backgrounds of the people that Hitler had relationships with. Although Machtan concludes that Hitler was indeed a homosexual, I argue that he only presents a believable framework for this possibility. His evidence is thorough and extensive, but also partially based on biased personal accounts. Machtan offers little counterargument and expects the reader to take the fact of much of his argument for granted. I hold that Macthan does bring very real possibilities of Hitler's homosexuality to light but does not have enough evidence to thoroughly convince any astute reader of an absolute truth. |
Essay (back to top) “Of all the major world leaders of the 20th century, [Hitler] is probably the least known or understood in terms of his formative years or his inner emotional life” (Lewes, 142). Many historians and authors have sought to understand and explain the person responsible for the greatest atrocities of our time. Although there have been over 120,000 attempts to explore the outside influences on Hitler’s life, Lothar Machtan maintains that he is the first to uncover the hidden secret of “Hitler the man” (Lewes, 140-141). Machtan, an associate professor of modern and current history at Bremen University in Germany, seeks to uncover Hitler’s homosexual relationships and how they influenced his rise to power and even his subsequent actions in the first of his works to be translated into English, The Hidden Hitler. He further explains that “understanding Hitler’s sexual orientation does not supply the key to his career, but a knowledge [that] gives scope for new interpretations—interpretations that in no way mitigate Hitler’s crimes and Hitler’s guilt or present his policies in a better light, but which can explain aspects of them more precisely” (Machtan, 321). Although Machtan presents many different spheres of promising evidence, a sound framework of the possibility of a homosexual Hitler is the only definitive conclusion. However, the question of whether or not Hitler was indeed a homosexual, remains to be unconditionally proven. Machtan’s biography focuses on Hitler’s life between 1907 and 1935. It begins with a brief synopsis of his childhood but plunges into Hitler’s life in detail after his mother dies and he moves to Vienna in 1908. These early years are categorized by his intimate relationships with other men, central to the formation of his lifestyle, identity, and worldview. He spent his early adulthood in semibohemian poverty, making his living off paintings he sold on the street. He moved frequently, and lived in neighborhoods known for their diverse inhabitants and alternative communities that included gays, artists, and runaways (Macthan, 60). We first examine Hitler through the lens of August Kubizek, the first relationship that is examined in the text. “Kubizek’s account coincides in many respects with contemporary descriptions of homosexual friendship” (Machtan, 39). Machtan references sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld many times to confirm tendencies and parallels of the homosexual community, as well as of relationships and individuals. There are multiple accounts of Hitler displaying jealousy and anger due to perceived threats from others regarding his relationship with Kubizek. Machtan maintains that Hitler’s relationship with Kubizek was a homoerotic friendship, but not necessarily sexual. The Hidden Hitler is one of the few texts that deals with the ambiguities concerning Hitler’s income that supposedly supported him throughout his nomadic period. Before the text even addressed the issue I found his living off his paintings to be very unrealistic and improbable, as I had read in other works on Hitler. I believe this to be one of the strongest indicators of the possibilities of his homosexual relationships as he is confirmed to have lived in neighborhoods and places where it was common for older men to seek out young male gigolos (Machtan, 56). Karl Honisch, a fellow resident of the hostel, observed Hitler in no kind of financial hardship and in fact testified to his “‘extremely respectable lifestyle’” (Machtan, 55). There is a strong possibility that Hitler maintained relationships with older men for money, as the reason for his political success was due to relationships he solidified with older, more powerful men than him. These successful connections are demonstrated through relationships with Ernst Röhm, Dietrich Eckart, and Ernst Hanfstaengl. “The reasons for his meteoric rise were not only structural; without the patronage of certain men who helped promote him in the right circles at the right time, it would have been quite impossible” (Machtan, 105). Röhm took Hitler under his wing and helped him achieve success in the right-wing political arena. Hitler knew of Röhm’s sexuality as early at 1920 (Machtan, 107). Hitler shared close relationships with the other men who also pushed him to the top. Any homosexual tendencies that Hitler may have had were only exacerbated by the “ideologically charged cornerstones of homosexual eroticism and sexuality of the fascist male-bonding culture” (Machtan, 109). Macthan’s main argument is that Hitler’s homosexuality and correlating relationships were essential in opening “doors for him… Without the help of those influential friends, he would not have had the support that he got from bourgeois circles and even from intellectuals and artists” (Washington Post). However, after his ascension to the chancellorship in 1933, Hitler needed to destroy all evidence of his controversial past and relationships. This included bribes that bought silence and false stories; the destruction, censorship, and alteration of documents; and ultimately, the murder of prominent Nazi leaders who knew Hitler on a more personal basis. The Night of Long Knives was a four-day massacre of former comrade Ernst Röhm and 150 of his SA troops done in to protect himself from any potential blackmail from the publicly avowed homosexual group. Machtan also argues that Röhm’s assassination was necessary for Hitler because he was insecure with Röhm’s knowledge of his homosexuality and Röhm’s own success. As the next most powerful Nazi, he needed to get rid of this challenge to his power. It is important to note, though, that Hitler’s goal in this instance was to free himself of any imminent liabilities, and he “was not the driving force of the persecution of homosexuals during the Holocaust. He himself never publicly commented on questions involving homosexuality” (Washington Post). Himmler and the SS were the main perpetrators. However, because Hitler was always paranoid about the possibility of blackmail and public criticism he did have a personal interest in subduing the homosexual population in attempts to maintain and bolster his power (Washington Post). “He allowed the persecution of gays in order to disguise his own true colors” (Connolly, Guardian). Machtan constructs a solid framework in which a homosexual Hitler could have have existed. Homosexuality could have very well formed the essence of Hitler’s private character, his paranoia of others, his desire to hide his early life, and ultimately his decision to assassinate 150 of his own men. Machtan uses a multitude of reliable sources in German and English, including many other Hitler biographies and works, newspapers, personal documents that survived, and a psychological point of view. I believe this allows for readers to be able to reconstruct the popular feelings and social structure of the day to an extent. However, Machtan presents this information in a way that does not let the facts speak for themselves, but entrusts us to believe his assumptions all the way through the text. In the introduction of his book, he even states that “it is important to recognize [Hitler’s] sexual orientation as a historical fact,” rather than a theory or a presentation of ideas (Machtan, 25). Throughout the text many inferences are made. Further, how are we supposed to take unreliable sources seriously? Machtan bases one of his principle arguments on the testimony of Hans Mend, who was known to be a “habitual liar and blackmailer” (Reich, New York Times). Although new, we must accept these sources as nothing more than circumstantial and not evidentiary. Machtan further argues that he is not equating homosexuality with the evil committed by Hitler, yet he tries for a clear correlation between Hitler’s being homosexual and his subsequent actions. The text itself can even be classified as a further extension of the stigma exhibited towards homosexuality itself. Why are we examining homosexuality as a potential influence in the first place? Machtan’s ultimate goal is to explain the “the Hitler of Auschwitz,” and personal aspects of Hitler’s life that might shed light on that Hitler. Machtan seems to only validate points that work with his thesis and disregard facts that do not. He dismisses Hitler’s relationships with women by merely testifying that they existed for the sake of the public eye. He equates male friendships Hitler had with a homosexual or homoerotic relationship, when it is clear that Hitler had a great power to command wonder and loyalty in most people he met. Especially after he came to power, practically everyone loved the Fuhrer and possessed an unhealthy adoration for him. It is not only homosexual men who fell under Hitler’s spell over Nazi Germany. The closeness and intense loyalty of everyone in the Nazi community is what allowed Hitler’s dictatorship to thrive. Another way I believe Machtan’s style is ineffective is in his long narratives that go into depth about each person who could have influenced Hitler’s life. Although the evidence is there, it is emphasizing the life of someone else, rather than his thesis regarding Hitler. The focus is shifted away from Hitler and Machtan’s argument and the reader’s attention is focused on a potentially inconsequential person. Not nearly as much effort is focused on explaining the time and environment of Hitler’s world, however somewhat included. It is more important to understand that context of the culture that Hitler was living in rather than a biographical account of each person he met in his ascent to power. We do learn much more than the typical Hitler biography or textbook offers in Machtan’s effort to uncover the personal side of Hitler. “He does demonstrate that his life, in both personal and the political spheres, was suffused with homosexual themes and personalities. In some odd way, this may actually serve to humanize Hitler, but it doesn’t serve to explain him” (Reich, New York Times). The book itself barely touches on Hitler’s obsession with race and antisemitism, even though it is through that ideology that he gains his power. The main focus of his efforts during the Holocaust and World War II is the eradication of Jews. Whether he was homosexual or not does not explain or even correlate to his main motives while he was in power. The overwhelming bulk of Machtan’s research is inconclusive, and that is clear to readers throughout the text. Eligible evidence is presented and scrutinized by through the mind frame of one already made up. Counter arguments are not used to solidify the facts of the argument presented, and instead vague, rhetorical questions are asked of the reader which require the obligation of leniency towards the author’s claims. We are greatly enlightened by this carefully built framework that Machtan presents to us, but we must remain vigilant in the face of facts and theory. |
Bibliography and Links (back to top)(links last checked 3/x/09) Book Reviews Reich, Walter. “All the Fuhrer’s Men.” The New York Times. 16
December 2001. 28 January 2009. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=.... Lewes, Kenneth. 2003. The Hidden Hitler and the Hidden Reader. Studies
in Gender and Sexuality 4 (2): 140f. (uc
elinks) Connolly, Kate. “Hitler was gay – and killed to hide it, book says.” The Guardian. 7 October 2001. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/oct/07/books.booksnews “The Hidden Hitler.” The Washington Post. 17 October 2001. http://discuss.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/zforum/01/author_machtan1017.htm Web Sites Scott Lively, “Homosexuality and the Nazi Party”, http://www.leaderu.com/jhs/lively.html. Jack Nusan Porter, “Homosexuals, Genocide of in the Holocaust”, 1998,
http://chgs.umn.edu/educational/homosexuals.html. Wikipedia, “Adolf Hitler’s Sexuality”, (accessed March 20, 2009), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler%27s_sexual_orientations. Books and Articles Botting, Douglas and Sayer, Ian. The Women Who Knew Hitler: the Private
Life of Adolf Hitler. New York: Carroll and Graf Publishers, 2004.
304 pages. Google
books. Kennedy, Hubert and Oosterhuis, Harry. Homosexuality and Male Bonding
in Pre-Nazi Germany: The Youth Movement, the Gay Movement, and Male Bonding
Before Hitler's Rise. Haworth Press: 1991. 271 pages. Google
books. |
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Any student tempted to use this paper for an assignment in another course or school should be aware of the serious consequences for plagiarism. Here is what I write in my syllabi:
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