Homosexuals Under the Nazi Regime

In recent years, the pink triangle has become a symbol of gay pride, but it started out as a badge of shame.  It was a way for Nazi guards at concentration camps to recognize gay prisoners the same way that the yellow triangle signified Jewish prisoners.  There was a transformation from 1920s Germany where an proto-gay rights movement was taking place to a world where being recognized as gay could land a person in a concentration camp.  The numbers are vague, but anywhere between 5,000 to 15,000 gay men were sent to various camps before the end of the war.

It started all the way back in 1875, when Paragraph 175 of the German Criminal Code was put into effect, not too long after the unification of Germany.  It stated that homosexual acts between males was a crime.  It also gave a focus to the gay rights movement that had been starting at the time.  By the 1920s, Paragraph 175 had not been repealed, but gay and lesbian Germans were still experiencing relative freedom.  However, as the Nazi party rose to power, interest in suppressing that segment of the population grew.  Nazis put a good deal of emphasis on increasing the Aryan birth rate and purifying the race, so homosexuality did not fit in with their agenda.  According to the Nazis, homosexual men were anti-Germany and politically dangerous.  Oddly enough, they did not consider homosexual women as threatening, partially because they were still capable, in the minds of the Nazis, of bearing Aryan children.

The situation became even tenser when Hitler was elected Chancellor.  Within weeks of his appointment, gay bars and clubs were being raided and shut down.  By 1934, a special gestapo was set up to monitor homosexuals  and collect “pink lists”.  Paragraph 175 was amended the following year to state that “lewd” acts between males could result in prison time up to ten years and necessitate the “loss of civil rights”.  It did not mention death sentences or concentration camps, but this changed greatly during the war.  The death rate for gay men inside of concentration camps could have been as high as 60%.  This had less to do with a plan for extermination and more to do with poor treatment inside the camps, both by the guards and the other prisoners.

West Germany weakened Paragraph 175 in 1969 and further restricted it in 1973.

Heger, Heinz. Die Männer Mit Dem Rosa Winkel; Der Bericht Eines Homosexuellen Über Seine KZ-Haft Von 1939-1945. Hamburg: Merlin-Verlag, 1972. Print.

"Persecution of Homosexuals." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Council. Web. 22 Feb. 2016. <http://www.ushmm.org/learn/students/learning-materials-and-resources/homosexuals-victims-of-the-nazi-era/persecution-of-homosexuals>.

"Persecution of Homosexuals Under the Nazi Regime." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Council. Web. 22 Feb. 2016. <http://www.ushmm.org/research/scholarly-presentations/symposia/persecution-of-homosexuals-under-the-nazi-regime>.