The Hidden Hitler [Hardcover]

Lothar Machtan (Author), John Brownjohn (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 9, 2001

Adolf Hitler. No other figure in contemporary history is associated with such far-reaching historical impact and such monstrous crimes. His name alone is emblematic of world war and Holocaust. If only because of the barbarity for which he is responsible, Adolf Hitler has become an anxiety neurosis, a vision of horror. And that is why he remains even now as he was to many of his contemporaries: an incomprehensible mystery. In the half century since his death, he has been the subject of over 120,000 publications, and yet the historian John Lukacs, who has tried to impose some sort of order on the chaotic jumble, comes to the significant conclusion that "We are far from done with Hitler."What Hitler did in history has been amply documented in the monumental work of historians and biographers such Alan Bullock, Joachim Fest, Hans Mommsen and Ian Kershaw. Who Hitler was, however, as a person, what anchored him emotionally, has either eluded or been of little interest to writers who often burden themselves with the search for the origin of his evil as the explanation for his life and its consequences. 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 F¸hrer. 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 Rˆhm, Dietrich Eckart, Rudolf Hess, Emil Maurice, "Putzi" Hanfstaengl and Kurt Ludecke. Of these, Eckart and Rˆhm 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. While it is doubtful that Hitler was sexually active in any way (gay or straight) after 1933, his homosexual past, nevertheless, was his Achilles' heel. It threatened him politically and left him open to blackmail by his most intimate associates. The assasination of Ernst Rˆhm, along with roughly 150 other men over a four day period in 1934, served as a chilling message to all with knowledge, or access to knowledge, about the F¸hrer's past life.Recent books on the Nazi movement have argued that the Third Reich was a fundamentally sordid regime. Machtan provides powerful new evidence in support of this view. This side of Hitler and his "Munich clique," as Goebbels put it, has never been so vividly evoked. As an intimate portrait of Hitler and as a surprising portrait of the homoerotic nature of the early Nazi movement, The Hidden Hitler is a major and certainly controversial contribution to the biographical literature. Anyone who has read any previous biographer of Adolf Hitler will read The Hidden Hitler and wonder, "how could they have missed entirely the homosexuality of Hitler and his entourage?"

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

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 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

This professor of modern history at Bremen University in Germany argues, with persuasive power, that to fully understand the Third Reich, one must realize that Hitler was homosexual and understand the homoerotic nature of the Nazi movement. No question--this book will be heavily requested and stir much debate. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; 1st Ed. (U.S.) edition (October 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465043089
• ISBN-13: 978-0465043088
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #674,572 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #89 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( H ) > Hitler, Adolf

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating reappraisal, October 29, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Hidden Hitler (Hardcover)

With the literally thousands of books and articles about Hitler that have appeared over the last half century, it is nothing short of remarkable that no one has ever thought to examine the wealth of documentary evidence suggesting that Hitler was homosexual, or to analyze the impact his sexuality may have had on some of his actions. Machtan's well-researched book should open a whole arena in the Hitler studies.
Obviously this book has upset many. It's thesis seems particularly offensive to many gay people, afraid that the revelation of Hitler's possible homosexuality will lead to a simple equation that Hitler was evil because he was gay.
But Machtan is careful not only to avoid such simplistic reductionism, but to point out instead the immense damage Hitler did to gay people in Germany in his apparent attempts to cover up his history of homosexuality and destroy those who knew about it. As a result, Machtan throws a whole new light on the homophobia of the Nazis, the destruction of the SA, the persecution of Magnus Hirschfeld and the roundup of gay Germans.
This book is a bit dry at times, and loaded with footnotes. But that's no vice in a work of such a potentially sensational nature. Machten avoids prurient sensationalism and outrageous or unsubstantiated claims, preferring to quietly focus on the conclusions that can be culled from the admittedly murky sources.
All told, a major contribution, well researched and thoughtfully rendered.

27 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sound Methodogy, Accurate Character Assessment, December 11, 2004

By 

Marco (Rochester, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Hidden Hitler (Paperback)

Using a wide and complete variety of archival records, Lothar Machtan has reconstructed the milieu of Hitler's early adulthood, intellectual and political formation, and salient actions in his bellicose and genocidal maturity. Machtan's methodology and interpretation of evidnce is the standard stock of modern history. There are no unreasonable reaches beyond the evidence. Nor does Machtan condemn homosexuality as a life style. Simply put: Machtan presents a strong case that Hitler was gay. The main point of his thesis is that Hitler hiding his homosexuality was part of a larger dominant behavioral pattern of Hitler having fabricated a falsified persona as Germany's all-knowing, multi-talented and invincible "Fuehrer." Machtan concludes that Hitler was a superb liar and spellbinding public speaker who deceived the German people and led them into a disastrous period of the near total destruction of Germany and Europe.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A previously neglected side of Hitler finally receives attention, September 3, 2008

By 

Michael "Michael" (Hamburg, Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Hidden Hitler (Paperback)

It will be years before we know the final secrets behind Hitler and what drove his intense political ambition and anti-semitism, but this book makes a valuable contribution that, due to the modesty and lack of knowledge amongst historians of homosexuality, has been lacking from any other intelligent analysis of Hitler. Extremely unpopular amongst some as it seems to shift blame from Hitler himself onto the homosexual community, or at least makes us see Hitler as more of a person one could almost sympathize with ('poor Hitler - he was forced to spend his life in the sexual closet, and could not help the way this repressed energy expressed itself.'). However, I think that is silly reasoning. It doesn't relieve Hitler of any guilt if we investigate his person and look at his biological drives, but provides us an interesting insight into the development of an anti-semitic dictator.

Personally, I think many complaints about this book come from people who think that Lothar Machtans has exaggerated Hitler's homosexuality. This complaint is partly justified, I think, and I doubt he had all of the gay relationships insinuated in this book. But Machtan's book is valuable as it forces us to admit that Hitler, although maybe not simply homosexual, had some serious psychosexual neuroses that played a large role in his political career. He presented an asexual image, as if Germany was his virgin bride, and Eva Braun was just a stage prop to give the effeminate dictator some much-needed masculinity. Saying Hitler was not sexually normal does not relieve him of any responsibilty, but brings us far closer to the truth than those that merely relate Hitler's life without looking into his sexual psychology.

To understand this book's unpopularity in Germany and elsewhere, one must remember that it is equally unpopular with people on the political left as on the political right. As mentioned above, for many on the left this book tries to lessen Hitler's crimes and make him seem more human, while those on the right wing see this book as an attack on the masculinity of their hero. It will be years before books on this theme can be objectively handled in Germany, and until then it will remain unappreciated. However, it is definitely recommended reading for anyone interested in 20th century history who does not suffer from such distortions in their judgement.