"Comg Out Unr Fire": The Story of Gay and Lbian Servicemembers | The Natnal WWII Mm | New Orleans

Contents:

• GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME
• GAY BERL, BEFORE HLER CAME TO POWER
• THE 42 BT GAY BARS AMERI
• GAY BARS ARE DISAPPEARG. THEIR PAST HOLDS KEYS TO THEIR FUTURE.
• LONDON'S LANDMARK BUILDG DOTTED WH STRIP CLUBS, GAY VENU TO TURN TO MOSQUE
• "COMG OUT UNR FIRE": THE STORY OF GAY AND LBIAN SERVICEMEMBERS

GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME

It is unclear how many of the men publicly or privately intified as gay or were part of gay muni and works that had been tablished Germany before the Nazi rise to power.

It is important to note that not all of the men arrted and nvicted unr Paragraph 175 intified as gay. However, the Nazi mpaign agast homosexualy and the regime’s zealo enforcement of Paragraph 175 ma life Nazi Germany dangero for gay men. The latter term dated to 1869, when a pamphlet advotg for crimalizatn of sexual relatns between men ed the term “Homosexualät” (“homosexualy”).

GAY BERL, BEFORE HLER CAME TO POWER

The newer slang word “schwul” (often translated to English as “gay”) was also creasgly popular among certa groups. In ntrast, the work of gay men that veloped around thor Adolf Brand and his anizatn Gemeschaft r Eigenen (The Communy of Kdred Spirs) took a different approach. It was the relatively eeg atmosphere of the Weimar Republic that gay muni and works grew and veloped unprecented ways.

THE 42 BT GAY BARS AMERI

Some joed “iendship leagu” (Frndschaftsverbän), groups that polilly and socially anized gay men, lbian women, and others.

Gay newspapers and journals, such as Die Frndschaft (Friendship) and Der Eigene (translated varly, but this ntext implyg “his own man”), ntributed to the growth of gay works. They actively tried to build a sense of muny among gay men, and clud personal ads and rmatn about gay meetg plac.

GAY BARS ARE DISAPPEARG. THEIR PAST HOLDS KEYS TO THEIR FUTURE.

Part of this nmnatn was a rejectn of the era’s open exprsns of sexualy, cludg the visibily of gay muni. However, Röhm’s posn the Nazi learship did not temper the movement’s nmnatn of homosexualy and gay muni. Shortly thereafter, they sought to dismantle the visible gay cultur and works that had veloped durg the Weimar Republic.

LONDON'S LANDMARK BUILDG DOTTED WH STRIP CLUBS, GAY VENU TO TURN TO MOSQUE

However, ci like Berl and Hamburg, some tablished gay bars were able to rema open until the mid-1930s. Nohels, the Nazi closur and creased police surveillance ma far more difficult for gay men to nnect wh each other.

Another early actn unrtaken by the Nazi regime was the elimatn of gay newspapers, journals, and publishg ho. In a further latn, the Nazis ed new laws and police practic to arrt and ta whout trial a limed number of gay men begng late 1933 and early 1934. Those arrted clud a number of gay men, some of whom were imprisoned the regime’s early ncentratn mps.

Three events the years 1934–1936 radilized the Nazi regime’s mpaign agast homosexualy and led to more systematic opprsn of gay men. Fally, 1936 SS lear and Chief of the German Police Herich Himmler tablished the Reich Central Office for the Combatg of Homosexualy and Abortn (Reichszentrale zur Bekämpfung r Homosexualät und r Abtreibung). The notorly homophobic Himmler saw both homosexualy and abortn as threats to the German birth rate and th to the fate of the German people.

"COMG OUT UNR FIRE": THE STORY OF GAY AND LBIAN SERVICEMEMBERS

In the Nazis’ unrstandg, the men were “homosexual” (“homosexuell”) offenrs and th crimals and enemi of the state.

In the mid- to late 1930s, the police raid bars and other meetg plac that they believed to be popular wh gay men. The language people ed nunciatns mak clear that the Germans tend to agree wh Nazi attus towards homosexualy.