Saddam and Hilter as Homos: The Art of Gay Propaganda

As far as Hitler is concerned, the Brit's had a similar plan to the one proposed to smear Saddam, but a degree sillier. The SOE (Special Operations Executive) in London made boxed sets of gramophone records, in Arabic, to go out in Nazi-occupied Morocco during the WW2. They included the usual suggestion, of course: that Hitler had only one testicle, but also a gem of a story that Hitler had a nocturnal visit from a randy Mrs Goebebels (the wife of his propaganda minister, fittingly) who found his bed empty, and the Fuhrer apparently off to the front line to have sex with his generals.

The scheme was once again based on some rather British prejudices. A government official wrote to the governor of Gibraltar (Spain: the closest British-held spot to Morocco, and the delivery point for the records) that the boy-loving Arabs would have been more likely to be impressed by the story. So, another failure, then. Except the Allies whispering campaign that Hitler was gay anyway took hold.

Then back further to the madman Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany, the man who took Europe to war in 1914. Few argue today with the evidence that Wilhelm was clinically insane, but his enemies at the time were fast to play the homo card: Wilhelm was fast to play into their hands, too. Once, when on holiday at an aristo's estate in The Black Forest, the head of the Military Secretariat, one Dietrich Graf von Hulsen-Haseler, had a heart attack and died. Whilst performing a pas seul, dressed in a tutu. Word of this of course leaked out.

Not long after, Philipp, Prince of Eulenburg-Hertefeld, was outed as part of a purge of supposed gays in Wilhelm's inner circle, a group of gay men who referred to the Kaiser as "liebchen," or darling. Enemies soon claimed Eulenburg had an affair with Wilhem, too. This didn't bring Wilhelm down, mind you, but saw a wave of accusations and counter-accusations.

Previously > Gays Are Good For The Military