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In Hitler's Germany, the ideal Aryan male was stereotyped as being strong, handsome, fanatical about his appearance, and obsessed with youth. The ideal homosexual was stereotyped as being strong, handsome, fanatical about his appearance, and obsessed with youth. The only overt distinction between these two groups of men was their sexual proclivity; which was not exclusive to one group. Many members of the National Socialist party were openly gay or bisexual which seemed to be of little significance to Adolph Hitler. The “Gay Holocaust”; therefore, was not as a result of Hitler’s supposed homophobia. Rather, the persecution of homosexuals in Germany was primarily rooted in the fascist ideology of pro-natalism.
The principal goal of National Socialism's philosophy was to create a pure Aryan race in order to populate Germany. Hitler took this one step further with his fixation on Lebensraum, or “Living Space” for the German people. The needs of the nation far outweighed the needs of the individual thus pro-natalist propaganda was employed as a means to encourage people to produce offspring. The concern of key members of the Nazi party Reich was that two million men, potential fathers, were lost during the Great War. The lost soldiers were imagined as prototypical Aryan men who needed to be replaced. The insistence of Party members to re-establish the myth of the ideal Aryan male resulted in renewed interest of the gay "problem."
==== Pro-Natalism ====