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History 395 from the late nineteenth century Germany had been one of the leaders in the homosexual Warm Brothers in the rights movement, and homosexuals were an established, although still controversial part Boomtowns of Hell: of German culture. However, during the Nazi The Persecution of regime the homosexual fight for equality and any gains that were made vanished Homosexuals in Nazi and replaced with an attitude that was both brutal and dehumanizing to those accused Germany of homosexual behavior. After World War II Robert Franklin ended homosexuals experienced continued legal and social discrimination on a far greater Adolph Hitler, the leader of the scale than other victims of Nazi brutality. National Socialist, or Nazi party, became the The newly formed German state German chancellor on January 30, 1933, exercised the Anti-homosexual sentiment marking the end of the that existed by drafting Paragraph 1751 in and, with it, the democratic ideals introduced the German penal code of 1871. Paragraph (some say forced) onto Germany after the First 175 (or P175) effectively criminalized World War. The Nazi regime was focused , stating that “A male who indulges on the economic and cultural revival of in criminally indecent activities with another Germany, a Germany that under their rule male… will be punished with jail.”2 The text became a twisted abomination marked does not mention women; in fact lesbianism by militaristic aggression and conquest, was never criminalized in Germany. The economic renewal and the imposition of male dominated Germany society viewed Aryan superiority over all other races. It lesbianism as a casual outgrowth of female is the latter that the Nazis are best known bonding that manifested itself during for--this idea of superiority led the Nazis to adolescence and usually subsided as women try and exterminate what they considered joined or were forced into patriarchal undesirables: Jews, Jehovah’s Witnesses, households. During the Nazi controlled years Gypsies, Slavs, and homosexuals. While lesbianism was not seen as a threat to the homosexuals were one of the smallest groups perpetuation of the German race as targeted for extermination, Nazi leaders, could be forced to have children. especially , reserved a The gay rights movement was born special hatred for homosexuals, and the Nazi in response to P175. The leading figure of party moved against them almost immediately this movement was Magus Hirschfield who after assuming power. While to the Nazis in 1919 founded the Institute for Sexual was perceived as a threat to Research which was revolutionary for its their male-dominated organization, it was time by employing physicians to offer sexual also used as a tool: charges of homosexuality counseling and offer tests for sexually were often enough to send the perceived transmitted diseases. Hirschfield, a Jew, doctor offender to jail or to a concentration camp. In and homosexual, authored over 200 titles the camps, homosexuals suffered abuse from from books to pamphlets on homosexuality not only the guards, but the other prisoners in men and women. Hirschfield also formed as well, and were segregated to keep them the World League for Sexual Reform in 19213 from forming into groups. In comparison, and became involved in the effort to legalize 53 homosexuality in Germany throughout the details of the case were in the German papers 1920’s. While Hirschfield’s influence cannot for months and permanently damaged the gay be overstated, some of his ideas by today’s rights movement while adding fodder for the standards seem backwards. One of these arguments of their enemies, notably the Nazi was his idea of homosexuals comprising a party. “third sex” between men and women.4 Sex Homosexual culture was often attacked and gender were often thought as mutually by its opponents as being criminal, which it exclusive at the time and the idea of a third was to a degree under P. 175. Homosexuals sex was held to account for the existence of were also attacked for being effeminate; the gay subculture. However, this idea was during this period there was a major focus insulting to homosexuals who firmly identified on masculine men’s movements from the as men. Hirschfield had abandoned the Free Youth Movement to the Nazi SA. Men’s idea in 1910 but it was not dead: the Nazi organizations were seen as an expression of party resurrected it during their rise to power nationalism and many German philosophers and used the “third sex” theory to classify glorified the bonds formed between men but homosexuals as a subhuman race, similar to at the same time decried homosexuality as the Jews. unnatural; the Nazis were no exception. In The gay rights movement worked with 1929 during a vote on striking down P. 175 other movements such as women’s rights, and in the Reichstag, Hitler’s official newspaper, gay culture was the subject of heated debates the Völkischer Beobachter wrote: “But don’t fueled by a new medium of expression: think that we Germans will allow these laws celluloid. Many homosexual and to stand for a single day after we have come films were produced in Weimar Germany, the to power…. Their (Jewish) [sic.] efforts are most famous being Anders als die Andern, or nothing but vulgar, perverted crimes and we “Different from the Others.” In 19195 Anders will punish them by banishment or hanging.”6 als die Andern sparked heated debate within The punishment of these laws would the medical community and drew criticism be laid out by two of the Nazi regimes for pushing the third sex idea from large most infamous criminals, Adolph Hitler and segments of the general public and from other Heinrich Himmler. While Hitler’s hatred for homosexuals. In the movie the protagonist non-Aryans is well known, his hatred for blackmails his lover into staying with him, homosexuals was not an obsession unlike offending many of those in the gay rights Himmler’s. Hitler often spoke of his solutions movement who were pushing to decriminalize to the problems but rarely gave specific homosexuality. Blackmail of homosexual orders or directions: it was up to Himmler conduct was also used in politics at the time, to figure out the Fuhrer’s wishes and fulfill even among those who claimed to be allies them. Before 1934 the only recorded remark of the movement, the Social Democrats and Hitler said about homosexuality was that it Communists. The legislation to overturn P. had destroyed the empire of Ancient Greece.7 175 was introduced several times to the Hitler’s anti-homosexual feelings seem to Reichstag, the German national assembly, spring from his hatred of Jews. An early idol of but was defeated by a coalition of right wing his was Otto Weininger, a homosexual Jewish parties including the National Socialists. The author of Sex and Character8 who stated that 1924 trial of Fritz Haarmann, a homosexual the essence of Jewishness was femininity. who admitted to 124 murders of young men Possibly, Hitler used this logic to equate split the Communist and Social Democrat effeminate homosexuality with Jewishness. alliance. Hararmann was an informant for Himmler is said to have been afraid and the chief of police in Hannover, a Social hateful of homosexuals from his childhood, Democrat who often raided the Communist stemming from his need for inclusion in party headquarters in Hannover. The shocking homosocial fraternities. The young Himmler’s 54 diary mentions two influential books which rid of opponents, and civilians used them to are at the core of this hatred, The Priest carry out personal vendettas often unrelated and the Acolyte by John Francis Bloxam to the charges themselves.12 Nazi leaders and Die Rolle der Erotik in der männlichen seemed to have little concern for lesbians, Gesellschaft (The Role of Eroticism in Male due to the fact that they held few positions of Society) by Hans Blüher.9 To Himmler the prominence in the Nazi state and could be ideas presented in The Priest and the Acolyte forced into having children. on homoerotic bonds between men and The Nazis moved against homosexuals boys, and the focus of homoeroticism as immediately after they entered power in the crucial element in men’s organizations January 30th, 1933 and proved the seriousness in Die Rolle der Erotik in der männlichen of their violent rhetoric. On February 23rd of Gesellschaft combined in his mind to produce that year, less than a month later, homosexual an idea of homosexuality as pederasty, with rights organizations and pornography were young boys as the main victims. To the Nazis banned in Germany. The Nazis’ next act was and Himmler the estimated two million a huge blow to the Gay rights movement. On homosexuals in Germany were a threat to May 6, 1933 the Nazis ordered the closing the Nazi ideal of propelling the Aryan race to of the Institute for Sexual Research as well as such a overwhelming degree that it could take the destruction of all the materials contained over the world. Himmler viewed homosexuals within. Hirschfield was in Holland during as “propagation blanks”10 that preyed on boys the time and so he avoided capture; he never and subverted Himmler’s goal of a worldwide returned to Germany, and died in Holland in German master race. 1935. The Nazi regime can be seen as a During the night of June 30th, 1934 “Biocracy”11, subverting and twisting medical (also known as “The Night of the Long science to serve state policy. In order to Knives”), under the orders of Hitler the SS impose global will, the Third Reich needed (at this point a subgroup of the SA) attacked to increase its population to match and and killed prominent SA leaders and other exceed that of its opponents. The Nazi idea enemies of the state, including the SA leader, of their racial superiority to their opponents Ernest Röhm. The purge was publicly justified meant that this population growth could by Hitler who leveled charges of treason only take one form: childbirth. Homosexuals and homosexuality at the leadership of the seemed to work against this goal; not only SA, including Röhm. Hitler also wanted would they not have children, but the Nazis to assure the public that he was a moral believed that they would seduce weak men, steward and would not let German boys men that would otherwise be attracted to “become morally corrupted in their [the SA] women. Homosexuality was also viewed ranks.”13 The Nazi idea of homosexuality as a danger to the all male organizations in could not be realistically applied to most the Nazi government (Hitler Youth, SA, SS homosexuals, especially Röhm. Röhm was and the fighting units of the military). All a former military man, served in World War allegiance was supposed to be given to the I and loved a fight; he gave Hitler his first Fuhrer and Germany; if homosexuality was job14 and was one of Hitler’s most ardent allowed anywhere the prevailing thought supporters and closest associate until his was that homosexual seduction would death in a jail cell on July, 1 1934. draw male allegiance away from the state Röhm hated cowardice – physical as well as and to each other. However, much like the mental, he was unapologetic of his sexual Social Democrats and Communists of the orientation and believed that it was a private Weimar years, the Nazi party used charges of matter: “it appears to me to defy all laws homosexuality as a political tool. Charges of of common sense if the state takes it upon homosexual behavior were often used to get itself to regulate the private lives of human 55 beings or tries to redirect these lives toward completely stripping the alleged offender other goals.”15 Röhm’s attitude and flagrance of their civil rights. Later in 1941 it was of his homosexuality along with his power decided by Himmler that a Volksschädling as leader of the SA made him an enemy of or damager of the racial (German) people, theThird Reich, although he was defended i.e. homosexuals, could be put to death. by Hitler from his detractors until it served Without documents detailing the arrest of his interest not to. No one hated Röhm more P175a offenders after 1938, it is impossible than Heinrich Himmler, Röhm did not fit to know just how many people were put to into Himmler’s idea of homosexuality and death in this fashion. In 1943, apparently Himmler must have found it unbearable to convinced that Germany was free of be under a homosexual. It is worth noting homosexuals, Himmler gave the the with some irony that one of Röhm’s biggest power to intervene in military courts in cases detractors, General Werner von Fritsch, four concerning homosexuality, angering many in years later became victim to accusations of the military who resented this state intrusion. homosexuality that forced him to resign. Many military sentences for homosexual It seems that Hitler needed some conduct were much less severe than the way to assuage his conscience for killing Gestapo’s, a possible reason that Himmler one of his most loyal supporters, and wanted to interfere. Röhm’s homosexuality offered just what he Close to 100,000 men arrested needed. From this point on the Nazi regime for P175a convictions, around 5,000 to became even more oppressive and deadly to 15,000 were sent to concentration camps, homosexuals. On January 28, 1935 the Nazis mainly Mauthausen in southern Germany. strengthened P175, including any activity Homosexual prisoners comprised one of the between two men judged to be “indecent”, smallest groups sent to concentration camps; and if found guilty the court could deprive however they suffered the highest rate of a subject of his civil rights.16 The new law, death of all groups of prisoners at over sixty P175a was also made retroactive going back percent. Camp inmates had to wear a triangle ten years, precipitating a jump in arrests by on their coat and pants to distinguish their the Gestapo and marking the turning point offense: homosexuals wore a . to which many scholars call the “war against Originally all triangles were the same size; contragenics.”17 Himmler was dismayed however, to make identification easier after at the idea of two million homosexuals in March, 1941, the pink triangle doubled in German territory and focused much of his and size while others stayed the same.19 Life in the the Gestapo’s activity on the eradication of camps was especially cruel for homosexuals; homosexuality. The first step was to morph the they were mistreated by both the guards and vague language of P175a into something that prisoners. Many guards took special pleasure could be used to arrest whoever was deemed in torturing homosexual prisoners. One a “community alien,” someone who “shows account tells of a man who had his testicles himself unable to satisfy the minimal demands held in boiling water until the skin peeled off, of the racial community by his own efforts.”18 after this he was sodomized with a broken This addition to P175 gave the Gestapo and broomstick, while the assembled SS guards Kripo (criminal police) carte blanch to arrest drank and engaged in mutual .20 anyone accused of homosexual conduct, and Homosexual prisoners were also punished once in jail homosexuals could be tortured by other prisoners for homosexual actions by and held without charge. At the beginning camp guards against other inmates in a twisted of 1938 Himmler issued a memo stating that association between the two. Homosexuals men accused of a P175a violation could be were not assigned to blocks; they were spread sent directly to a concentration camp, thereby

56 out among the camp in order to prevent their time spent in concentration camps was organization. This lack of protection and social not considered jail time, and homosexual structure made them more vulnerable than prisoners who had sentences left at the end other prisoners, contributing to their high death of the war were sent to jail until the sentence rate. Homosexuality was still prevalent among imposed on them by the Nazi courts was other prisoners; many young homosexuals complete. Many homosexuals were afraid were taken under the wings of “Capos”21, to speak out even after homosexuality was prisoners selected by the SS to be in charge decriminalized. A lifetime of discrimination of cell blocks. Capo protection often mean had taken its toll – of 1,000 known extra rations and a lighter work detail and homosexual concentration camp prisoners these could be the difference between life alive in 1980 only 15 have spoken of their and death for homosexuals. Another survival experience and all of them anonymously.24 method for homosexuals in the camps was Homosexuals were also not able to receive to declare revulsion for homosexuality and reparations payments until 1982, long after accept castration. German prisoners who took many had died from injuries they received in this option were often put in a Dirlewager,22 concentration camps. Of the few books on the or penal division and sent to the Russian front. subject most are in German and have been While these units were deemed expendable printed on gay-run presses with low print runs, and suffered high casualties, it was often complicating the ability of interested non- preferred to life in the concentration camps. Germans to gather information. Of the estimated two million The persecution of homosexuals in Nazi homosexuals in Germany, only around Germany is a unique and violent episode 100,000 are recorded as arrested, which leaves of Nazi history. Homosexuals in Berlin at a large segment of the homosexual population the beginning of the twentieth century were unaccounted for. Certain homosexuals leading the fight for mainstream societal were protected by the Third Reich; Gustaf acceptance and making gains – gains that Gründgens was a famous actor, director would soon be undone by the Nazi Party and star of the Berlin State Theater that was upon acquisition of power in January 30th, a favorite with Hermann Goering.23 While 1933. Under the Nazis homosexuals would few homosexuals were as well connected as become a major target of persecution: they Gründgens, others had minor connections or were stripped of their civil rights, forced were extremely discreet and able to suppress into concentration camps where they were their homosexuality from others. This is one abused by guards and prisoners, and suffered advantage that social criminals had over racial the highest death rate of any group in the criminals--German homosexuals were born camps. It is impossible to know how many German, not Jewish or Gypsies. Armed service homosexuals were arrested and/or killed, was also another way for homosexuals to avoid after 1939 the Gestapo often did not keep the camps until 1943 when the Gestapo turned records due to the ever-increasing workload its attention on the military. and pressure from the architect of Nazi hatred, The criminalization and imprisonment Heinrich Himmler. After the war ended of homosexuals did not end with the fall of the homosexuality continued to be illegal, adding Third Reich. P175a was kept as law in both to the injuries suffered by homosexuals under post-war Germanys, in the communist East the Nazis. Failing to hide a basic characteristic until 1967 and 1969 in the democratic of humanity, their sexuality, became deadly for West. Interestingly, this law appears to be one homosexuals in . of the few, if any, Nazi laws that stayed on the books in both East and after World War II. German courts ruled that

57 Footnotes 11 Harry Oosterhuis, “Male Bonding and Homosexuality in Nazi Germany” Journal 1 (P175) throughout the paper, of Contemporary History 32 (1997): 187. it can be found in its entirety in Appendix I. 12 Not only homosexuality was used in this way; accusations of consorting with Jews, 2 Richard Plant, The Pink Triangle, (NY: Henry being work-shy and others were used. Holt and Company, Inc.: 2986), 106. 13 Plant, The Pink Triangle, 67. 3 Plant, The Pink Triangle, 43. 14 Plant, The Pink Triangle, 58.

4 Richard Dyer, “Less and More than Women 15 Plant, The Pink Triangle, 60. and Men: Lesbian and Gay Cinema in Weimar Germany,” New German Critique 16 See Appendix II. 51 (1990): 19. 17 Plant, The Pink Triangle, 74. 5 Dyer, “Less and More than Women and Men: Lesbian and Gay Cinema in Weimar 18 Gellately and Stoltzfus, Social Outsiders in Germany,” 9. Nazi Germany, 39.

6 Alfred Rosenburg, Völkischer Beobachter, 19 , The Men With The Pink August 2, 1930, 13. Triangle, (Boston: Alyson Publications Inc., 1980), 67. 7 Harry Oosterhuis, “Male Bonding and Homosexuality in Nazi Germany” Journal 20 Heger, The Men With The Pink Triangle, of Contemporary History 32 (1997): 191. 83.

21 Heger, The Men With The Pink Triangle, 8 Robert Gellately and Nathan Stoltzfus, Social 62. Outsiders in Nazi Germany, (Princeton: Princeton University Press: 2001), 233. 22 Heger, The Men With The Pink Triangle, 98. 9 Gellately and Stoltzfus, Social Outsiders in Nazi Germany, 235. 23 Gellately and Stoltzfus, Social Outsiders in Nazi Germany, 108. 10 Plant, The Pink Triangle, 185. 24 Kai Hammermeister, “Inventing History: Toward A Gay Holocaust Literature,” The German Quarterly 70 (1997): 20

58 Bibliography Appendix I Text of Paragraph 175 (P175): Plant, Richard. The Pink Triangle. NY: Henry 175: Holt and Co. Inc., 1986. 1. A male who indulges in criminally indecent activities with another male or who Dyer, Richard. “Less and More than Women allows himself to participate in such activities and Men: Lesbian and Gay Cinema in will be punished with jail. Weimar Germany.” New German Critique 51 (1990) 5-60. 2. If one of the participants is under the age of twenty-one, and if the crime has not been Rosenburg, Alfred. Völkischer Beobachter, grave, the court may dispense with the jail August 2, 1930, 13. sentence.

Oosterhuis, Harry. “Male Bonding and Appendix II Homosexuality in Nazi Germany.” Journal Text of Paragraph 175a and 175b added by the of Contemporary History 32 (1997): 187-205. Nazis on Jan. 28, 1935: 175a: A jail sentence of up to ten years or, if Gellately, Robert and Nathan Stoltzfus. Social mitigating circumstance can be established, a Outsiders in Nazi Germany. Princeton: jail sentence of no less than three year will be Princeton University Press, 2001. imposed on:

Heger, Heinz. The Men With The Pink Triangle. 1. Any male who by force or by threat of Boston: Alyson Publications Inc., 1980. violence and danger to life and limb compels another man to indulge in criminally indecent Hammermeister, Kai. “Inventing History: activities, or allows himself to participate in Toward A Gay Holocaust Literature.” The such activities; German Quarterly 70 (1997): 18-26. 2. Any male who forces another male to indulge with him in criminally indecent activities by using the subordinate position of the other man, whether it be at work or elsewhere, or who allows himself to participate in such activities;

3.Any male who indulges professionally and for profit an criminally indecent activities with other males, or allows himself to be used for such activities or who offers himself for same.

175b: Criminally indecent activities by males with animals are to be punished by jail; in addition, the court may deprive the subject of his civil rights.

Source: Plant, Richard. The Pink Triangle. NY: Henry Holt and Co. Inc., 1986.

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