LGBT History Month Part I

In honor of of LGBT History Month, I will be introducing a brief history of LGBT topics in the gay community prior to 1933 in Germany and during the Nazi Holocaust, while Part II will discuss the gay community after the war and cover how these topics relate to today as well as some conclusions about current events.

Prior to 1933,  Paragraph 175 of the German criminal code was created under Kaiser Wihelm I. The law vaguely prohibited homosexuality. The period between the end of World War I, in 1918, and 1933, was a more "liberating" and more openly sexual time. The Weimar Republic (1918-1933) is general seen as a liberating time for women and feminism. Women were now allowed to vote and openly flaunted their femininity. Yet, as this is occurring, women were also portrayed as physical objects in the arts such as film and paintings. Lesbians and homosexual men organizations and social groups developed in larger cities such as Berlin. Some male individuals and groups felt threatened by this new wave of female freedom and open gay communities. Those male individuals and groups saw the latter as a threat to their way of life and social standing much like some groups of people feel today in 2012.

With the Nazi party and Adolf Hitler arriving in 1933, the code was revised. The revised law was issued on June 28, 1935, and put into effect on September 1st of that year, emphasized the "criminality of both men involved in 'indecency.'" Under Paragraph 175a, ten years of hard labor was imposed for "indecency", even for those under the age of 21. Homosexuality between women was left out of the law. Women are thought to be purposely left out of the law because regardless of their homosexuality, women could still produce children. Though lesbians were not systematically persecuted like gay men, they did lose their gathering places and associations.

Homosexuals were labeled as parasites and "enemies of the state" much like their Jewish neighbors, stereotyped to empower hatred among "Aryan" Germans. Even though the exact number of homosexual victims of the Holocaust and Nazi persecution may never be known, an estimated 100,000 men were arrested under Paragraph 175. Those arrested were imprisoned and send to hard labor. This was part of the Nazi policy of "re-education". Those in prisons and concentration camps suffered harsh conditions. An estimated 5,000 to 15,000 homosexual men were imprisoned in concentration camps. Homosexual prisoners were marked with a pink triangle. As Nazi territory expanded, Paragraph 175 was imposed on male populations in Austria, western Poland and western Czechoslovakia, Luxembourg, and Alsace-Lorraine.In other occupied territories, the Nazi government was only concerned with the homosexuality of German men and not of the native population. Homosexuals in concentration camps were given the works and most dangerous work and, alongside poor rations and fewer breaks, many died as a result.

Please take a moment and read through these media sources and LGBT references.  

LGBT History Month Website: 

http://lgbthistorymonth.com/ 

The Human Rights Campaign's blog in regards to National Coming Out Day: 

http://www.hrc.org/resources/entry/the-history-of-coming-out 

Please check this vlog by Lauren Bird of the Harry Potter Alliance: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMHF0VrJb7c&list=FLbCkNgngfGHVDaOW0Jrd7JA&index=1&feature=plpp_video 

Sources: 

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: 

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005149

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum:
http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/hsx/