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Home , Heinrich Himmler, January 1933, Magnus Hirschfeld, Paragraph 175, Pink triangle

UNITED STATES MEMORIAL MUSEUM HOMOSEXUALS As part of the Nazis’ attempt to purify

German society and propagate an

“Aryan ,” they condemned

homosexuals as “socially aberrant.”

Soon after taking office on ,

1933, Hitler banned all homosexual

and organizations. Brownshirted

storm troopers raided the institutions

and gathering places of homosexuals.

Greatly weakened and driven under-

ground, this subculture had flourished

in the relative freedom of the 1920s, in

the pubs and cafes of , ,

Munich, Bremen, and other cities. Cover: A portrait of two companions. Berlin, , 1926. , Berlin. HOMOSEXUALS: VICTIMS OF THE NAZI ERA

On May 6, 1933, Nazis In 1934, a special ransacked the “Institute (Secret State Police) division for Sexual ” in on homosexuals was set up. Berlin; four days later as One of its first acts was to part of large public burn- order the police “ lists” ings of books viewed as from all over Germany. “un-German,” thousands The police had been compil- of books plundered from the ing these lists of suspected Institute’s library were homosexual men since 1900. thrown into a huge bonfire. On September 1, 1935, a The institute was founded harsher, amended version in 1919 by Dr. Magnus of of the Hirschfeld (1868–1935). Criminal Code, originally Auschwitz mug shot of homosexual August It sponsored research and framed in 1871, went into Pfeiffer, a servant, who discussion on marital prob- effect, punishing a broad was born August 8, lems, sexually transmitted range of “lewd and lascivi- 1895, in Weferlingen, Germany. He arrived diseases, and laws relating ous” behavior between men. at Auschwitz on to sexual offenses, abortion, In 1936 Nazi leader November 1, 1941, and . The created a and died there December 28, 1941. author of many works, Reich Central Office for the Hirschfeld, himself a homo- Combating of Homosexuality Mug shot of sexual, led efforts for three and Abortion: Special Office Friedrich Althoff, a waiter from decades to reform laws crim- (II S), a subdepartment of Düsseldorf, who was inalizing homosexuality. (In Executive Department II of born May 16, 1899. He was arrested on 1933 Hirschfeld happened the Gestapo. The linking of charges of homosexu- to be in , where he homosexuality and abortion ality. Düsseldorf, remained until his death.) reflected the Nazi regime’s Germany, , 1939. (Top) State Museum Auschwitz, Oswiecim, . (Bottom) Nordrhein- Westfälisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, Düsseldorf, RW 58-61940. population policies to pro- Germany in 1928. Between A HOMOSEXUAL RECALLS 1933 mote a higher birthrate of 1933–45, an estimated its “Aryan” population. On 100,000 men were arrestedOne man (right) recounts how the this subject, Himmler spoke as homosexuals, and of Nazis’ assumption of Then came the thunderbolt of the 30 January 1933, and we in Bad Tölz on February 18, these, some 50,000 officiallypower in 1933 limited knew that a change of political climate had taken place. What we 1937, before a group of high- defined homosexuals werehomosexuals’ freedom and created an atmos- had tried to prevent, had taken place. ranking SS officers on the sentenced. Most of these phere of fear. Over the years, more and more of my political friends disap- dangers both homosexuality men spent time in regular peared, of my Jewish and of my homosexual friends. Fear came and abortion posed to the prisons, and an estimated over us with the increasingly coordinated pressure of the Nazis. German birthrate. 5,000 to 15,000 of the total For heaven’s sake not to attract attention, to exercise restraint. 1933 was the starting-point for the persecution of homosexuals. Under the revised Para- sentenced were incarcerated Already in this year we heard of raids on homosexual pubs and graph 175 and the creation in concentration camps. meeting places. Maybe individual, politically uneducated homo- of Special Office II S, the How many of these 5,000 sexuals who were only interested in immediate gratification did number of prosecutions to 15,000 “175ers” perished not recognize the significance of the year 1933, but for us homo- increased sharply, peaking in the concentration camps sexuals who were also politically active, who had defended the in the years 1937–1939. will probably never be , and who had tried to forestall the Nazi threat, 1933 initially signified a reinforcing of our resistance. Half of all convictions for known. Historical research In order not to mutually incriminate ourselves, we decided to homosexual activity under to date has been very limited. no longer recognize each other. When we came across each other the Nazi regime occurred One leading scholar, in the street, we passed by without looking at one another. There during these years. The Ruediger Lautmann, were certain possibilities for us to meet, but that never happened police stepped up raids on believes that the death in public. homosexual meeting places, rate for “175ers” in the For a politicized homosexual, visiting places which were part of the homosexual subculture was too dangerous. Friends told me seized address books of camps may have been that raids on bars were becoming more frequent. And someone arrested men to find addi- as high as sixty percent. had written on the wall of the subway tunnel of the Hamburg S- tional suspects, and created All prisoners of the camps Bahn between Dammtor station and the main station, “Street of networks of informers to wore marks of various colors the Lost.” That was some sort of film or book title. We found this compile lists of names and and shapes, which allowed graffiti very amusing, for most of us tried to cope with the thing by make arrests. guards and camp function- developing a sort of gallows humor. An estimated 1.2 million aries to identify them by cate- men were homosexuals in gory. The uniforms of those

From Hans-Georg Stümke and Rudi Finkler, Rosa Winkel, Rosa Listen, Homosexuelle und ‘Gesundes Volksempfinden’ von Auschwitz bis heute (Hamburg, 1981), trans. in Michael Burleigh and Wolfgang Wippermann, The Racial State: Germany 1933–1945 (New York, 1991), pp. 182–83. PARAGRAPH 175 sentenced as homosexuals men to heterosexuals: the bore various identifying surgical insertion of a marks, including a large capsule which released the dot and a large male hormone testosterone. 175. A male who commits lewd and lascivious acts with another “175” drawn on the back Such procedures reflected male or permits himself to be so abused for lewd and lascivious of the jacket. Later a pink the desire by Himmler and acts, shall be punished by imprisonment. In a case of a participant under 21 years of age at the time of the commission of the act, the triangular patch (rosa others to find a medical court may, in especially slight cases, refrain from punishment. Winkel) appeared. solution to homosexuality. 175a. Confinement in a penitentiary not to exceed ten years Conditions in the camps The vast majority of homo- and, under extenuating circumstances, imprisonment for not less were generally harsh for all sexual victims were males; than three months shall be imposed: inmates, many of whom died were not subjected 1. Upon a male who, with force or with threat of imminent dan- from hunger, disease, to systematic persecution. ger to life and limb, compels another male to commit lewd and lascivious acts with him or compels the other party to submit to exhaustion, exposure to the While lesbian bars were abuse for lewd and lascivious acts; cold, and brutal treatment. closed, few women are 2. Upon a male who, by abuse of a relationship of dependence Many survivors have testi- believed to have been arrest- upon him, in consequence of service, employment, or subordina- fied that men with pink ed. Paragraph 175 did not tion, induces another male to commit lewd and lascivious acts triangles were often treated mention homosexual- with him or to submit to being abused for such acts; particularly severely by ity. Lesbianism was seen by 3. Upon a male who being over 21 years of age induces another male under 21 years of age to commit lewd and lascivious acts guards and inmates alike many Nazi officials as alien with him or to submit to being abused for such acts; because of widespread biases to the nature of the Aryan 4. Upon a male who professionally engages in lewd and lascivi- against homosexuals. As was woman. In some cases, the ous acts with other men, or submits to such abuse by other men, true with other prisoner police arrested lesbians as or offers himself for lewd and lascivious acts with other men. categories, some homosexu- “asocials” or “prostitutes.” 175b. Lewd and lascivious acts contrary to nature between als were also victims of One woman, Henny human beings and animals shall be punished by imprisonment; loss of civil rights may also be imposed. cruel medical experiments, Schermann, was arrested in including castration. At 1940 in Frankfurt and was In 1935 the Nazi Buchenwald concentration labelled “licentious lesbian” regime revised Paragraph 175 of the camp, SS physician Dr. Carl on her mug shot; but she was German criminal code Vaernet performed opera- also a “stateless Jew,” suffi- to make illegal a very tions designed to convert cient cause for deportation. broad range of behavior between men. This is the text of the revised law (left). English translation by Warren Johannson and William Percy in “Homosexuals in ,” Annual, Vol. 7 (1990). Homosexuals~ Victims of the Nazi Era~ 1933-1945

Dr. , a Jew and homosexual, founded the Institute for Sexual . Berlin, Germany, 1928.

The Institute for Sexual Sciences during a Nazi raid. Berlin, Germany, May 6, 1933.

The closing of the , a club where homosexuals socialized. Berlin, Germany, March 5, 1933.

(Top) Suddeutscher Verlag Bilderdienst, , Germany. (Bottom) Akademie Landesbildstelle Berlin. der Kunste, Berlin. NAZI LEADER HEINRICH HIMMLER ON THE Among the Jewish inmates deported to Nazi-establishedIn a speech that “QUESTION OF HOMOSEXUALITY” at Ravensbrück concentra- in eastern .Himmler gave before a conference of SS offi- tion camp selected for exter- Nor were they transportedcers on February 17, mination, she was gassed in in mass groups of homosex-1937, he included remarks on the ques- If you further take into account the facts I have not yet men- the Bernburg psychiatric ual prisoners to Nazi exter- tion of homosexuality. tioned, namely that with a static number of women, we have hospital, a “euthanasia” mination camps in Poland. two million men too few on account of those who fell in the war killing center in Germany, It should be noted that [of 1914–18], then you can well imagine how this imbalance of in 1942. Nazi authorities sometimes two million homosexuals and two million war dead, or in other Homosexuality outside used the charge of homosex- words a lack of about four million men capable of having sex, Germany (and incorporated uality to discredit and has upset the sexual balance sheet of Germany, and will result in a catastrophe. Austria and other annexed undermine their political I would like to develop a couple of ideas for you on the ques- territories) was not a subject opponents. Charges of tion of homosexuality. There are those homosexuals who take the generally addressed in Nazi homosexuality among the view: what I do is my business, a purely private matter. However, ideology or policy; the SA (Storm trooper) leader- all things which take place in the sexual sphere are not the private concern focused on the ship figured prominently affair of the individual, but signify the life and death of the nation, impact of homosexuality on among justifications for the signify world power or ‘swissification.’ The people which has many children has the candidature for world power and world domina- the strength and birthrate bloody purge of SA chief tion. A people of good race which has too few children has a one- of the Aryan population. Ernst Röhm in . way ticket to the grave, for insignificance in fifty or a hundred During the war years, 1939 Nazi leader Hermann years, for burial in two hundred and fifty years…. to 1945, the Nazis did not Göring used trumped-up Therefore we must be absolutely clear that if we continue to generally instigate drives accusations of homosexual have this burden in Germany, without being able to fight it, then against homosexuality in improprieties to unseat that is the end of Germany, and the end of the Germanic world…. German-occupied countries. army supreme commander Consequently, the vast Von Fritsch, an opponent of majority of homosexuals Hitler’s military policy, in arrested under Paragraph early 1938. Finally, a 1935 175 were Germans or propaganda campaign and Austrians. Unlike , men two show trials in 1936 and arrested as homosexuals 1937 alleging rampant were not systematically homosexuality in the priest-

Translated in Michael Burleigh and Wolfgang Wipperman, The Racial State: Germany 1933–1945 (New York, 1991), pp. 192–93. BREAKING THE SILENCE: hood, attempted to undercut Republic () FRIEDRICH-PAUL VON GROSZHEIM the power of the Roman until 1969, so that well after Friedrich-Paul von Catholic Church in , homosexuals Groszheim, one of the Germany, an institution continued to fear arrest Friedrich-Paul von Groszheim was arrested for the first time in “forgotten victims” of , recently which many Nazi officials and incarceration. 1937 with 230 other men, in a mass arrest of homosexuals in broke his silence to considered their most Research on Nazi persecu- Lübeck, a German port on the Baltic Sea. In 1938 von Groszheim give testimony. was again arrested, tortured, and given the choice between castra- powerful potential enemy. tion of homosexuals was tion and concentration camp. He submitted to the operation and After the war, homosexual impeded by the criminaliza- survived, but only told his story in 1992. concentration camp prison- tion and social stigmatiza- Von Groszheim told his story on a new film in ers were not acknowledged tion of homosexuals in German with English subtitles We Were Marked as victims of Nazi persecu- Europe and the United with a Big A, which was shown at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1993. tion, and reparations were States in the decades follow- A video of the film is available in the Museum refused. Under the Allied ing the Holocaust. Most Shop. Von Groszheim’s story is also one of nine Military Government of survivors were afraid or stories of homosexual victims told on Museum Germany, some homosexuals ashamed to tell their stories. Identity Cards; his identity card may be were forced to serve out Recently, especially in accessed at the Wexner Learning Center by touching I.D. Card Stories on the menu and then keying in 5364. their terms of imprisonment, Germany, new research Von Groszheim was never acknowledged as a victim of the Nazi regardless of the time spent findings on these “forgotten regime, and due to on-going persecution of homosexuals in in concentration camps. victims” have been pub- Germany, it took nearly half a century before he broke his silence. The 1935 version of lished, and some survivors Recently he explained why he began to speak out: “I’m living Paragraph 175 remained in have broken their silence to proof that Hitler didn’t win. I’m aware of that every day. If I don’t tell my story, who will know the truth?” effect in the Federal give testimony. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION MUSEUM HOLDINGS

VISIT THE PERMANENT EXHIBITION COLLECTIONS The Burning of Books (4th floor) Limited number of documents pertaining to arrest and incarcera- tion of homosexuals. Enemies of the State (4th floor) Numerous photographs, including those of groups, mug shots, Prisoners of the Camps (3rd floor): two pink triangular patches; “mug individual portraits, /lesbian bars, public baths, and the raid shots” of prisoners on Institute for Sexual Sciences. Return to Life (2nd floor) LIBRARY Several recently published scholarly studies in German, in addi- VISIT THE WEXNER LEARNING CENTER (2nd floor) tion to older books in English, such as Heger’s and Plant’s, From the MENU choose TOPIC LIST. From the alphabetical list of aimed at readers. topics choose “MOSAIC OF VICTIMS: Nazi persecution of a mosaic of victims.” Choose “Homosexuals” to learn more about the perse- cution of homosexuals. From the MENU choose ID CARD. Type in the following numbers to read about the experiences of homosexuals who were perse- cuted during the Holocaust: 5364; 5894; 5664; 5863; 3864; 7264; 5336; 5856; 3956. RECOMMENDED READING

Burleigh, Michael, and Wolfgang Wippermann. The Racial State: Germany 1933–1945 (Cambridge, England, 1991). Heger, Heinz. The Men with the (Boston, 1994). Isherwood, Christopher. Christopher and His Kind (New York, 1976). Lautmann, Ruediger. “Gay Prisoners in Concentration Camps as Compared with Jehovah’s Witnesses and Political Prisoners,” in Michael Berenbaum, ed., A Mosaic of Victims: Non-Jews Persecuted and Murdered by the Nazis (New York, 1990), pp. 200–221. Plant, Richard. The Pink Triangle: The Nazi War against Homosexuals (New York, 1986). Wolff, Charlotte. Magnus Hirschfeld: A Portrait of a Pioneer in (, 1986). United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW Washington, D.C. 20024-2150