The Nazi war on gay people: Survivors speak out | Peter Tatchell Foundatn

Contents:

• THREE GAY HOLOT SURVIVORS REMEMBER
• REMEMBERG THE FOTTEN GAY STORI OF ACHWZ
• BT GAY HOLOT SURVIVOR BOOKS
• ONE OF THE LAST GAY JEWISH SURVIVORS OF THE HOLOT
• THE NAZI WAR ON GAY PEOPLE: SURVIVORS SPEAK OUT
• WERE GAY CONCENTRATN CAMP PRISONERS 'PUT BACK PRISON' AFTER WORLD WAR II?
• LIST OF GERMAN GAY MEN PORTED TO ACHWZ. (ID: 33060)
• THE PK TRIANGLE: FROM NAZI LABEL TO SYMBOL OF GAY PRI
• THE GAY VICTIMS OF THE HOLOT MT NOT BE FOTTEN – THEIR STORI ARE A REMR OF TODAY'S EQUALY
• SERI: GAY MEN AND LBIANS UNR THE NAZI REGIME
• GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME
• OPN: GAY HOLOT VICTIMS AND SURVIVORS ARE OFTEN FOTTEN – WE NEED TO TELL THEIR STORI

THREE GAY HOLOT SURVIVORS REMEMBER

Due to limed rearch fundg, the high ath rate of gay men the mps, and the stigma attached to homosexualy, the victims are often fotten by the world. This clud more than 100 gay and lbian bars and f, songs and films, and Magn Hirschfeld’s Instut für Sexualwissenschaft (the Instute for Sexual Science), which ntaed thoands of books and journals on sexualy and genr. Some Nazis believed that the majory of, if not all, homosexuals were Jewish bee many of the proment advot of gay rights and equaly were (cludg Hirschfeld as well as progrsive psychiatrists, physicians, lawyers and jurists).

More than 100, 000 men intified as homosexual were arrted and many sent to ncentratn mps at Buchenwald, Dach, Sachsenhsen, Mthsen and Achwz, where between 5, 000 and 15, 000 of them died. Heger relled that gay men had to sleep wh their hands above their blankets, and if they didn’t they were taken outsi and had buckets of water thrown at them.

Between 1933 and 1945 when the Nazis me to power Germany an timated 100, 000 homosexual men were arrted, of whom 50, 000 were sentenced unr crimal law Paragraph 175. Rudolf Brazda, believed to be the last survivg person who was sent to a Nazi ncentratn mp bee of his homosexualy, died France Augt 2011, aged 98.

REMEMBERG THE FOTTEN GAY STORI OF ACHWZ

Brazda, who settled France after the war, was 2010 award the Legn of Honour, for his varied rol speakg out about Nazi treatment of homosexuals and France’s shameful role portg s Jews and homosexuals. In the Fall of 1933, the first transport of homosexuals arrived at Fuhlsbüttel ncentratn mp Hamburg, Germany, a small Nazi mp that has an timated 500 victims. Some Amerin and Brish lawyers even mand that homosexuals nvicted unr Article 175 serve out their full sentenc after beg released om ncentratn mps and many were forced to do so.

The Homomonument Amsterdam is, like many of the monuments, shaped like a large pk triangle wh the pots leadg to other plac to vis such as the Anne Frank hoe. When talkg about the cisn to make a vio, the artists explaed that as long as people are repulsed by gay people kissg somethg is missg, and that is the basis for vio wh the monument. New York self has a few LGBT monuments and landmarks such as the Stonewall Inn, the Gay Liberatn monument, and recently a newly missned monument to be stalled at Hudson River Park.

Homosexualy Germany had been illegal sce 1871, but the law was ma harsher 1935 by the Nazi regime, wh even simply “havg homosexual fantasi” beg illegal. Moreover, the gay mat were subject to unually cel treatment not only by the SS, but also by other fellow mat who isolated them and nsired them the lowt of the mp hierarchy.

BT GAY HOLOT SURVIVOR BOOKS

If they dared to approach other prisoners, they uld be acced of tryg to sce them, as the mon belief at the time was that homosexualy uld be spread. After the Nazi regime had fallen, the law that crimalised homosexualy remaed as one of the only laws om that era to be retaed s origal form Wt Germany.

ONE OF THE LAST GAY JEWISH SURVIVORS OF THE HOLOT

The are only a few of the fotten stori of the gay people who died Achwz, which we were able to unver thanks to Dr Anna Hájková‘s rearch to the queer history of the Holot.

Comg out of the 1920’s which was a more open time for homosexuals the Weimar Republic, that gave way to the btaly of the 1930’s and the Holot to e. Homosexualy and the Holot – BiblgraphyGays, the Holot, and the Pk Triangle“Crimals were marked wh green verted triangl, polil prisoners wh red, “asocials” (cludg Roma, nonnformists, vagrants, and other groups) wh black or— the se of Roma some mps—brown triangl.

…Very ltle has been wrten about the tens of thoands of homosexuals who were the damnest of the damned, the outsts among the outsts the ncentratn are really only timat of figur. After the prison sentenc most homosexuals were tomatilly shipped to ncentratn 1935, a new law legalized the `pulsory sterilizatn (often fact stratn) of homosexuals.

THE NAZI WAR ON GAY PEOPLE: SURVIVORS SPEAK OUT

Along wh epileptics, schizophrenics and other `generat’, they were beg homosexualy was still so wispread that 1942 the ath penalty was imposed for the army and the ncentratn mps, some pk triangl beme ncub of male Kapos or other men supervisory posns among the mat. They were seldom lled other nam than arse-hol, shty queers or were allowed to talk only to each other, they had to sleep wh the lights on and wh hands above their people were not child molters; those were nsired profsnal crimals, green men wh pk triangl were given the harst jobs and were beg nstantly abed for their admted sexual preference, nsirable numbers of `normal’ men engaged homosexual acts wh impuny _ that was an emergency double standard was an addnal psychologil burn for the pk SS nsired great sport to tnt and torture the mp manr at Flossenburg often orred them flogged; as the victims were screamg, he `was pantg wh excement, and masturbated wildly his troers until he me, ’ unperturbed by the hundreds of onlookers. Eyewns tell of homosexuals beg tortured to ath by ticklg, by havg their tticl immersed alternately to hot and icy water, by havg a broomstick phed to their an.

Himmler, who wanted to eradite homosexuals `root and branch’, had the ia to `cure’ them by mandatory viss to the mp brothel at Ravensbck women provid the servic wh ltle succs. LOC 82-12018, ISBN 0-313-23457-4Related ArticlHomosexualy and the Holot – BiblgraphyTriangl and Tribulatns: The Polics of Nazi SymbolsReturn to Wns.

Now ed as a symbol of gay pri, the pk triangle was first ed as a martn of Homosexual prisoners the mp systemsThe term “Homosexual Survivor” as an xg term the Visual History Archive specifilly refers to men who were persecuted for their sexual orientatn.

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

By the time that the Instute began rerdg ttimony 1994, almost 50 years after the end of the war, very few homosexual survivors of the Holot were still alive, beg already adults durg World War II.

LIST OF GERMAN GAY MEN PORTED TO ACHWZ. (ID: 33060)

What mak Gad Beck’s story so remarkable, however, was that not only was he a “Mischlg” but he was also a gay teenager livg Nazi Berl, the epicenter of a ary power antagonistic to both Jews and gay men.

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

Eva Heymann, Holot survivor and Catholic nun, scrib her experience workg wh the gay muny through her AIDS work and how that exposure enabled her to unrstand her own sexualy a more plex way than what she was tght the Catholic Church.

Eva Heymann on workg wh gay men her AIDS workLanguage: EnglishEva Heymann, Holot survivor and Catholic nun, scrib her experience workg wh the gay muny through her AIDS work and how that exposure enabled her to unrstand her own sexualy a more plex way than what she was tght the Catholic Prchard on her early attu regardg homosexualyLanguage: English Marn Prchard rells brgg up the topic of homosexualy at the dner table and how her father took her asi to discs the importance of tolerance.

Albrecht Becker on gay life 1934 GermanyLanguage: GermanAlbrecht Becker reunts the atmosphere for gays Nazi Germany while Röhm was still charge of the SA and how the relative eedom he enjoyed durg that time changed dramatilly after Röhm's assassatn June Beck on g out to his fayLanguage: GermanIn this clip, Gad Beck rells the day he ran to tell his mother that he "had his first man" and her surprisg reactn.

THE GAY VICTIMS OF THE HOLOT MT NOT BE FOTTEN – THEIR STORI ARE A REMR OF TODAY'S EQUALY

Bertram Schaffner, who served as a ary psychiatrist durg World War 2, reunts how he alt wh the ary's anti-gay policy while evaluatg Fischer on her rcue by a gay male prisonerLanguage: English 100 Days to Inspire Rpect.

Kty Fischer reunts her time Achwz-II Birken when as a young girl she enunters for the first time a gay male prisoner who will turn out to save her life.

Douglas Fox rells a narrow peLanguage: EnglishThanks to the quick rponse of a homosexual prisoner at the Oranienburg-Hekelwerke labor mp (a submp of Sachsenhsen), Douglas Fox ped om a le of transferred prisoners who were unknowgly beg given a lethal jectn upon their Kosski on meetg Willi G.

SERI: GAY MEN AND LBIANS UNR THE NAZI REGIME

Bertram Schaffner’s story is a unique one bee of the multiple rol he played as a gay German Amerin durg the perd that saw the rise of Nazi Germany and World War II. Stefan (Teofil) Kosski’s ttimony is the only English-language ttimony we have the Visual History Archive om a homosexual survivor, which is also remarkable for the fact that Stefan is not a native English speaker. Gad Beck, whose dangero life as a half-Jewish gay man the pal of Nazi Germany durg World War II reprents one of the 20th century’s more unual stori of human survival, died June 24 at a senr cizens home Berl.

No e of ath uld be the passage of time, has bee known that not even Nazi thlsns and efficiency uld elimate all Jews and gays om Hler’s Germany. Beck to bee known as one of the last gay Jewish survivors of the Beck was a lear among Jews who dodged the Nazis Berl, the heart of the Third Reich, and who took risks to help others tryg to do the published a firsthand acunt of his experienc, “An Unrground Life: Memoirs of a Gay Jew Nazi Berl, ” wrten wh Frank Heibert. ”In fact, he was the son of a Jewish father and a mother who had not been born Jewish, which apparently gave him at least temporary protectn om the Nazi Beck said his parents were surprised and supportive when he first told them of his homosexualy.

They refute the mastream “neo-revisnist” history books and documentari about the Third Reich, which shockgly ignored or dismissed the Nazi war agast gay and bisexual men. The dignified, fiant ttimoni of the gay survivors refute the “neo-revisnism” of mastream holot histori that neglect the Nazi persecutn of homosexuals.

GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME

Stormtroopers ransacked the headquarters of the pro-gay rights anisatn, the Instute of Sexual Science, and publicly burned s vast library of “generate” books. Later, Himmler thorised a scientific programme for the eraditn of “this vice”, wh gay prisoners beg subjected to gome medil experiments – cludg hormone implants and stratn.

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:.

OPN: GAY HOLOT VICTIMS AND SURVIVORS ARE OFTEN FOTTEN – WE NEED TO TELL THEIR STORI

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 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.