1944 gay in germany
Oppression
1933-1938
Roma and Sinti were persecuted before, during and after the Holocaust.
Following the Nazi rise to influence, the persecution of all Roma in Germany increased and eventually became genocidal . Prior to the Second World War, approximately 30,000 Roma lived in Germany, and just under a million lived across Europe.
The Nazis believed Roma were ‘non-Aryan’ and an inferior race which had genetically inherited criminal qualities. This belief was reinforced by the research of the eugenic scientist Dr. Robert Ritter . As a result of Ritter’s research and their racist beliefs about Roma, the Nazis subjected many Roma to forced sterilisations to prevent them from having children.
On 17 June 1936, Heinrich Himmler became Leader of the German Police. This new role gave Himmler unlimited control over the terror forces in Germany. Just under two years later, on 16 May 1938, Himmler established the Reich Central Office for Combating the Gypsy Nuisance. This office centralised efforts to persecute Roma living in the Third Reich.
On 8 December 1938, Himmler issued the Decree forCombating the Gypsy Plague. Amongst other actions, the decree ordered the creation of a nati
The gay MPs persecuted for opposing appeasement of Nazi Germany
Winston Churchill is often portrayed as the lone voice in the wilderness as World War Two approached - his warnings about the danger posed by Adolf Hitler falling on deaf ears.
But according to Labour MP Chris Bryant, there is another story - the story of a group of gay or bisexual MPs whose opposition to appeasement exposed them to persecution.
He tells their stories in his book, The Glamour Boys: The Private Story of the Rebels who Fought for Britain to Defeat Hitler.
Mr Bryant became fascinated by their stories when researching for a book on the history of Parliament.
"Every sentence I peruse about Jack Macnamara was intriguing," he says of the Conservative MP for Chelmsford 1935-1944.
"His researcher was Guy Burgess [later uncovered as a Soviet spy], he went on sex trips to Nazi Germany and he ended up being a colonel in the London Irish Rifles.
"Who's not going to be intrigued by that sentence?"
As well as Mr Macnamara, Mr Bryant's book documents the lives of MPs including Robert Bernays, Ronnie Cartland (younger brother of the novelist Barbar
Pre-war Homosexual life
Prior to the Holocaust and the Nazi grow to power, lgbtq+ contact was legally banned under Paragraph 175 of the German Criminal Code, which was introduced on the 15 May 1871. Despite this, there was still a thriving gay community in many areas.
In Berlin there were a large number of openly homosexual, transvestite and lesbian bars where people met and socialised. The gay community was so well-known it even appeared in some tourist guides at the time.
At the turn of the twentieth century a growing same-sex attracted rights movement formed, reaching its height in the 1920s. This movement was headed by Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, a Jewish physician and homosexual. Hirschfeld founded the Institute for Sexual Research in 1919, the first institute of its kind across the world.
Hostility towards male lover men intensified obeying the Nazi increase to power. Homosexuals were viewed as weak and unlikely to make excellent soldiers, or contribute to the ‘Aryan’ race by having children. As such they were catagorised as ‘ a-social ‘ by the Nazis.
Homosexuals were imprisoned, tortured, and deported to concentration camps by the Nazis. The final number of homosexuals that perished a
- The germans were the best lovers.
One day in August 1943, Gustav Schreiber (38) arrives in occupied Norway and Bergen. The German is emplyed in a company subject to the Company Todt. In the town of western Norway, he meets Charles Petterson (27). The two of them become in short order seal friends and lovers.
The end of the relationship will be brutal, and one of them will pay with his life in a German consentration camp due to "repeated fornication with men".
Somewere between 200,000 and 500,000 German soldiers were stationed in the country during the occupation of Norway 1940 to 1945. The number changed during the different phases of the war.
From the spring of 1945, many thousands of women were arrested for their relations with Germans. Many were detained for several months without any legal basis. In August 1945, the authorities also amended the Citizenship Act to be able to deport women married to German men.
In violation of the Constitution, this arrangement was given retroactive effect. In addition, many women were exposed to the people's court. They had their hair cut for public ridicule and contempt.
For Norwegian men who had the same type of relationshi Digital Studies of The Holocaust This collaborative study project aims to display the process of facts analysis to Holocaust studies to create new ways of seeing and remembering the Holocaust. Nils H. Roemer, Director, Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies As Nazis in Germany sought to build an empire upon notions of racial purity, genetic supremacy, and a defined homeland they displaced, attacked, and eliminated groups they saw as a threat. One such group was men who were suspected of engaging in homosexual activity. In an attempt to discourage unapproved activity, Nazi officials made the law prohibiting homosexual activity stricter. Established as Paragraph 175, the law had been on the record since the German Empire in 1871 and was expanded upon and applied with utmost severity during the Nazi regime. In 1935, a new version of the statute was written to punish men with prison sentences and broaden the range of acts considered violations. Paragraph 175 was part of Section Thirteen of t
Men Persecuted for Homosexual Outing
Held at the Dachau Concentration Camp
Katie Fisher, Explore Assistant, Belofsky Fellow
Yannis Soonjung Kwon, Undergraduate Research Apprentice