Homosexuals

[Mr Humphreys]

What treatment did homosexuals receive from the Nazis in the years 1933-39?

In medieval and early modern times, death was the penalty for homosexuality. In the 19th century, it was decriminalised in most German states but not Prussia.

After unification, it became a crime throughout Germany under the 1871 Reich code. Under paragraph 175 of this code, ‘acts of indecency’ and sexual intercourse between two men were a crime. This paragraph was not repealed until 1969.

Throughout the Kaiserreich and apart from six years in the Weimar period, laws against homosexuality were strictly enforced and there was considerable discrimination.

Hitler and the Nazi regime soon began attacking homosexuals even those in his own government. These attacks increased when opponents began to smear them with charges of homosexuality.

Hitler began clearing his own party of these charges by agreeing to the murder of Ernst Rohm leader of the SA on 30th June 1934. He used the homosexuality issue to destroy political opponents.

Himmler used the Rohm affair to order the opening of a central register of all persons engaged in homosexual activities, particularly those opposed to the Nazis, for example, General Fritsch and members of the Roman Catholic Religious Order.

In 1936, Himmler created a Reich Central Office for the Combating of Homosexuality and Abortion. Most of the SS wanted the death penalty for any case involving homosexual acts. Between 1931 and 1934 there were 3,261 prosecutions for homosexuality. Between 1936 and 1939, there were 29,771 prosecutions.

From 1937 onwards, homosexuals were rounded up, sent to concentration camps and forced to wear pink triangles signifying sexual preference. Camp guards and fellow inmates treated them harshly. The number of homosexuals dealt with this way could have been as high as 15,000.

In Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, the SS used homosexuals as target practice. In Dachau, they were systematically exterminated’.