Were Gay Concentratn Camp Prisoners 'Put Back Prison' After World War II? |

Contents:

• WERE GAY CONCENTRATN CAMP PRISONERS 'PUT BACK PRISON' AFTER WORLD WAR II?
• ‘GREAT FREEDOM’ AND THE LONG SHADOW OF AN ANTI-GAY LAW GERMANY
• ‘ON THE SAME LEVEL AS THE NAZIS’: THE FILM ABOUT GERMANY’S POSTWAR PERSECUTN OF GAY MEN

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

Cast & crewUser reviewsTrivia1997NC-171h 45mIn 1930s Berl, a gay Jew is sent to a ncentratn mp unr the Nazi 1930s Berl, a gay Jew is sent to a ncentratn mp unr the Nazi 1930s Berl, a gay Jew is sent to a ncentratn mp unr the Nazi productn, box office & pany Vios1More like thisReview Excellent dramaI had seen the play on Broadway twice, once wh Richard Gere and David D, and once wh Michael York and Jefey DeMunn. 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.

‘GREAT FREEDOM’ AND THE LONG SHADOW OF AN ANTI-GAY LAW GERMANY

Gay men rcerated Nazi ncentratn mps durg World War II were forced back to prison even after the Allied forc won that nflict. "An timated 15, 000 gay people were rcerated Nazi ncentratn mps, " the post on the Lizzy The Lezzy page stated. 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:.

Unr the Allied occupatn, some homosexuals were forced to serve out their terms of imprisonment regardls of time served the ncentratn mps.

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

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. "Persecutn of Homosexuals Unr the Third Reich. "Nazi Prosecutn of Homosexuals, 1933-1945.

"Germany to Overturn Convictns of Gay Men Prosecuted After War. ” Victor (Ge Friedrich) stammers disbelief, more to himself than to Hans (Franz Rogowski) fictnal character of Hans, liberated om a Nazi ncentratn mp at the end of World War II only to be sent directly to prison, is based on a chillg and often overlooked chapter German postwar is repeatedly arrted unr Paragraph 175, a law crimalizg sex between men that the Nazis expand jt a uple of years to their regime, and which was kept on the books for s law was ed, sometim wh elaborate stg operatns, to nvict up to 50, 000 gay men Wt Germany between 1945 and 1994 — roughly as many as were arrted durg the which the Nazis ed .

“For gay men, the Nazi era did not end 1945, ” said Peter Rehberg, the archivist of Schwul Mm, a gay cultural stutn Sebastian Meise, the director of “Great Freedom, ” read about the men who went om the ncentratn mps to prison bee of their sexualy, “really changed my unrstandg of history, ” he said a telephone terview om Vienna.

But for many s, postwar Germany’s treatment of gay men was also neher liberal nor 1935, the Nazis strengthened Germany’s law crimalizg homosexualy, which was origally troduced the 1870s. This allowed the regime to crimalize not jt gay sex, but almost any behavr that uld be seen to n afoul of heterosexual norms, cludg lookg at another man. Bermbach spent four weeks jail and was fed 5, 000 marks — a hefty sum at the he paid off the fe, he beme one of the thoands of gay and bisexual men who fled Paragraph 175.

He moved to Paris 1960 search of more and his wrg partner Thomas Reir llected many stori om Bermbach’s generatn of gay men durg the six years they spent rearchg and wrg the script for “Great Freedom, ” visg the archiv at the Schwul Mm and the Magn Hirschfeld Foundatn, which llects terviews wh men affected by the, Paragraph 175 did not stop gay culture om evolvg Wtern Germany; the German tle of the film, “Grosse Freihe, ” is a nod to a venerable gay bar Berl where the penultimate scene tak place.