The Hidden Hitler
by Lothar Machtan
(Persues Press, 2001 )
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This is a serious book by a German historian about why Hitler may have been motivated to have done away with a number of those that were killed in June,1934, including Ernst Röhm. Dr. Machtan does not try to prove anything. He paints a picture of Hitler's close relationship with Röhm in the 1920s and the battle to distance the Nazis from homosexuality in the 1930s -- an anti-gay move led by Joseph Goebbels. Machtan is fair rather than wild and sensational in his approach, painting an interesting picture of goings-on in Germany after World War I.
Lothar Machten is an assistant professor of History at Bremen University.
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From Biblio Review of The Hidden Hitler --
Drawing from a wealth of archival sources, much of which has been long overlooked by historians, The Hidden Hitler focuses on Hitler the man. Lothar Machtan's controversial thesis is that Adolf Hitler was homosexual, and that one cannot begin to understand him, his entry into politics, and the early Nazi movement without a clear understanding of this aspect of his identity. The Hidden Hitler documents the homosexual milieu in which the young Hitler lived and thrived from his early years in Vienna, through the beginnings of his political career in Munich, and during his years as the Fuhrer. Machtan documents a succession of homosexual and homosexually inclined men among Hitler's most intimate friends and supporters, including August Kubizek, Rudolf H‰usler, Reinhold Hanisch, Ernst Schmidt, Ernst Rohm, Dietrich Eckart, Rudolf Hess, Emil Maurice, "Putzi" Hanfstaengl and Kurt Ludecke. Of these, Eckart and Rohm were pivotal to his entry into politics. Machtan also unearths surprising new documents that attest to Hitler's homosexuality in those early years. Of particular importance is the "Mend Protocol," portions of which appear for the first time in this book.
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From the Library Journal review of The Hidden Hitler --
The first of Machtan's works to be translated into English, this is certain to be controversial. A professor of modern and current history at the University of Bremen, Germany, and the author of several scholarly books on 19th-century Germany, Machtan here presents a documented study of Hitler's homosexuality and its impact upon his life and career. Machtan asserts that Hitler's homosexuality was known to some of his associates by the beginning of World War I and later in Vienna. As he became prominent, some of his associates in homoerotic circles of the Nazi movement attempted to blackmail him. These homoerotic undercurrents and Hitler's response to blackmail provide a hitherto neglected perspective on the questions surrounding the origins and development of Nazism. Although documenting homosexuality is a difficult task for historians of periods in which gays were oppressed and repressed, Machtan is able to provide evidence for his assertions as well as a nuanced and readable study of Hitler's sexuality. Libraries that own Joachim Fest's seminal Hitler (LJ 7/74) and Ian Kershaw's Hitler, 1889-1936: Hubris (LJ 1/99) and Hitler, 1936-1945: Nemesis (LJ 11/1/00), as well as a selection of the works of George Mosse on Nazi culture, should acquire this work. Barbara Walden, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
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