SHARED OPINION
Was Hitler a Nazi because he liked the uniforms?
FRANK JOHNSON
ADaily Mail news story this week began: 'Hitler was a closet gay'. Apparently he 'had a crush on one of his ministers', according to a sensational new book by a top German historian. The story continued: 'The Ffihrer's secret love was architect Albert Speer . the pair had a "homo- erotic relationship", claims Joachim Feat in a biography of Speer, who was jailed for 20 Years for war crimes and died in London in 1981. They spent hours in each other's company, studying building plans for the Third Reich, but Speer didn't return his Nazi leader's affection.'
The Mail quoted Herr Feat as saying that Speer 'was the dominant person in the rela- tionship and Hitler was the loser'. Not so long ago, it was Mr Portillo; now it is Hitler. Perhaps it has become impossible to be a famous man without having had a 'gay Past'. It is as well that Hitler's has become known now.
If one is in public life, as Hitler was, and Mr Portillo still is, it is best to get this mat- ter out of the way as early as possible. I do not wish to sound unsophisticated or ill- informed, but even though, like nearly everyone else, I had heard the rumour about Mr Portillo, I had not heard the rumour about Hitler. Or at least, not this precise rumour. For years there has been gossip about Hitler's private life; for a long time, according to the disrespectful lyric Which the British set to the tune of 'Colonel Bogey', the gossip consisted of speculation as to the precise number of his testicles. Now, it seems, as a result of the new book to which the Mail refers, the gossip is not so Much about their number as about their preference.
True, Hitler was a married man. But he Married late in life. To be more exact, he Married shortly before he shot his brains out, his bride doing the same almost simul- taneously. They went everywhere together, it seems. But this tragedy could mean that, like many homosexuals of Hitler's day, he merely married for respectability, for the sake of appearances. He might have thought that it would look bad had he been found dead alongside an equally deceased Partner named Albert rather than Eva. It Would have caused a frightful scandal and brought about the collapse of his popularity as well as of his Reich.
The double shooting of Mr and Mrs Hitler happened on their honeymoon, traditionally a dangerous time during a relationship. Perhaps it took place after a ghastly row caused by Mrs Hitler, née Braun, having discovered his homosexuality. It may be remembered that the Hitlers went on honeymoon in Berlin; that being convenient since it was where he worked and, things being what they were, he could not be away from the office. The couple confined themselves to a rather restricted area of the city, never straying outside the bridal suite. But that is true of many honey- moon couples.
The Hitlers were in love. Or at least she was with him. We do not know how she dis- covered his gay past. Perhaps she caught him slipping out to one of those decadent night-spots alluded to in Isherwood? But I thought that, on coming to power, he had closed them all down, and had arranged for most of the inmates to be shot? Perhaps some such establishments survived, though by the time of Hitler's honeymoon there were a lot of Russians around in the city- centre who might have impeded his access to his favourite, discreet all-male cabaret. Those Russians were doing quite a lot of rape. Whether they raped males we do not know. Possibly, if they did, this was Hitler's incentive. Historians need to do some more work.
Alternatively, perhaps while sleeping alongside his bride, he kept on murmuring 'Albert, lieber Albert!' instead of 'Eva!'
But all this is mere speculation. The issue for the German people today is whether 'Who clamped it?' they should think any the less of Hitler for having been gay. Will they be broadminded about it? Their dilemma is similar to that of the people of Kensington and Chelsea. Just as the question is whether Mr Portillo's past will prevent his winning Kensington and Chelsea, the issue is whether Hitler's prevented him from winning the second world war. I hope not. I like to think that Hitler lost fairly and squarely. I would hate to think that his defeat had anything to do with homophobia.
Turning to Albert Speer, he comes well out of the Mail's story: he 'did not return his Nazi leader's affection'. In the Third Reich, not to return the Nazi leader's affec- tions sounds like a potential capital offence. Speer's attitude adds a new mean- ing to the subject so beloved of modern, democratic Germany: the German resis- tance to Hitler. As for Herr Feat's saying that 'Hitler was the loser'. Did Speer tell Hitler that? As Hitler made his clumsy, pathetic passes at Speer over the architec- tural designs, did Speer slap him aside say- ing, 'Stop that, you dirty Fiihrer. Anyway, after Stalingrad, you're a loser'? Whatever the truth, coming so soon after Mr Portillo, it is all something of a shock. I cannot keep up. Only a few weeks ago, in a book review in this magazine, Professor John Vincent asked, Was Disraeli gay?' Now it is Hitler's turn. As Hitler himself said on hearing that Eva Braun's brother-in-law had deserted the bunker during the final days, 'Am I to be spared nothing?'
Lst week, I quoted a British politician as making in 1936 the Pat Buchananesque observation that the United States should have 'minded her own business in 1917 and not entered the first world war', thus pre- venting a compromise peace and facilitating communism, fascism and Nazism. Perhaps rather irritatingly, I challenged readers to guess who said it. No one has. The answer is Churchill. The quotation is not in Martin Gilbert's official life. I chanced on it in J.F.C. Fuller's Decisive Battles of the Western World. He got it from an interview which Churchill gave to William Griffen, editor of the New York Enquirer. I am inclined to think that Churchill was right. In my experi- ence, people who dismiss the view out of hand tend to be blusterers. But I am not sure. I hope to return to the subject.
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