Gay Men unr the Nazi Regime | Holot Encyclopedia

Contents:

• GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME
• ‘ON THE SAME LEVEL AS THE NAZIS’: THE FILM ABOUT GERMANY’S POSTWAR PERSECUTN OF GAY MEN
• GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME - PHOTOGRAPHS
• SERI: GAY MEN AND LBIANS UNR THE NAZI REGIME
• THE NAZIS TOLERATED GAYS. THEN EVERYTHG CHANGED

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. 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”). 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. 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.

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.

‘ON THE SAME LEVEL AS THE NAZIS’: THE FILM ABOUT GERMANY’S POSTWAR PERSECUTN OF GAY MEN

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. 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.

GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME - PHOTOGRAPHS

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. He was received that day wh meras, bouquets of flowers, and a greetg om the openly gay former mayor of Berl, Kls seven s earlier, Brazda survived a spell Buchenwald, the ncentratn mp to which he was sent havg twice been arrted for vlatg Paragraph 175, the German law prohibg male homosexual activy. Published 2016, Whisnant’s book subverts the notn that the only queer people targeted durg the Third Reich were gay men, suggtg stead that the Nazi party’s broar terpretatn of Paragraph 175 meant that a small portn of terned dividuals were what we today would ll genr-nonnformg or trans.

What’s more, Whisnant pots out that while lbian women were not necsarily arrted bee of their sexualy, that is neher to say that some lbian women did not end up ncentratn mps, nor that the homophobia of the time didn’t impact them more broadly. ” And bis the German public’s disda for the trans-posive physician, signs of other cracks the fa of early Berl’s tolerance beg to show when nsirg the number of gay magaz circulatg at the time.

SERI: GAY MEN AND LBIANS UNR THE NAZI REGIME

This wasn’t exactly a well-guard secret; gay sirs om the time rell spottg the high-rankg official at gay bars, even pickg up male sex workers Munich.

” The historian ntu to scribe how some might have seen the Nazi’s emphasis on male-bondg, physil power, and homoerotic imagery as a draw toward jog the party the first place.

”Nazi-era propaganda, like this 1933 electn poster, often prented an ialized, homoerotic-tged view of ArchiveWhatever illn of acceptance queer members of the Nazi party might have felt the early 1930s vanished the aftermath of a pivotal event lled The Night of the Long Kniv. That is, by the letter, didn’t necsarily crimalize homosexualy, but rather what was nsired homosexual ntact — male-on-male peratn. Ngg's acunt is somethg of a rary: the few homosexuals who managed to survive ternment have tend to hi the fact, largely bee homosexualy ntued to be a crime postwar Wt Germany.

THE NAZIS TOLERATED GAYS. THEN EVERYTHG CHANGED

Moreover, many homosexuals were summarily executed by firg squads; this was particularly the se wh gays the ary which enpassed nearly every able-bodied man durg the fal years of the war. * * * The begng of the Nazi terror agast homosexuals was marked by the murr of Ernst Rohm on June 30, 1934: "the Night of the Long Kniv. For public relatns purpos, and pecially to quell the outrage felt throughout the ranks of the SA, Hler jtified his blatant power play by potg to Rohm's homosexualy.

Hler, of urse, had known of Rohm's homosexualy sce 1919, and beme public knowledge 1925, when Rohm appeared urt to charge a htler wh theft. All this while the Nazi Party had a vilently antigay policy, and many Nazis protted that Rohm was discredg the entire Party and should be purged.

Hler Youth, for example, was disparaggly referred to as Homo Youth throughout the Third Reich, a characterizatn which the Nazi learship valy stggled to elimate. Ined, most of the handful of publitns on homosexualy which appeared durg the Fascist regime were voted to new and rather bizarre methods of “tectn” and “preventn.