Yom HaShoah - Holocaust Remembrance Day: Gay Men and Lesbians

[Behind the Aegis]

Of the millions of victims of the Holocaust, gays and lesbians were also terrorized by the Nazi death machine. Gay men in particular were brutalized by the Nazi regime, even before the camps were set up and functioning. Unlike other prisoners, gays were made to wear identifying triangles (or other markers) on their backs, as well, as the front, so it was easier for them to be identified by the Nazis and other prisoners. The pink triangles were also a bit larger, like the Jews, so it was easier to spot by guards. Even after the liberation of the camps, most gays were made to serve out their "prison" terms and all property seized was never returned.

While male homosexuality remained illegal in Weimar Germany under Paragraph 175 of the criminal code, German homosexual-rights activists became worldwide leaders in efforts to reform societal attitudes that condemned homosexuality. Many in Germany regarded the Weimar Republic's toleration of homosexuals as a sign of Germany's decadence. The Nazis posed as moral crusaders who wanted to stamp out the "vice" of homosexuality from Germany in order to help win the racial struggle. Once they took power in 1933, the Nazis intensified persecution of German male homosexuals. Persecution ranged from the dissolution of homosexual organizations to internment in concentration camps.

The Nazis believed that male homosexuals were weak, effeminate men who could not fight for the German nation. They saw homosexuals as unlikely to produce children and increase the German birthrate. The Nazis held that inferior races produced more children than "Aryans," so anything that diminished Germany's reproductive potential was considered a racial danger.

SS chief Heinrich Himmler directed the increasing persecution of homosexuals in the Third Reich. Lesbians were not regarded as a threat to Nazi racial policies and were generally not targeted for persecution. Similarly, the Nazis generally did not target non-German homosexuals unless they were active with German partners. In most cases, the Nazis were prepared to accept former homosexuals into the "racial community" provided that they became "racially conscious" and gave up their lifestyle.

On May 6, 1933, students led by Storm Troopers (Sturmabteilung; SA) broke into the Institute for Sexual Science in Berlin and confiscated its unique library. Four days later, most of this collection of over 12,000 books and 35,000 irreplaceable pictures was destroyed along with thousands of other "degenerate" works of literature in the book burning in Berlin's city center. The remaining materials were never recovered. Magnus Hirschfeld, the founder of the Institute and a pioneer in the scientific study of human sexuality, was lecturing in France at the time and chose not to return to Germany.

more...Persecution of Homosexuals in the Third Reich

The Gay Holocaust

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Under the direction of SS head, police drew up "Pink Lists", and embarked on a vicious crackdown on homosexual men and women. Many were sent to mental hospitals, others were castrated by court order, and 100,000 of these men were sent to concentration camps.The pink triangle (now a symbol of Gay Pride) was placed on the prisoners to mark that they were homosexuals. An estimated 55,000 were executed

Heinz Dormer, spent nearly ten years in prisons and concentration camps. He spoke of the "haunting agonizing cries" from "the singing forest", a row of tall poles on which condemned men were hung: "Everyone who was sentenced to death would be lifted up onto the hook. The howling and screaming were inhuman, beyond human comprehension".

Continued persecution
After the camps were liberated and the plight of the Jewish victims acknowledged worldwide, the persecution of homosexuals continued throughout post-war Germany. While many survivors were rebuilding their lives and families initially in displaced persons camps, homosexuals faced further persecution and social exclusion. In fact many pink triangle survivors were re-imprisoned as homosexuals remained deviants in the eyes of post-war society.

Silent shame
The gay survivors who were liberated (i.e. not subject to further prison terms) often found themselves ostracized from society. Some were not welcomed back to their homes in the aftermath of war for the 'shame' they had brought on their family's reputation. Those that did return often kept their experience to themselves fearing that the sensitive nature of the horrors would bring further distress to family members. Some never spoke out about their suffering.


No Justice
In the 1945 Nuremberg war crime trials that followed the liberation no mention was ever made of crimes against homosexuals. No SS official was ever tried for specific atrocities against pink triangle prisoners. Many of the known SS Doctors, who had performed operations on homosexuals, were never brought to account for their actions. One of the most notorious SS doctors was Carl Peter Vaernet who performed numerous experiments on pink triangle inmates at the Buchenwald and Neuengamme camps. He was never tried for his crimes and escaped to South America where he died a free man in 1965.

more...

Homocaust: The gay victims of the Holocaust

During the Nazi period up to 100,000 gay men & women were persecuted & imprisoned for their sexuality under Paragraph 175 of the German Penal code. The Third Reich had no place for such 'deviants' & set out a systematic strategy to rid itself of this 'poison'. About 15,000 were sent to concentration camps where, forced to wear the 'pink triangle', as many as 60% lost their lives.

Those that did survive were subject to ongoing persecution in post-war society & struggled hard to be recognized as victims of the Holocaust. In 2005 very few of these witnesses are left to speak of their experiences & in a few years there may be no survivors left. Their voices call now to future generations to listen & learn ensuring their plight does not slip quietly in to the realms of history alone.

While the contents of this site do not constitute easy reading, the message remains simple: NEVER AGAIN. Listen closely to these voices because they are calling to you…

more (this site is worth exploring!)...

[Hekate]

1. *

[mylye2222]

2. K n R.

Remember also the mentally and phisycally disabled who were also sent to death. In France, the Vichy régime organized hunger in psychiatric hospitals as well as in disabled houses. The people were less and less feed and rationning was lower and lower. So people died of famine.
Remember also that Nazi regime and its allies in occupoed countries deported anuthing they thought " associal":disabled, homelesses, prostitutes...

[appalachiablue]

15. +10 T4 Programme, others

[xfundy]

3. The linked site goes into far more detail

of what the republicans and True Christians™ want us to return to.

Ever wonder why they put "Judeo-" in front of "Christian" when they talk about the past they want to go back to? They need Jews' political support, or at least not to look like total Nazis.

Gays are the 'new' Jews in this modern pogrom.

[Warren DeMontague]

4. ...

I know others have said it, but thanks for these threads, BtA.

[a la izquierda]

5. Thank you for posting.

I hope many DUers take time off their candidates-bashing/praising to learn something.

[Trillo]

6. "Where did Nazis get their Nasty Ideas?"

If you believe Catholic Church leaders, you might easily imagine that the Nazis were a confederation of atheists and neo-pagans who forced their views on an unwilling populace. Catholic and Protestants alike fought bravely against their wicked ideas, often suffering martyrdom for their resistance.

The truth of course is very different. The Nazis were 95% Christian from top to bottom (99% if you include Deists) roughly one-third Catholic and two-thirds Protestant. The one influential exception was Himmler, who promoted neo-pagan ideas that were extremely unpopular with his Christian colleagues, and whom Christian apologists love to portray as typical of the Nazi leadership. The truth is that the overwhelming majority of Nazis were Christian. The political leadership, the generals, the SS, the Gestapo, the soldiers and sailors, the guards in the death Camps, the people who organized and carried out mass killings – all were overwhelmingly Christian. And of course 100% of Death Camp chaplains were Christian.

more...

[geek tragedy]

9. Martin Luther was more anti-Semitic than Hitler was nt

[Octafish]

12. Californians

Eugenics and the Nazis -- the California connection

by Edwin Black
Sunday, November 9, 2003

Hitler and his henchmen victimized an entire continent and exterminated millions in his quest for a so-called Master Race.

But the concept of a white, blond-haired, blue-eyed master Nordic race didn't originate with Hitler. The idea was created in the United States, and cultivated in California, decades before Hitler came to power. California eugenicists played an important, although little-known, role in the American eugenics movement's campaign for ethnic cleansing.

Eugenics was the pseudoscience aimed at "improving" the human race. In its extreme, racist form, this meant wiping away all human beings deemed "unfit," preserving only those who conformed to a Nordic stereotype. Elements of the philosophy were enshrined as national policy by forced sterilization and segregation laws, as well as marriage restrictions, enacted in 27 states. In 1909, California became the third state to adopt such laws. Ultimately, eugenics practitioners coercively sterilized some 60,000 Americans, barred the marriage of thousands, forcibly segregated thousands in "colonies," and persecuted untold numbers in ways we are just learning. Before World War II, nearly half of coercive sterilizations were done in California, and even after the war, the state accounted for a third of all such surgeries.

California was considered an epicenter of the American eugenics movement. During the 20th century's first decades, California's eugenicists included potent but little-known race scientists, such as Army venereal disease specialist Dr. Paul Popenoe, citrus magnate Paul Gosney, Sacramento banker Charles Goethe, as well as members of the California state Board of Charities and Corrections and the University of California Board of Regents.

Eugenics would have been so much bizarre parlor talk had it not been for extensive financing by corporate philanthropies, specifically the Carnegie Institution, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Harriman railroad fortune. They were all in league with some of America's most respected scientists from such prestigious universities as Stanford, Yale, Harvard and Princeton. These academicians espoused race theory and race science, and then faked and twisted data to serve eugenics' racist aims.

CONTINUED...

http://www.waragainsttheweak.com/offSiteArchive/www.sfgate.com/index.html

Once a top reporter at The New York Times, Edwin Black is one of the great investigative journalists and authors in history. In my opinion, he should be required reading for all high school and college students. For some reason, his works get near-zero coverage in American media.

[marmar]

7. k/r

Good read.

[Sissyk]

8. K&R

Thank you for posting thi, BtA!

[Octafish]

10. If you're planning a visit to Detroit...

An important place to visit is the Holocaust Memorial Center. In 2014, they exhibited "Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals 1933-1945."

http://www.holocaustcenter.org/home

[MerryBlooms]

11. rec & kick

[MrBig]

13. K&R

[one_voice]

14. K&R

[appalachiablue]

16. K & R. So very important, we cannot forget. Thank you for posting from me, my family,

our little brother who tried & was an activist but is not here; and our father who fought the Nazi monsters and liberated Dachau 70 years ago this month as an awarded young officer in the 7th Army, the Rhineland Campaign and the Army of Occupation. I still have his artillery uniform pins, 7th Army pyramid patch and SS uniform insignia he gave me in college.

[beam me up scottie]

17. .

The Nameless Love

Because still on the youthful wing
The scent of innocent beauty lies
That touched by a stranger scatters & dies -
This love must I tenderly sing.

Yet since you think it a dirty thing
Have dragged it through fear & infamy
And kept it under lock and key -
This love will I freely sing.

To love's persecuted my sing I bring
And to the outcasts of our time
Since happy or not this love is mine -
This love dare I loudly sing

~by John Henry Mackay
1924 'Der Eigene'

[leftynyc]

18. ...