Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Behind the Aegis

(53,833 posts)
Tue Jan 27, 2015, 04:49 AM Jan 2015

They Wore Pink Triangles: Gay Victims of the Holocaust

Jews comprised the largest single group of victims of the systematic slaughter by the Nazi Third Reich. However, several other groups were also targets of mass extermination, among them were homosexuals, especially gay men.

Prior to the rise of the Third Reich, Germany had a large, and thriving GL community, especially in Berlin, which boasted several gay bars, clubs, newspapers, and organizations. The larger cities were much more tolerant, but homosexuality was still frowned upon, so people were discreet and cautious. However, with a crushing depression in post WWI Germany, many started looking for scapegoats to the problems of Germany and the reason for her defeat in WWI. Jews, of course, were the main target, but gays and others also became singled out for blame. When the Nazis started to rise to power, a long standing, but mostly unused law, Paragraph 175, was enforced. It criminalized all sexual acts between men. Gay men started to be arrested, tried, and imprisoned throughout Germany.

When the initial work camps were established, gay men were among the first to be sent to the various camps. They gay men were identified with a large "A" on their clothes. It stood for Arschficker, "Ass Fucker". Eventually, they would come to be identified by a pink triangle. While there were a few other identifiers employed, the pink triangle became the most recognized and used. Gay men were made to wear a pink triangle on their chest, as well as a large one on their back. The pink triangles were made larger, like the yellow triangles for the Jews, than other triangles, so that guards and other prisoners would know a gay man was approaching.

Gay men were brutalized in the work camps. They were made to do chores so grueling as to work them to death. They didn't just face hate and degradation from the guards, but other prisoners could be just as cruel, as they viewed them as "perverts". The men were sometimes forced to work nude, raped, beaten to death, lynched, and even had dogs set upon them. Eventually, with the death camps establishment, they would die in the gas chambers. Most other prisoners avoided them so there would be no "guilt by association."

The liberation of the camps didn't have the same meaning for gay men. Many were simply moved to German prisons to serve out their sentences from their prosecutions under Paragraph 175. Some were given "time served" shorter sentences or reprieves. Those who didn't go directly to jail, faced discrimination because their families were "shamed" by having a "homosexual" in the family. While others received compensation for loss of money and property, gay men didn't get any reparations. It would 54 years (1999) before the first memorials of the Holocaust included gay men!! But it was the dawn of the 21st century (2000), before the German government officially apologized for the persecution of gay men after the liberation of the camps and acknowledged the devastation brought down on gay men in during the Holocaust.


Believed to be the last gay survivor of the Holocaust, Gad Beck passed away on June 24, 2012.

Today is the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. We must remember.



The pink triangle is no longer a symbol of shame and persecution; it is a symbol of PRIDE!




46 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
They Wore Pink Triangles: Gay Victims of the Holocaust (Original Post) Behind the Aegis Jan 2015 OP
I would rec this a million times if I could!!! (nt) LostOne4Ever Jan 2015 #1
Thank You Lunabell Jan 2015 #2
I appreciate the articles you post, Behind the Aegis Skittles Jan 2015 #3
Thanks. It is a part of history which is difficult to discuss. Behind the Aegis Jan 2015 #8
I never knew about this.... thanks for posting! K&R secondwind Jan 2015 #4
K&R! Enthusiast Jan 2015 #5
And Slavs. MillennialDem Jan 2015 #24
Yes. Any groups they erroneously imagined to be genetically inferior were to be eliminated. Enthusiast Jan 2015 #45
Thank you for posting this, Behind the Aegis. brer cat Jan 2015 #6
There are some accounts of the experiences of gay men in the camps sibelian Jan 2015 #17
K&R. Very important stuff, especially in the light of the recent movement bullwinkle428 Jan 2015 #7
Too many still aren't aware of this... herding cats Jan 2015 #9
K + R n/t Mister Ed Jan 2015 #10
And what is even sadder. cwydro Jan 2015 #11
Until the Night of the Long Knives. Behind the Aegis Jan 2015 #14
Yes. cwydro Jan 2015 #41
Actually not the SS. Archae Jan 2015 #25
Yes. cwydro Jan 2015 #42
Excellent op. beam me up scottie Jan 2015 #12
Kick. nt msanthrope Jan 2015 #13
Echoed Stephen Retired Jan 2015 #40
I swear, the energy that people put into discrimination could power the whole planet for eons Number23 Jan 2015 #15
Post removed Post removed Jan 2015 #29
Soooo the holocaust was just an agency of evolution that improved the human race? marble falls Jan 2015 #31
Message auto-removed Name removed Jan 2015 #35
Named Removed much? Rex Jan 2015 #32
And some things never, ever evolve. arcane1 Jan 2015 #34
K & R Sissyk Jan 2015 #16
The play and movie Bent treat this subject quite well KamaAina Jan 2015 #18
That is a funny story and 'Bent' by Martin Sherman is a wonderful play, the film is not bad either Bluenorthwest Jan 2015 #46
Recommend. Zorra Jan 2015 #19
Such a horrible time in history for many groups of people Including LGBT. William769 Jan 2015 #20
K&R Warren DeMontague Jan 2015 #21
Anyone remember that sack of trash Michael Medved saying gays weren't really MillennialDem Jan 2015 #22
And the even bigger trash Scott Lively saying Nazis needed gays to be brutal. Archae Jan 2015 #26
... irisblue Jan 2015 #23
Post removed Post removed Jan 2015 #27
K&R! marym625 Jan 2015 #28
I did not know that, thank you for the history lesson. Rex Jan 2015 #30
Yes, it is what my avatar represents. Behind the Aegis Jan 2015 #38
Never forget. Rex Jan 2015 #39
I knew some of what the Nazi regime had done to the LG community but did KingCharlemagne Jan 2015 #33
Great post, BTA... SidDithers Jan 2015 #36
May God bless all the souls that perished during the Nazi tyranny. roamer65 Jan 2015 #37
BtA. These days I always am a step away from tears. sheshe2 Jan 2015 #43
Double great post, BTA. Rhinodawg Jan 2015 #44

Behind the Aegis

(53,833 posts)
8. Thanks. It is a part of history which is difficult to discuss.
Tue Jan 27, 2015, 12:36 PM
Jan 2015

It is surprising how many today aren't even that aware of the Holocaust, but especially that gay men were victimized during and after!

Enthusiast

(50,983 posts)
5. K&R!
Tue Jan 27, 2015, 08:00 AM
Jan 2015

The Nazis also had a thing about Gypsies, the physically and mentally disabled, Communists and Socialists.

[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

Enthusiast

(50,983 posts)
45. Yes. Any groups they erroneously imagined to be genetically inferior were to be eliminated.
Wed Jan 28, 2015, 08:12 AM
Jan 2015

There was absolutely no scientific basis for their belief in a superior Germanic race. Too bad the science of DNA was not available in the days of the Third Reich.

brer cat

(24,402 posts)
6. Thank you for posting this, Behind the Aegis.
Tue Jan 27, 2015, 10:03 AM
Jan 2015

I was totally unaware that gays were moved from the camps into German prisons, and that it took another half-century (!) for Germany to acknowledge their persecution. I took a lot of history courses in HS and college, along with much outside reading, and the involvement of gays in the holocaust was mostly a footnote (along with the Romas). I wonder how long it will be before we have significant GLBT inclusion in history courses? A few more half-centuries?

What bothered me the most about your excellent piece was the statement "Most other prisoners avoided them so there would be no 'guilt by association.'" Shunned by the damned, to be the most wretched of the wretched: there are simply no words.

Again, thank you. Never forget.

sibelian

(7,804 posts)
17. There are some accounts of the experiences of gay men in the camps
Tue Jan 27, 2015, 08:06 PM
Jan 2015

detailing treatment so foul they surpass credence.

In some camps it was almost like being in a camp within a camp.

bullwinkle428

(20,627 posts)
7. K&R. Very important stuff, especially in the light of the recent movement
Tue Jan 27, 2015, 10:37 AM
Jan 2015

by some wack-a-doodles on the right who are trying to push the despicable meme that many within the top ranks of the Third Reich formed a kind of "gay mafia", as a way of further demonizing the LGBT community.

herding cats

(19,549 posts)
9. Too many still aren't aware of this...
Tue Jan 27, 2015, 12:47 PM
Jan 2015

Thanks for posting. Education and remembrance of the atrocities committed against gays are vital to changing society.

Archae

(46,262 posts)
25. Actually not the SS.
Tue Jan 27, 2015, 10:26 PM
Jan 2015

Rather many of the SA, "Brownshirts" or "Stormtroopers" were gay, especially their leader Ernst Rohm.

The SS in a power play eliminated most of the SA, with the "justification" that they were "deviants."

Number23

(24,544 posts)
15. I swear, the energy that people put into discrimination could power the whole planet for eons
Tue Jan 27, 2015, 06:42 PM
Jan 2015

I can't imagine HOW they went about finding out another person's sexual orientation let alone why and then punishing them for it.

Response to Number23 (Reply #15)

Response to marble falls (Reply #31)

 

Rex

(65,616 posts)
32. Named Removed much?
Tue Jan 27, 2015, 11:33 PM
Jan 2015

LOL! So stupid...your hazy mind is thinking of natural selection, which does not involve genocide. Not even a nice try...lazy trolling is pathetic, why not take up a real hobby like skydiving?

 

arcane1

(38,613 posts)
34. And some things never, ever evolve.
Tue Jan 27, 2015, 11:38 PM
Jan 2015

In fact, they remain exactly the same through each successive generation.

It's quite a scene!

 

KamaAina

(78,249 posts)
18. The play and movie Bent treat this subject quite well
Tue Jan 27, 2015, 08:11 PM
Jan 2015

I saw a student production of the play at Yale.

Later, I was talking with the gay friend who suggested I see it about a potential love interest of his. I asked him, "Is that the guy you went to Bent with?"

Awkward silence.

"Um, usually I don't talk about stuff like that, but... yeah."

More awkward silence.

"Oh, Bent! The play Bent!"

My Bawlmer accent had betrayed me. He thought I said "bed"!

 

Bluenorthwest

(45,319 posts)
46. That is a funny story and 'Bent' by Martin Sherman is a wonderful play, the film is not bad either
Wed Jan 28, 2015, 09:36 AM
Jan 2015

for those who might want to seek it out....Clive Owen, Jude Law, Mick Jagger....
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118698/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm


Roger Ebert's review:
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/bent-1997

Response to Behind the Aegis (Original post)

 

KingCharlemagne

(7,908 posts)
33. I knew some of what the Nazi regime had done to the LG community but did
Tue Jan 27, 2015, 11:33 PM
Jan 2015

not know until now that the persecution continued after the liberation.

Shows that I don't know as much as I think\thought I do\did.

So thanks for educating me a bit more about this.

roamer65

(36,739 posts)
37. May God bless all the souls that perished during the Nazi tyranny.
Tue Jan 27, 2015, 11:48 PM
Jan 2015

If there ever was a justifiable war, it was the war to remove Hitler from power.

They say Stalin used a piece of Hitler's skull as an ashtray. If true, I cannot think of a more fitting use for it than such.

sheshe2

(83,347 posts)
43. BtA. These days I always am a step away from tears.
Wed Jan 28, 2015, 03:47 AM
Jan 2015

NEVER FORGET NEVER AGAIN~



Believed to be the last gay survivor of the Holocaust, Gad Beck passed away on June 24, 2012.

Today is the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. We must remember.



THIS THIS THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The pink triangle is no longer a symbol of shame and persecution; it is a symbol of PRIDE!



Love you.

Latest Discussions»General Discussion»They Wore Pink Triangles:...