Sexuality of Adolf Hitler
The sexuality of Adolf Hitler, dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, has long been a matter of historical and scholarly debate, as well as speculation and rumour.
[1][2][3][4] Hitler created a public image of a celibate man without a domestic life, dedicated entirely to his political mission and the governance of Nazi Germany.
A 1943 report by Walter C. Langer for the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS) describes Hitler as having repressed homosexual tendencies and opined that he was an impotent coprophile.
[6] Hitler's sex life has long been the subject of speculation and rumours, many of which were invented or "spiced up" by his political enemies.
The evidence that exists about Hitler's private life is largely from people in his inner circle, such as his adjutants, his secretaries, Albert Speer, the Wagner family, and others.
[8][9][10] Kershaw describes him as being repelled by personal contact and sexual activity, including homosexuality and prostitution, especially as a young man in Vienna.
When teased about his celibacy during this period, Hitler responded by saying "I'd die of shame looking for sex with a French girl," and "Have you no German sense of honour left at all?
"[13] Hitler created a public image of a celibate man without a domestic life, dedicated entirely to his political mission.
Speer recalled him stating a preference for unintelligent women who would not challenge him about his work or prevent him from relaxing in his leisure time.
[29] Hitler told her that he did not want children, as they would have had "...a very hard time, because they're expected to possess the same gifts as their famous parents and they can't be forgiven for being mediocre.
[32] Historian Andrew Wackerfuss argues that Hitler had no personal discomfort with homosexuality, but that he found it convenient politically to instrumentalise homophobia to justify the 1934 Night of the Long Knives.
[33] Despite the fact that Hitler had previously tolerated the homosexuality of Röhm and other SA leaders, the charges of immorality were effective in gaining the support of the German population for the political murders in 1934.
[40] In 1943, the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS) received A Psychological Analysis of Adolf Hitler: His Life and Legend by Walter C. Langer, commissioned to help the Allies understand the dictator.
[44] Psychologist Henry Murray wrote a separate psychoanalytical report for OSS also in 1943, entitled Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler: With Predictions of His Future Behavior and Suggestions for Dealing with Him Now and After Germany's Surrender.
[47] Kershaw contends that stories circulated by Strasser as to alleged "sexual deviant practices ought to be viewed as... anti-Hitler propaganda.
The book speculates about Hitler's experiences in Vienna with young friends, his adult relationships with (among others) Röhm, Hanfstaengl, and Emil Maurice, and includes a study of the Mend Protocol, a series of allegations made to the Munich police in the early 1920s by Hans Mend, who served with Hitler during World War I. American journalist Ron Rosenbaum is highly critical of Machtan's work, saying his "evidence falls short of being conclusive and often falls far short of being evidence at all.
[8][9][10] In 2004, HBO produced a documentary film based on Machtan's theory, titled Hidden Führer: Debating the Enigma of Hitler's Sexuality.
