Contents:
DOCUMENTARY EXPLOR GAY AND LBIAN OPPRSN EAST GERMANY
In 1968, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) legalized homosexualy. Same-sex relatns had long been proscribed by the famo Paragraph 175, the Nazi-era law that not only crimalized homosexualy but led to the imprisonment and murr of thoands of gay people durg the Holot. The GDR's liftg of the ban on homosexualy was portrayed by many as an example of s progrsivism and forward-lookg nature.
Ined, took Wt Germany another year to follow the East's lead and crimalize homosexual relatns between nsentg adults. Yet crimalizatn hardly signalled a new era of eedom for gays the GDR, as activists ntued to be spied on and harassed by the Stasi, the East German secret police. The ntradictns between this surface-level tolerance and state-sponsored reprsn are explored the new documentary, "Out East Berl -- Lbians and Gays the DDR, " a film by directors Jochen Hick and Andreas Strohfeldt which premiered at this year's Berl Internatnal Film Ftival.
Gay Bashg as a Polil Tool. The se of Günter Lf, the first East German cizen to be shot for attemptg to cross the Berl Wall, provis an example of the ways which anti-gay sentiment uld be utilized as a polil tool agast regime opponents.