21-11-2009, 05:19 PM
[size=12]the following text refers to something that this thread has reminded me of , from the following book by a former adviser to Hitler :[/SIZE]
Wagener, O. (1985). Hitler—Memoirs of a Confidant (Henry Ashby Turner, Jr. Ed.). (Ruth Hein, Trans.). London: Yale University Press. (Original work published 1978)
It appears that Hitler did approve of close and affectionate relations between older and younger men, and found a compelling theory to legitimize this in Karl von Reichenbach’s half-baked ideas on personal magnetism, or “Odic force,” as
Reichenbach termed it in the mid-nineteenth century.
Otto Wagener describes how Hitler became positively thrilled as the former
explained Reichenbach’s scheme—“Hitler grasped my arm and looked at me as if he were facing a glittering Christmas tree.” What had caught Hitler’s imagination so
immediately?
Reichenbach postulated that there was an actual, magnetic, “Odic force” that humans produced, most strongly when they were young. The old could produce only inadequate amounts of the force, but they were able to soak up the overproduction of the young through contact with them, though only if both parties were compatible (—the force did not flow randomly). Hitler did not understand this necessarily to be physical contact, but he did view the flow of these magnetic waves as the very key to the success of any military or para-military unit. The officer and his men ideally formed an “Odic community.” The same would be true for the Nazi Party as well: “Wagener, the mystery of the political organization and the organization of the SA has been solved! It’s not racially determined, it’s grounded in this problem!” The more Hitler thought about it, the more he became convinced that he had felt this Odic force: “…it’s the same when I spend time with young men. I have always said that I draw strength to continue my work from the beaming eyes of my young storm troopers. It’s the very same thing.”
Countless contemporaries have reported the mesmerizing effect of Hitler’s
staring deeply into their eyes. And that is the extent to which one would expect the
intimacy to go, given the later homophobia of the Nazi state. But in 1930 Hitler
apparently gave a cautious endorsement to more physical contact. He had rushed off to read Reichenbach’s book, and reported to Wagener that he was applying the ideas to his own thinking. Speaking explicitly of the attraction that young men and boys must feel for a suitably creative older man to whom they wish to transmit their surplus Odic force, the Nazi leader stated: “In my judgment, this has nothing to do with sex. But since the transference of Od energies occurs with greater force and more immediately through physical touch—shaking hands, caressing, even kissing—the urgency of the Od contact also releases a desire for this kind of touch.” Hitler did not consider this inappropriate, as long as it did not deteriorate into a sexual encounter, and there he drew a definite line: “It seems to me all the more abominable if the older man allows this cuddling on the part of the younger man to seduce him into lewd acts or even to go so far as to exploit him for that purpose.” The extraordinary point about this remark is that Hitler does not seem to view a clearly erotic embrace between two men to be reprehensible per se. It was simply a means through which to stimulate the flow of Odic waves.
http://www.ushmm.org/research/center/publications/occasional/2002-04/paper.pdf
Wagener, O. (1985). Hitler—Memoirs of a Confidant (Henry Ashby Turner, Jr. Ed.). (Ruth Hein, Trans.). London: Yale University Press. (Original work published 1978)
It appears that Hitler did approve of close and affectionate relations between older and younger men, and found a compelling theory to legitimize this in Karl von Reichenbach’s half-baked ideas on personal magnetism, or “Odic force,” as
Reichenbach termed it in the mid-nineteenth century.
Otto Wagener describes how Hitler became positively thrilled as the former
explained Reichenbach’s scheme—“Hitler grasped my arm and looked at me as if he were facing a glittering Christmas tree.” What had caught Hitler’s imagination so
immediately?
Reichenbach postulated that there was an actual, magnetic, “Odic force” that humans produced, most strongly when they were young. The old could produce only inadequate amounts of the force, but they were able to soak up the overproduction of the young through contact with them, though only if both parties were compatible (—the force did not flow randomly). Hitler did not understand this necessarily to be physical contact, but he did view the flow of these magnetic waves as the very key to the success of any military or para-military unit. The officer and his men ideally formed an “Odic community.” The same would be true for the Nazi Party as well: “Wagener, the mystery of the political organization and the organization of the SA has been solved! It’s not racially determined, it’s grounded in this problem!” The more Hitler thought about it, the more he became convinced that he had felt this Odic force: “…it’s the same when I spend time with young men. I have always said that I draw strength to continue my work from the beaming eyes of my young storm troopers. It’s the very same thing.”
Countless contemporaries have reported the mesmerizing effect of Hitler’s
staring deeply into their eyes. And that is the extent to which one would expect the
intimacy to go, given the later homophobia of the Nazi state. But in 1930 Hitler
apparently gave a cautious endorsement to more physical contact. He had rushed off to read Reichenbach’s book, and reported to Wagener that he was applying the ideas to his own thinking. Speaking explicitly of the attraction that young men and boys must feel for a suitably creative older man to whom they wish to transmit their surplus Odic force, the Nazi leader stated: “In my judgment, this has nothing to do with sex. But since the transference of Od energies occurs with greater force and more immediately through physical touch—shaking hands, caressing, even kissing—the urgency of the Od contact also releases a desire for this kind of touch.” Hitler did not consider this inappropriate, as long as it did not deteriorate into a sexual encounter, and there he drew a definite line: “It seems to me all the more abominable if the older man allows this cuddling on the part of the younger man to seduce him into lewd acts or even to go so far as to exploit him for that purpose.” The extraordinary point about this remark is that Hitler does not seem to view a clearly erotic embrace between two men to be reprehensible per se. It was simply a means through which to stimulate the flow of Odic waves.
http://www.ushmm.org/research/center/publications/occasional/2002-04/paper.pdf
