LGBTQ History Month: Dutch gay man fied the Nazis and saved thoands :: Bay Area Reporter

Contents:

• THE STORY OF WILLEM ARON, THE GAY MAN WHO SACRIFICED HIS LIFE TO PROTECT DUTCH JEWS FROM THE NAZIS
• LGBTQ HISTORY MONTH: DUTCH GAY MAN FIED THE NAZIS AND SAVED THOANDS
• THE GAY HOLOT HERO: WILLEM ARON
• PERSECUTN OF GAY PEOPLE NAZI GERMANY
• AFTER THE WAR, YOU HAVE TO TELL EVERYONE ABOUT THE DUTCH GAY RISTANCE FIGHTERS
• DUTCH GAY MAN KILLED BY NAZIS WAS LEAR OF RISTANCE
• AMSTERDAM ‘STUMBLG STON’ MEMORATE GAY VICTIMS OF NAZIS
• FIRG OF GAY CATHOLIC SCHOOL TEACHER ULD TT LATT SUPREME COURT LG

THE STORY OF WILLEM ARON, THE GAY MAN WHO SACRIFICED HIS LIFE TO PROTECT DUTCH JEWS FROM THE NAZIS

The Story Of Willem Aron, The Gay Man Who Sacrificed His Life To Protect Dutch Jews From The Nazis.

But Willem Aron, an openly gay man, had no illns about what the Nazi occupatn would mean for people like him. And the years that followed, Aron’ legacy as a gay revolutnary was nearly lost to time.

LGBTQ HISTORY MONTH: DUTCH GAY MAN FIED THE NAZIS AND SAVED THOANDS

But Aron’ relatnship wh his fay terrated when he me out as gay at the age of 17. Though some Dutch people uneasily accepted the Nazi occupatn, Willem Aron unrstood the threat that he and other mori faced — pecially when the Nazis re-crimalized homosexualy, which had been legal the Netherlands sce 1811.

On March 27, 1943, Aron and 15 other men marched up to the Cizen Registratn Buildg wearg fake uniforms that a iend of Aron, a gay tailor, had ma.

Shortly before his ath, he relayed some of his fal words to his lawyer: “Let be known that homosexuals are not wards.

THE GAY HOLOT HERO: WILLEM ARON

Only recent years has he gotten his due as a gay ristance fighter. Though his story is ltle-known today, Willem Aron left behd a powerful legacy as an openly gay man and ristance fighter.

PERSECUTN OF GAY PEOPLE NAZI GERMANY

"Homosexuals are not wards.

AFTER THE WAR, YOU HAVE TO TELL EVERYONE ABOUT THE DUTCH GAY RISTANCE FIGHTERS

An openly gay man and a tirels member of the Dutch ristance agast the Nazi occupatn of the Netherlands, he willgly sacrificed his life for a missn that ultimately protected hundreds of thoands of Jews' liv. Often emed the birthplace of LGBTQ rights, the Netherlands crimalized homosexualy 1811, but rtrictive l still barred homosexualy the early 20th century. In 1911, the beliefs of the lg polil parti led to the age of nsent for homosexualy to be changed to 21 the Netherlands — spe the age for heterosexualy remag at 16.

Dpe the first gay bar openg s doors durg this time, the rtrictive age lgs, along wh other laws agast public cency, were ed to unfairly target gay men. He refed to supprs his inty as a gay man, leavg home that year at age 17 and severg ti wh his fay.

DUTCH GAY MAN KILLED BY NAZIS WAS LEAR OF RISTANCE

He wrote about beg kicked out of apartments bee he was gay, there was no protectn. "Though Aron was foced on fendg the safety of the Dutch Jews, he and other LGBTQ cizens also saw the imment threat of the Nazis to their their occupatn of the Netherlands at the start of the 1940s, the Germans brought wh them Paragraph 175 — a law first troduced by Adolf Hler Germany an effort to cleanse the untry of homosexual activy. The lg, which first began by expellg any gay and lbian anizatns Germany, was revised to make homosexual activy between men punishable by imprisonment.

Further, over the urse of the Nazi le, is timated that between 5, 000 and 15, 000 gay men were sent to ncentratn mps. Aron and the rt of his un nstcted their riskit plan yet: they would blow up the facily — along wh the hundreds of thoands of documents Belfante, an openly gay woman who fought alongsi Aron the ristance and participated the plan, said an old vio terview that while both of them knew the danger that would e if they were ught, each knew was necsary to rry out their missn. Though he attempted to take full rponsibily for the attack and refed to give the nam of his team, his notebook was found and many of the ntributors were were able to pe and flee the untry, but exactly three months later, Aron and 12 others — cludg two other gay men — were brought before a firg squad and executed.

A legacy overshadowedThough the bombg of the Amsterdam registry buildg was wily regard after the Holot as a lifavg moment history, tn about the heroic moment omted Aron' learship due to the fact that he was a gay, while his fay did receive a medal of honor for his sacrific the years followg his ath, homophobia that persisted throughout the 1950s and 1960s prevented LGBTQ war hero like Aron om gettg the regnn they served. From a young age, he was a talented artist and his parents enuraged his creativy, until he me out as homosexual at age 17. In a time when nearly all gay people were the closet, Willem’s parents uld not accept his choice to live openly.

AMSTERDAM ‘STUMBLG STON’ MEMORATE GAY VICTIMS OF NAZIS

Willem’s last words before beg executed July, 1943 were, “Let be known that homosexuals are not wards. To mark LGBTQ+ History Month, Dr Barbara Warnock looks at the persecutn faced by gay people Nazi Germany, and some of the documents The Wiener Holot Library’s Internatnal Tracg Service digal archive that nta evince about their experienc.

The Nazi perd saw a signifint tensifitn of the persecutn of gay people Germany.

Prr to their accsn to power 1933, unr sectn 175 of Germany’s Civil Co, male homosexualy was illegal Germany. There was a flourishg gay scene there, and many gay and lbian bars and publitns such as Die Frnd (Eng: The Girliend).

FIRG OF GAY CATHOLIC SCHOOL TEACHER ULD TT LATT SUPREME COURT LG

Germany was also at the foreont of rearch to sexualy and genr and mpaigns for gay rights the s before the Nazi era. The Scientific Humanarian Commtee had worked sce s tablishment 1897 to overturn sectn 175, and 1919, one of s foundg members, Magn Hirschfeld, set up the Instute for Sexual Rearch, a pneerg anisatn s approach to gay and transgenr rights.

The Nazis, and often wir society, viewed gay people as dangeroly non-nformist, and this was one motivatn for persecutn.