Sexuality and Nazism

The Doubly Unspeakable?

Bibliographic Data

ID23175296
AuthorsElizabeth Heineman (corresponding author), Elizabeth D Heineman
Year2002
Volume11
Issue1
Pages22-66
Publication date2002-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of the History of Sexuality (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1043-4070 • E-ISSN: 1535-3605
PublisherProject MUSE (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1353/sex.2002.0006
OpenAlexW1512592623
LanguageEN
Citations received22
References cited49

The history of sexuality in Nazi Germany unites two subjects vulnerable to sensationalist coverage: sex and Nazism. Film scholars have observed a tendency to eroticize National Socialism in that medium, a phenomenon that reflects (and perhaps perpetuates) the dangerous allure of fascism. 1 Film, however, often claims to be fiction and always claims artistic license. Perhaps more startling is the persistent misrepresentation of sexuality under Nazism in outlets that allegedly produce nonfiction. In a recent front-page story, the Los Angeles Times characterized Lebensborn as a place where "11,000 children were born to women who mated with elite SS officers," although all serious investigations describe Lebensborn as a home for pregnant women who could demonstrate the racial acceptability of their offspring-to-be. 2 Popular perceptions of many historic episodes are stubbornly resistant to evidence, but it is worth asking whether there is something special about the combination of Nazism and sex. [End Page 22]

Elite · Human sexuality · Media studies · Misrepresentation · Nazism · Political science · Politics · Sensationalism · Sociology · Communism, Protests, Social Movements · European history and politics · Gender Studies · Historical Gender and Feminism Studies · History · Law

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