‘On the same level as the Nazis’: the film about Germany’s postwar persecutn of gay men | Film | The Guardian

Contents:

• ‘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
• NETFLIX EXPOS THE SECRET GAY HISTORY OF NAZI GERMANY
• GAY NAZI MOVIE TRIUMPHS AT ROME FILM FTIVAL
• THIS POST-WAR PRISON DRAMA ISN’T A “GAY MOVIE”, IT’S A LOVE STORY

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

” 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.

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

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. But did ph many aspects of gay life unrground, acrdg to Kls Schumann, 84. He remembered Berl police pullg up large vans ont of bars known to be gay hot spots the late ’40s and ’50s.

“As for beg nounced for beg homosexual, I’ve long fotten about that. A versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn C, Page 3 of the New York edn wh the headle: The Long Shadow of Germany’s Anti-Gay Law. But as the award-wng new film Great Freedom mak clear, was fact a vdictive article of the German penal that crimalised male homosexualy and blighted the liv of 140, 000 men, more than a third of whom received prison sentenc.

NETFLIX EXPOS THE SECRET GAY HISTORY OF NAZI GERMANY

” A “pk list” of known gay men, which the Nazis had piled, was still circulatn by the late 1970s, Meise says. Trends may change but homophobia never falls out of fashn.

GAY NAZI MOVIE TRIUMPHS AT ROME FILM FTIVAL

“We approached some of them a gay fe Vienna. “There are laws parts of the US which are siar to sectn 28 the UK, where you n’t talk about homosexualy schools. Which didn’t stop burly Hler nfidante and head of the Nazi SA paraary wg Ernst Röhm, a not-terribly-closeted gay man, om equentg the tablishment.

As the film explas, the SA had a strong homoerotic element, a disgt wh women and femy they somehow ed to jtify homosexualy – for a time, anyway. At a certa pot, Röhm’s iendship wh Hler uld only take him so far a Nazi regime creasgly set on eraditg homosexualy. Röhm is but one player this ncise, ftly told doc that the Eldorado as a lnchg pad to a broar story about beg gay Nazi Germany.

THIS POST-WAR PRISON DRAMA ISN’T A “GAY MOVIE”, IT’S A LOVE STORY

The film never out and yells , but is also a remr of the Fal Solutn tenor that still acpani much anti-gay and anti-trans rhetoric and, creasgly, policy. He was also a bohemian spir who had a passnate homosexual relatnship wh Manasse Herbst, a Galician Jewish actor who fled Germany 1936. Hirschfeld, a groundbreakg sexologist, both gay and Jewish and therefore a prime target of Nazi Germany, was thankfully not prent when his stute was ransacked by mardg Nazi youth (here aga, there are photos).

Here we experience the nce that thrived before the fall, at a hiaway for those whose differenc would soon mark them for prison, exile, or, many s, ath ( is timated that between 5, 000 and 15, 000 gay people died the ncentratn mps for vlatg Paragraph 175). 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 Detailg the gradatn of Nazi-regime victims...

Homosexual playboy 1930s Germany fights to keep himself and his gay flat-mate out of the grasp of Nazi soldiers, but they are soon round up and face the horrors of war. This tough-gog drama don't lve too eply to the Party's ial nflict over homosexualy, but do touch on the labelg of gay men wh the Pk Triangle, makg them perhaps even more reviled than the Jews (Clive Owen picks the yellow Star of David symbol over the triangle, figurg beg a Jew might actually help him survive). Fans of romance, take heed: the trailer for the gay historil drama Firebird has arrived.