A new book tells the te stori behd Cabaret, and what was possibly the most thrillg gay party scene the world has ever known. Read an excerpt here.
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
The Nazi regime rried out a mpaign agast male homosexualy and persecuted gay men between 1933 and 1945. * gay bars in war *
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”).
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.
GAY BERL, BEFORE HLER CAME TO POWER
* gay bars in war *
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. 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.
THE 42 BT GAY BARS AMERI
A three-storey mosque and Islamic centre, named 'Picdilly Prayer Space,' is set to be tablished wh the Troro, a historic entertament plex London's entertament quarter. However, the cisn to build the mosque has also sparked a bate, wh crics qutng s lotn, also known for s bars, nightclubs, gay venu and strip jots. * gay bars in war *
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.
GAY BARS ARE DISAPPEARG. THEIR PAST HOLDS KEYS TO THEIR FUTURE.
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. 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.
LONDON'S LANDMARK BUILDG DOTTED WH STRIP CLUBS, GAY VENU TO TURN TO MOSQUE
The language people ed nunciatns mak clear that the Germans tend to agree wh Nazi attus towards homosexualy.
In rarer s, the Kripo or the Gtapo would send a man directly to a ncentratn mp as a “homosexual” (“homosexuell”) offenr. Between 5, 000 and 15, 000 men were imprisoned ncentratn mps as “homosexual” (“homosexuell”) offenrs.
For example, gay men tegorized by the Nazi regime as Aryan had far more optns than those tegorized as Jews or Roma (Gypsi). But the end of the war and the feat of the Nazi regime did not necsarily brg a sense of liberatn for gay men.
"COMG OUT UNR FIRE": THE STORY OF GAY AND LBIAN SERVICEMEMBERS
Unverg the histori of gay men durg the Nazi era was difficult for much of the twentieth century bee of ntued prejudice agast same-sex sexualy and the ongog enforcement of Paragraph 175. The efforts of scholars and German gay rights anizatns have helped to brg the persecutn of gay men unr the Nazis to the public eye.
In the 1990s, the German ernment acknowledged “persecuted homosexuals” (“verfolgten Homosexuellen”) as victims of the Nazi regime. For the first time, gay men who had suffered at the hands of the Nazis beme eligible for moary pensatn om the German ernment for jtic perpetrated agast them. A few years later, May 2008, the Memorial to Homosexuals Persecuted unr Nazism (Denkmal für die im Natnalsozialism verfolgten Homosexuellen) was unveiled nearby Tiergarten park central Berl.