Austrian Far Right Party Shocked Twice

[_JS]

Interesting story, the Austrian far-right lost their charismatic leader Joerg Haider in a car accident and then discovered this:

Haider 'was the man of my life'


The new leader of the party previously headed by Austrian far-right politician Joerg Haider has admitted the two men had a "special relationship".




Stefan Petzner told Austrian radio that Mr Haider, whom he met five years ago, was "the man of my life".

Mr Haider, 58, died in a high-speed car crash earlier this month. He had a high blood alcohol level.

His party, the Alliance for Austria's Future, insisted on Thursday that Mr Petzner "wasn't his lover".

"He was a very good friend, it wasn't love," party spokesman Heimo Lepuschitz told the BBC, commenting on Mr Petzner's remarks.

The Alliance for Austria's Future is best known for taking a tough line on immigration and EU policies.

Mr Petzner took over as head of the party following his leader's sudden death.

Mr Haider had said frequently that he would like his 27-year-old protege, and party deputy to take his place one day.

But Mr Petzner, while remaining overall party leader, is now deputy to hotelier Josef Bucher in the party's parliamentary group.

The party spokesman said Mr Petzner had not been criticised in the party for his comments and that it was Mr Petzner's suggestion to put Mr Bucher in charge of the parliamentary group.

Mr Petzner "will look after strategy as head of the party," Mr Lepuschitz told the BBC.

It has been widely reported in Austria that on the night of his death, Mr Haider left a bar where he had been drinking with Mr Petzner after they had argued.

' I loved him'

Mr Petzner has described feeling a magnetic attraction to Mr Haider.

"We had a special relationship that went far beyond friendship," Mr Petzner said in an emotional interview on Austrian national radio.

"Joerg and I were connected by something truly special. He was the man of my life," he added. "I loved him as a best friend."

There has been no comment from the Haider family. He was married with two children.

Joerg Haider became a potent force in Austria in the 1980s and 90s, championing what he called traditional family values and an end to immigration.

More recently his Alliance for Austria's Future enjoyed success at the polls, gaining more than 10% of the votes in September's general election.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/7685905.stm

Published: 2008/10/23 15:34:36 GMT

© BBC MMVIII

[Michael Tee]

There was always a strong homoerotic undercurrent in Naziism, which surfaces sometimes unexpectedly in its graphic representations of "Aryan" youth and young men. 

A whole section of Hitler's movement had to be brutally weeded out in the 1934 "Night of the Long Knives" when Captain Ernst Röhm, one of Hitler's closest and earliest supporters, and hundreds of his original street-brawling Brownshirts, Röhm's S.A. (Sturmabteilung, the original storm troopers) had to be liquidated for a variety of "sins" including socialism, insubordination and widespread homosexuality, the latter being something that Hitler had previously disapproved of but tolerated.  Hitler, according to some accounts, visited his old comrade Röhm in his S.S. jail cell hours before his summary execution, but nobody knows what they discussed.  The official reasons published in Germany for the purge were "sexual perversion" and "plotting against the regime."

[Plane]

There was always a strong homoerotic undercurrent in Naziism, which surfaces sometimes unexpectedly in its graphic representations of "Aryan" youth and young men. 

A whole section of Hitler's movement had to be brutally weeded out in the 1934 "Night of the Long Knives" when Captain Ernst Röhm, one of Hitler's closest and earliest supporters, and hundreds of his original street-brawling Brownshirts, Röhm's S.A. (Sturmabteilung, the original storm troopers) had to be liquidated for a variety of "sins" including socialism, insubordination and widespread homosexuality, the latter being something that Hitler had previously disapproved of but tolerated.  Hitler, according to some accounts, visited his old comrade Röhm in his S.S. jail cell hours before his summary execution, but nobody knows what they discussed.  The official reasons published in Germany for the purge were "sexual perversion" and "plotting against the regime."

  I knew some of this already , but I wonder what the Homosexuals expected or were promised in the time that they were supportive, that I don't know.

[Michael Tee]

Homosexuals as such were promised nothing.  Back in the 1920s and 1930s, homosexuality really WAS "the love that dared not speak its name."  It was widely condemned.  Even in Canada, it was a criminal offence.

I would imagine that homosexuals gravitated towards the S.A. because of male bonding related issues, it was an extreme male bonding environment and the propaganda glorified and to some extent sexualized the male face and form of idealized "Nordic" racial types.  The marching songs, pageantry, uniforms and carefully choreographed ceremonies and presentations must have appealed to the artistic side of many gay men and the street brawling and torture chamber activities probably appealed to a sadomasochistic streak in straights and gays alike and the role of a pure warrior-knight would also be appealing to men who were not going to make any contribution to society through fatherhood or procreation; here was an opportunity nevertheless as warrior to play an integral and valued role in the society, perhaps even supplanting but certainly superior to the more traditional role of husband and father.

The "führer principle" would probably also have been a factor.  The "Führer Principle" is the Nazi idea that a nation finds the expression of its national will not through an elected or appointed legislature but through the voice of a Leader ("Führer,") who has risen to the position of Leader through his universally recognized right to lead, based on his superiority as the most superior living human member of the most superior race on earth.  Thus Hitler, as Führer, was the man most gifted in appearance, voice, commanding presence, intelligence, fearlessness, good looks, etc., etc., and was always presented as such.  A lot of gay men would be erotically attracted to such a man, ready to give their hearts and souls to anyone so obviously "gifted."  I am just guessing, but my guess is that a lot of young German men found their way into the S.A. or S.S. because of "man crushes" they had developed on Adolf Hitler.

Finally, I would think that in an intensely conservative and outwardly "moralistic" society which almost universally condemned and despised homosexuality, gay men may have felt instinctively that Nazis, who had clearly discarded many of the dictates of traditional morality, notably its "old-fashioned" antipathy to murder, would be less condemning of them in general.

It wasn't so much that the Nazis "promised" anything to gay men, it was more a case of gay men finding Nazism less threatening and in some artistic ways more appealing to them.  Of course, in reality, the Nazis DID act against the S.A. and, probably with the most cynical and self-serving motives, finally did turn against homosexual men with deadly violence.  The "pink triangle," as most people now know, was the badge that homosexuals had to wear in concentration camps to show what they were in for, just as Jewish inmates had to display a yellow Star of David.

[Plane]

I would imagine that homosexuals gravitated towards the S.A. because of male bonding related issues, it was an extreme male bonding environment and the propaganda glorified and to some extent sexualized the male face and form of idealized "Nordic" racial types. 

That was a lot more answer than I expected , you have obviously thought about this before.Thank you.


Frankly I thought Hitler and his cronys were using them , they in return used him, but Hitler was quicker to betray. If it demonstrates anything to me it is that Homosexuals are a lot like regular people , no less prone to catastrophic mistakes. Not less prone to evil than the rest of us. I suppose that there was also a bunch of Homosexuals that were not joining , but since they were hideing themselves more than the brownshirt homosexuals were they don't get heard about.

The Natzis were going to betray everyone eventually , it wasn't in their nature to be faithfull to a friend.