Memorial to homosexuals persecuted under NS (2008)

(this text can also be heard in the audio clip)

The memorial to homosexuals persecuted under National Socialism was inaugurated in 2008 and shows films of homosexuals kissing in front of historical documents in the background. The film was made by the Israeli artist Yael Bartana, the memorial itself by the Danish artist Michael Elmgren and the Norwegian artist Ingar Dragset. The gray material used is similar to that of the steles of the Holocaust memorial, which is located on the other side of the street. While the stelae of the Holocaust memorial are arranged squarely and symmetrically, the memorial for homosexuals falls outside this framework and the edges run diagonally, crosswise or perhaps even “queer”.

When the National Socialists came to power, all the doors that Magnus Hirschfeld and other activists had previously laboriously opened were suddenly slammed shut for homosexuals. According to National Socialist ideology, an “indecent” union between men defiled the German people, as it did not contribute to the reproduction of the “German master race”. The aim of the policy was to concentrate the procreative power of men on “securing and maintaining the healthy strength of the people” and to lead the “fight against moral decay”. The head of the Schutzstaffel (SS), Heinrich Himmler, believed that homosexual men were seducing German youth into homosexuality and infiltrating public administration by replacing the “ performance principle” with an “erotic principle”.

The Hitler regime tried with all its might to suppress the free life of the homosexual minority. On February 23, 1933, Hermann Göring issued an order to close all establishments that “paid homage to the circles of unnatural fornication”. The murder of homosexual SA leader Ernst Röhm and his confidants at the end of June 1934 in the “Night of the Long Knives” further radicalized the persecution. In 1935, the Nazis tightened Paragraph 175, which no longer only criminalized “coitus-like” acts, but all homosexual contact. Oral sex, mutual masturbation, even a kiss or intense eye contact could be punished with up to five years in prison. Repeat offenders faced even harsher penalties. In serious cases, such as the seduction of persons under the age of 21 or male prostitution, the penalty was up to ten years in prison. A conviction often had serious social consequences: Loss of employment, housing, academic titles, civil service positions or licenses to practice medicine.

Female homosexuality was not officially prosecuted in the “Third Reich” – except in annexed Austria – and Paragraph 175 only applied to men. In the patriarchal structure of the Nazi state, women’s sexuality outside of reproduction played no special role. Lesbian love was not considered a “danger to the state”, as political and social positions were occupied by men anyway. However, from 1938, the NSDAP’s “Rassenpolitische Amt” (racial policy office) kept a so-called “lesbian file”. Lesbian women also came into conflict with the regime and were sentenced on charges of “fornication”, “prostitution” or as “asocials” and deported to prisons or concentration camps. In many cases, they were interned by means of “preventive detention” or “protective custody”, i.e. without trial and for an indefinite period of time.

However, the systematic legal and social persecution of homosexual men was far more profound and brutal in its scope and intensity. While in 1935 the imprisonment of homosexuals in concentration camps was still considered a temporary “educational measure”, from 1937 there were systematic round-ups and committal to concentration camps as a permanent preventative concept. In 1940, Heinrich Himmler ordered the systematic deportation of all convicted homosexuals to concentration camps as “preventative detention”, as in the case of Fritz Junkermann. Some men were advised to undergo “voluntary” castration in order to avoid further measures. In most cases, however, promises were not kept and the persecution continued. Junkermann died in the concentration camp a few months after his castration. From 1942, forced castrations were carried out on homosexual men in concentration camps.

The distinguishing mark of homosexual men in the camps was the pink triangle on their prisoner clothing. The treatment by the SS was particularly cruel. Homosexual prisoners were usually sent to punishment companies, where the working conditions were particularly harsh. In Sachsenhausen, they had to work in the notorious brick works, in Buchenwald in the quarry and in Dachau in the gravel pit.

It is estimated that the police registered 100,000 homosexuals on so-called “pink lists” during the Third Reich. More than 50,000 were convicted and over 10,000 were deported to concentration camps. At least half of them did not survive the Nazi terror.

But even after the end of the war, the persecution did not end. The stricter version of Paragraph 175 remained in force unchanged in the Federal Republic of Germany until 1969. In the after war period around 50,000 men were sentenced to prison. The paragraph was only relaxed in 1969 and finally abolished in 1994. In the GDR, a milder version of the paragraph was in force until 1968 and was not completely repealed until 1989.