The Pk Triangle: From Nazi Label to Symbol of Gay Pri | HISTORY

gay prisoners ww2

Gay and Lbian soldiers faced extraordary discrimatn durg World War II. Most found new muni of people and thrived spe the opprsn. Disver the film Comg Out Unr Fire that shar their story.

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WERE GAY CONCENTRATN CAMP PRISONERS 'PUT BACK PRISON' AFTER WORLD WAR II?

An onle edy seri highlighted the fact that the end of the war did not mean the end of persecutn for many gay German men. * gay prisoners ww2 *

Gay men rcerated Nazi ncentratn mps durg World War II were forced back to prison even after the Allied forc won that nflict. The post was acpanied by a picture of a pk triangle -- the symbol officials Nazi Germany ed to intify and ostracize gay ncentratn mp prisoners -- and a quote drawn om the webse for The Pk Triangle of San Francis, an annual event rememberg those victimized unr Nazi le:.

Between 1933 and 1945, an timated 100, 000 men were arrted for vlatg Nazi Germany's law agast homosexualy, and of the, approximately 50, 000 were sentenced to prison. The men arrted for beg gay were targeted unr a revised versn of a 19th century statute, Paragraph 175, which was expand to tegorize homosexualy as a crime of "cency. And their alli feated the Nazi regime, the law remaed effect after World War II, as the Holot Memorial mm's exhib on the regime's anti-gay persecutn stat:.

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 prisoners ww2 *

Unr the Allied occupatn, some homosexuals were forced to serve out their terms of imprisonment regardls of time served the ncentratn mps. The Nazi versn of Paragraph 175 remaed on the books of the Feral Republic of Germany (Wt Germany) until the law was revised 1969 to crimalize homosexual relatns between men over the age of 21. On 22 March 2017, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her bet approved a bill that overturned nvictns for gay men which had rried out unr Paragraph 175 between 1949 and 1969 and also provid pensatn for survivg victims.

The Nazi symbol for gay ncentratn mp prisoners has gone through a change of s own, as the Pk Triangle of San Francis's se stat:. The pk triangle symbol has sce evolved to an important remr for the gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr muny of the ntug homophobia and humany agast them and other reprsed mori around the world.

THE PK TRIANGLE: FROM NAZI LABEL TO SYMBOL OF GAY PRI

Pk triangl were origally ed ncentratn mps to intify gay men. * gay prisoners ww2 *

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.

THE HORRIFIC NAZI TREATMENT OF GAYS — THE SAD STORY OF PK MEN“THE NAZIS STUCK 25 CENTIMETERS OF WOOD UP MY ASS”PETER PRKAR·FOLLOWPUBLISHED LSONS OM HISTORY·5 M READ·JUL 22, 2021--4SHAREGAY PRISONERS A NAZI NCENTRATN MP, WEARG A PK TRIANGLE (IMAGE: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS)THE TREATMENT OF PRISONERS NAZI NCENTRATN MPS WAS CEL AND DISGTG. YET, THERE WAS A STE OF PRISONERS WHO WERE NSIRED THE LOWT OF THE LOW BY THE MP GUARDS AND EVEN BY THE FELLOW PRISONERS — GAY MEN.THE TREATMENT OF THE GAYS THE NAZI NCENTRATN MPS WAS TLY HORRIFIC. GAY MEN WERE ED FOR MEDIL EXPERIMENTS AND AS SHOOTG TARGETS. THE GUARDS WOULD AIM FOR THE PK TRIANGL ON THEIR CHTS THAT SYMBOLIZED THEIR SEXUAL ORIENTATN.THEY WERE TORTURED, EXPERIMENTED ON, AND RIDICULED. THEY WERE BEATEN TO ATH BY THEIR FELLOW PRISONERS. THEY RECEIVED THE MOST DANGERO TASK THE MP’S STONE QUARRI AND FACTORI.“THE NAZIS STUCK 25 CENTIMETERS OF WOOD UP MY ASS.”— PIERRE SEEL, A GAY HOLOT SURVIVORTHE NOTOR PARAGRAPH 175

Gays Nazi Germany were persecuted and often imprisoned ncentratn mps. Homosexuals were btally tortured and experimented on. The Nazis tried to cure homosexualy, which only add to the sufferg of the nocent men. * gay prisoners ww2 *

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. For example, gay men tegorized by the Nazi regime as Aryan had far more optns than those tegorized as Jews or Roma (Gypsi). 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.

IN WWII, TWO GAY SOLDIERS’ FORBIDN ROMANCE LIV ON IN THEIR LOVE LETTERS

* gay prisoners ww2 *

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.

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

The Nazi dictatorship policed, prosecuted, and ultimately murred thoands of gay men durg s 12 years of le. * gay prisoners ww2 *

In Nazi Germany, a downward-potg pk triangle was sewn onto the shirts of gay men ncentratn mps—to intify and further humanize them. As part of their missn to racially and culturally “purify” Germany, the Nazis arrted thoands of LGBT dividuals, mostly gay men, whom they viewed as Uned Stat Holot Memorial Mm timat 100, 000 gay men were arrted and between 5, 000 and 15, 000 were placed ncentratn mps. )Corbis/Getty ImagHomosexual prisoners at the ncentratn mp at Sachsenhsen, Germany, wearg pk triangl on their uniforms on December 19, the mps, gay men were treated pecially harshly, by guards and fellow prisoners alike.

“There was no solidary for the homosexual prisoners; they belonged to the lowt ste, ” Pierre Seel, a gay Holot survivor, wrote his memoir I, Pierre Seel, Deported Homosexual: A Memoir of Nazi timated 65 percent of gay men ncentratn mps died between 1933 and 1945. Even after World War II, both East and Wt Germany upheld the untry’s anti-gay law, and many gays remaed rcerated until the early 1970s. The next year, post-war Germany’s first gay rights anizatn, Homosexuelle Aktn Wtberl (HAW), reclaimed the pk triangle as a symbol of liberatn.

Horac Villalobos/Corbis/Getty ImagMemorial plaqu for homosexuals, Jehovah's Wns and Wehrmacht serters are placed where once stood one of the molished barracks Buchenwald ncentratn mp near Weimar, Germany.

JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU

Tens of thoands of gay men and lbians were persecuted by the Nazis but stigma and a lack of rearch fundg has kept their history hidn. * gay prisoners ww2 *

In 1986, six New York Cy activists created a poster wh the words SILENCE = DEATH and a bright pk upward-facg triangle, meant to ll attentn to the AIDs crisis that was cimatg populatns of gay men across the untry. “The Nazis stuck 25 centimeters of wood up my ass”Gay prisoners a Nazi ncentratn mp, wearg a pk triangle (Image: Wikimedia Commons)The treatment of prisoners Nazi ncentratn mps was cel and disgtg.

THE SECRET HISTORY OF ATRALIA'S GAY DIGGERS

Sarah Gay is gog to prison for 10 years after LaQuenta Holey and Andrew Griff were killed a wrong-way crash on the North Freeway 2021. * gay prisoners ww2 *

Yet, there was a ste of prisoners who were nsired the lowt of the low by the mp guards and even by the fellow prisoners — gay treatment of the gays the Nazi ncentratn mps was tly horrific. ”— Pierre Seel, a gay Holot survivorThe notor Paragraph 175Graphs wh the number of nvictns due to Paragraph 175 (Image: Wikimedia Commons)In 1871, the law known as Paragraph 175 me to force the German Empire.

If he was found out, was likely that he would serve time prison, or even get shot by a homophobic soldier, and left for ad. For years, they had dreams of leavg England and movg to the Uned Stat, where they uld live sunny California, which was known for beg more acceptg of homosexuals.

Liebman and more than 9, 000 Amerin servicemembers, however, eventually were given a Sectn 8 "blue discharge" for beg homosexual.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* GAY PRISONERS WW2

LGBTQ+ History Month: gay victims and survivors of the Holot are often fotten – we need to tell their stori .

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