To evaluate the historical accuracy of the two conflicting claims made on social media regarding Nazi Germany, Ernst Röhm, and the Berlin cabaret "El Dorado," we must examine the documented history of the early Nazi Party, the biography of SA Chief of Staff Ernst Röhm, and the fate of Weimar Berlin’s LGBTQ+ subculture under National Socialism.

The first claim is almost entirely false, while the second claim is historically accurate. The Nazi Party's very first headquarters was not the El Dorado transvestite bar, nor did the party ever establish its headquarters there. The El Dorado was indeed a famous Weimar-era cabaret frequented by Ernst Röhm, but it was actively targeted, raided, and shut down by the Nazis shortly after they seized power. Furthermore, the early German homosexual emancipation movement was overwhelmingly anti-Nazi, and Röhm’s homosexuality was ultimately used by Adolf Hitler as a convenient pretext to justify his execution during the Night of the Long Knives.

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The First Claim: Debunking the "El Dorado" Headquarters Myth

The assertion that the Nazi Party's "very first headquarters" was the Berlin transvestite bar "El Dorado" is historically illiterate.

1. The Real First Nazi Headquarters: The National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) was founded and incubated in Munich, Bavaria, not Berlin. The party's very first official headquarters, established in 1920, was a small, cramped office in the Sterneckerbräu, a Munich beer hall.[1] In January 1925, after the party was refounded following the failed Beer Hall Putsch, the NSDAP moved its headquarters to the Eher Verlag (the party's publishing house) on Thierschstraße in Munich.[2] By 1931, the party had established its national headquarters in the famous Brown House (Braunes Haus) located at Brienner Straße 45 in Munich.[2] The Berlin branch of the NSDAP, established later under Joseph Goebbels, was headquartered in the "Opium Den" on Lützowstraße and later in a building on Vossstraße, completely unrelated to the El Dorado.[3]

2. What was the El Dorado? The El Dorado was one of Weimar Berlin's most famous nightlife venues, operating primarily at two locations (most famously on Motzstraße in the gay-friendly Schöneberg district). It was renowned for its drag shows, transvestite performers, and bohemian clientele, attracting international tourists, artists, and local queer communities.[[4]]

3. Ernst Röhm's Connection: It is historically documented that Ernst Röhm, the co-founder and commander of the Sturmabteilung (SA), was a homosexual who frequented Berlin's gay venues, including the El Dorado, during his visits to the capital.[[5]] Röhm was open about his sexuality among his inner circle and in private correspondence.[[6]] However, his personal patronage of the club did not mean the Nazi Party had any institutional connection to it. In fact, the vast majority of the Nazi leadership, including Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, and Joseph Goebbels, viewed the decadent nightlife of Weimar Berlin—and venues like the El Dorado in particular—as symbols of "cultural Bolshevism" and moral degeneracy that needed to be eradicated.[[7]]

The Second Claim: The Raid on El Dorado and the Fate of Röhm

The second social media post is historically accurate and aligns with the consensus of modern academic scholarship on the Third Reich.

1. The Nazi Raid and Closure of El Dorado: Immediately after Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor in January 1933, the Nazi regime began a systematic crackdown on Weimar Germany's vibrant LGBTQ+ subculture. In February 1933, the Prussian Ministry of the Interior, under the leadership of Hermann Göring, ordered a ban on all "homosexual dance amusements." On March 5, 1933, the El Dorado was raided by the SA and police, shut down permanently, and subsequently converted into a local headquarters for the SA.[[4]] [8] The building was even draped with swastika flags and propaganda posters to display the "cleansing" of Berlin's streets.[[4]]

2. The Homosexual Movement was Anti-Nazi: The early homosexual emancipation movement in Germany, pioneered by figures like Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld and the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee), was fundamentally progressive, democratic, and anti-Nazi.[[9]] Hirschfeld’s Institute for Sexual Science (Institut für Sexualwissenschaft) in Berlin was one of the very first targets of Nazi violence; on May 6, 1933, Nazi students and SA members plundered the institute, and days later, they publicly burned its massive library of research books.[[9]] As noted by British writer Christopher Isherwood in his autobiographical works (such as Christopher and His Kind), the queer community in Berlin watched the rise of the Nazis with absolute terror, knowing that their survival was directly threatened by the regime.[[10]]

3. The Murder of Ernst Röhm: While Hitler tolerated Röhm's homosexuality for years because of his military utility and personal loyalty, it became a major liability by 1934.[[6]] The German regular army (the Reichswehr) and conservative elites despised Röhm's radical socialist rhetoric and his desire to absorb the army into the millions-strong SA.[[6]] To secure the presidency and the backing of the military, Hitler ordered the purge of the SA leadership.[[6]] During the Night of the Long Knives (June 30 – July 2, 1934), Röhm and dozens of other SA leaders were arrested and executed.[[6]] Following the purge, Hitler publicly weaponized Röhm’s homosexuality, claiming he had to eliminate the SA leadership to rid the party of a "corrupt, pestilential clique" of homosexuals.[[11]] This event marked the beginning of an intensified, systematic state persecution of gay men in Germany under Paragraph 175 of the German penal code, leading to the arrest of approximately 100,000 men and the imprisonment of thousands in concentration camps.[[11]]

Conclusion

The claim that the Nazis used the El Dorado transvestite bar as their first headquarters is a complete fabrication. The historical reality is that the El Dorado was raided, closed, and seized by the Nazis in early 1933 as part of their campaign to destroy Germany's LGBTQ+ subculture, and Ernst Röhm was executed in 1934 during a political purge where his homosexuality was used to publicly justify his murder.

Which aspect of Weimar Berlin's subculture or the political power struggles within the early Nazi Party would you like to explore next?