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This eye-opening study gives a nuanced, provocative account of how German soldiers in the Great War experienced and enacted masculinity. Drawing on an array of relevant narratives and media, it explores the ways that both heterosexual and homosexual soldiers expressed emotion, understood romantic ideals, and approached intimacy and sexuality.

AbstractThis article looks at the experiences and perspectives of homosexual men in Nazi Germany—in particular, at homosexual veterans of World War I. How did homosexual men perceive "hegemonic masculinity" and ideals of comradeship during the Third Reich? The central argument is that the Nazi regime's emphasis on heterosexuality as an essential masculine trait was contested by homosexual veterans, who attempted to exert agency by actively defining notions of "masculinity," the nature of their homosexuality, as well as their status in theVolksgemeinschaft(people's community). The ways in which homosexual men perceived homosexuality in relation to hegemonic masculine norms were diverse: whereas some tried to argue for the compatibility of homosexuality and martial masculinity, those who were arrested often distanced themselves from their homosexual identity. The testimonies of veterans, available in Gestapo police interrogation records, suggest how subjective constructions of sexual identity both undermined and reinforced hegemonic masculine ideals.

"Im Bemühen, den Krieg zu überleben, verhandelten, bestätigten und unterliefen Soldaten die vorherrschenden männlichen Ideale aktiv. Insofern war die 'Frontgesellschaft' gleichgeschlechtlicher Liebe gegenüber toleranter als der Mainstream." (Autorenreferat)