What Few People Realize: Gay Hitler

What few people realize is that when the SA leaders say at the balcony that Hitler was Rohm's buddy, it is an innuendo, a suggestion that Hitler was gay too.

Visconti had a love-hate relationship with nazi germany. During the early nazy regime, he admired the nazis and even rose to his feet when the nazi songs were played on the radio. This was witnessed by Visconti's German lover Horst, a photographer. It was only later that Visconti turned against Nazi Germany.

The aesthetics of nazism is very masculine and very gay. Just look at the statues Hitler commended to Arno Brecker and Josef Thorak. Huge muscular nude male couples, ready for war. Hitler declared many times his admiration for ancient Greece, a society based on male dominance and homosexuality. This is what made nazism attractive to Visconti.

This love-hate relationship can be clearly seen in the movie. Some of the scenes, like the SA gay orgy at Bad Wiessee, are filmed in a kind of reverential, immaculate way, as if Visconti were unsure of what attitude to take. This was noticed by film critic Pauline Kael.

Hitler was indeed gay. A German scholar has proved it and there is a documentary about it. This is the main reason why Visconti was initially fascinated by the movement. There were gays everywhere in the early nazi party.

Hitler's sexual repression can have contributed considerably to his madness.