The Pink Swastika part II

Proposing the theory that early members of the National Socialist Party in 1930's Germany skewed disproportionately homosexual amongst it's leadership for discussion in this forum has turned out to be quite interesting to say the least. Especially interesting have been the unfounded personal attacks in which my sexual preference is questioned. Ginx hasnt sounded this bright since he inquired if I might be better off dragging someone of another color from my pick-up. It's especially interesting in light of the fact that I am involved in a bi-racial marraige and I doubt that anyone who knows me would say that I'm homophobic or a racist. What I can do is divorce myself from the emotion swirling around an issue and examine the facts and make a determination based on evidence, not political correctness.

Apparently some in this forum have issues with the credibility of the book entitled The Pink Swastika that I mentioned in a previous thread. In order to move the discussion along, let's set Pink Swastika aside for a moment and examine other evidence pertinent to the discussion. First and foremost would being be the writings of one William L. Shirer (pictured above). Having worked with the likes of "James Thurber, Elliot Paul, Hemingway, the Fitzgeralds, Isadora Duncan, Ezra Pound and...Gertrude Stein" would give nearly anyone instant credibility as a writer. Also, having been stationed in Berlin beginning in 1934 as the Nazis first rose to power along with Vienna during the time of the Anschluss (annexation) of Austria, he had a front row seat for the events that he described in his writings which became the benchmark work on the subject of Hitler's Germany titled, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. Having completed such a highly referenced and footnoted tome (over 1,200 pages), Shirer won "the 1960 National Book Award and a special Sidney Hillman Foundation award in 1961, (and) his intimate involvement with Hitler’s Germany made him a foremost U.S. authority on the Nazi era and his expertise led to several decades of writing and lecturing".

Shirer wrote the following in The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich...

""Most people don't realize that male homosexuality does not always lean to the effeminate. Historically, male homosexuality was much more often associated with hyper-masculine warrior cults which were usually very brutal and very politically aggressive. The most recent example was in Germany. Hitler's initial power base when he launched the Nazi Party was a private homosexual military force organized and trained by a notorious pederast named Gerhard Rossbach. Rossbach's homosexual partner Ernst Roehm, who was also Hitler's partner in forming and building the Nazi Party, converted the "gay" Rossbachbund into the dreaded SA Brownshirts."

Now what axe could Shirer possibly have had to grind in this case? I think that if there was any doubt as to the veracity of Shirer's claims, they would have debunked his writings by now, but apparently, no one has. (Yes, I tried typing the words [William L. Shirer debunked] into a common search engine and nothing meaningful came up).

Another source I would like to quote is Walter C. Langer, a psychoanalyst for the OSS, (forerunner of the CIA) who was asked to analyze Hitler and the early Nazi leadership and he wrote the following...

"The belief that Hitler is homosexual has probably developed (a) from the fact that he does show so many feminine characteristics, and (b) from the fact that there were so many homosexuals in the Party during the early days and many continue to occupy important positions. It does seem that Hitler feels much more at ease with homosexuals than with normal persons, but this may be due to the fact that they are all fundamentally social outcasts and consequently have a community of interests which tends to make them think and feel more or less alike. In this connection it is interesting to note that homosexuals, too, frequently regard themselves as a special form of creation or as chosen ones whose destiny it is to initiate a new order."

Again, I highly doubt that Langer, in the interests of providing his bosses and his country with the most accurate assessment of the actual situation inside of the leadership of the Third Reich, would want to put out any misleading information. I don't think that he had an axe to grind or a dog in this fight and merely reported to the best of his ability.

Let me head off a potential objection that goes something like this. "The American government wished to discredit the Nazi leadership by portraying them as disproportionately homosexual". I looked, but I didn't see any type of reports that allege a similar smear campaign against Hirohito or Mussolini. If that were the case, you could establish a pattern and thus conclude that they were at least be consistent in their approach, but that isnt the case here.

I'm open to discussing the matter, but please come armed with facts. Not meaningless personal attacks that don't lead to intelligent discourse on the subject.