Pink Trianglel memorial plaque (1989)

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

In 1989, the public perception of homosexuals was strongly influenced by the rising number of Aids and HIV cases. It is remarkable that the homosexual movement of the time achieved public recognition as victims of National Socialism with the erection of this memorial. This was made possible in particular by the General Homosexual Working Group (AHA) and the Working Group on Homosexuality and the Church Berlin.

When the National Socialists came to power, all the doors that Magnus Hirschfeld and other activists had previously struggled to open 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 “achievement 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 storm troops (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 raids with internment in 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 toil in the notorious brickworks, 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. 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 abolished until 1989.

Today, it is not only the memorial plaque at Nollendorfplatz that commemorates the history of the queer community. Since 2014, the dome of the subway station has been lit up at night in the colors of the rainbow. Nollendorfplatz is still the center of Berlin’s queer scene, whose roots go back to the early 20th century.

The scene had already emerged in Berlin around the turn of the century, initially in the Friedrichtstadt district of Mitte. At the beginning of the 1920s, the number of bars and pubs multiplied and the scene moved to Schöneberg around Nollendorfplatz – still Berlin’s most important queer neighborhood today. Bars and dance halls opened rapidly, and political and social associations were also established. At the beginning of the 1930s, you could enjoy day and nightlife in around 170 gay clubs, bars, cafés and pubs.