You definitely need to see
The Night Porter.
LizardLeatherBoots is right. Appropriating the affect is a real term applied, in this instance, to people who have a sexual fetish for role playing. What occurs during that role play is not necessarily what those people desire outside of the sexual context.
In BDSM play, Nazi role playing serves to heighten the experience of potential fear on the part of the bottom and to enhance the sense of authority for the top. Nazi fetishes are actually popular because the Nazis stand as a symbol for strict authoritarianism, torture, and efficiency. If they weren't so bad, they wouldn't be so popular.
It may be offensive to some people that other people could role play something so horrible as Nazism, but it's important to note a few things:
- Role playing is just that, play. Role playing allows people to indulge their fantasies in a safe, consenting, and (for them) erotic environment.
- What people role play does not necessarily equate with their actual desires outside the bedroom. The great majority of people who role play have no interest in actually becoming what they are role playing outside of a sexual context.
- We cannot control nor decide what we find sexually exciting.
- Nazi role playing is exciting because the role players are aware of just how dreadful the Nazis were. The scarier the Nazis are, the more effective the affectation is.
- Not all people into BDSM find Nazi role playing erotic nor are all Nazi fetishists into BDSM.