Historical Background
Paragraph 175 was a provision of the German Penal Code (Strafgesetzbuch) that criminalized male homosexuality. It was introduced in 1871 as part of the legal code of the newly unified German Empire and remained in effect, with varying degrees of enforcement and interpretation, until it was formally abolished in 1994. From the progressive movements of the Weimar Republic (1919-1933) to the brutal persecutions under the Nazi regime (1933-1945), the experiences of homosexuals reflect a complex interplay of liberation and repression. The law became infamous for its role in the persecution of homosexual men during the Nazi era.
In the mid- to late-nineteenth century, the first small homosexual communities grew in Germany. This was also the time when the nature of human sexuality became an area of scientific investigation and debate in Europe and the United States. Germany was at the forefront of this development, among others because of debates if homosexuality should be banned or not on a legal basis. Central to the movement advocating for sexual reform and the rights of homosexual individuals was the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft (Institute for Sexual Science) in 1919 establishment by Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld in Berlin, a homosexual Jewish physician and sexologist. The institute served as a pioneering center for the study of human sexuality, offering educational resources and support for sexual minorities, including transsexuals.
Many Germans welcomed the less restrictive social, political, and cultural climate in the Weimar Republic where homosexual subcultures flourished, especially in Berlin. The city boasted numerous homosexual bars, clubs, cabarets, and social spaces, including the famous Eldorado nightclub. These venues catered to a diverse homosexual clientele, including lesbians, trans, working-class men, intellectuals, and artists. The period saw an increase in publications and literature addressing homosexuality, such as Die Freundschaft (Friendship)and Der Eigene (translated variously, but in this context implying “his own man”) the latter being the world’s first homosexual magazine, edited by Adolf Brand. These publications educated readers about sexuality and published poems and short stories. They actively tried to build a sense of community among homosexual men, and included personal ads and information about homosexual meeting places.
Some groups advocated more actively and openly for decriminalizing sexual relations between men. Among them were the “Scientific Humanitarian Committee (Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee, WhK” and the “League for Human Rights (Bund für Menschenrecht, BfM),” established in the 1920s. These groups cooperated with other reform-minded groups and advocated for new legal approaches towards prostitution, birth control, and abortion. Efforts to repeal this law (Paragraph 175) were met with resistance, reflecting the persistent societal stigmatization of homosexuality. Despite the relatively liberal atmosphere in cities like Berlin, smaller towns and rural areas often upheld conservative values, leading to discrimination and arrests.
The Rise of the Nazi Regime and Intensified Persecution
Initially, Hitler and other Nazi leaders rarely spoke publicly about homosexuality. In fact, it was not part of the 1920 Nazi Party platform, which focused on such issues as the creation of a Greater German state, the Jews, and the economy. During parliamentary debates in the Reichstag, Nazis claimed that sexual relations between men were a destructive vice that would lead to the ruin of the German people. They asserted these relations should be even more severely punished than current German law allowed. This changed when Hitler assumed power.
The ascent of the Nazi Party in in January 1933 marked a catastrophic turn for homosexuals in Germany. The Nazis viewed homosexuality as incompatible with their ideology, associating it with degeneracy and a threat to the Aryan race's purity. Persecution measures against homosexuals began and “within a few weeks, the police closed the well-known clubs and bars where homosexual men, lesbian women and trans people met, including the ‘Eldorado’ in Berlin and the ‘Dornröschen’ in Cologne.” and homosexual and lesbian magazines and other queer publications were banned. Nevertheless, some established homosexual and lesbian bars were able to remain open in cities like Berlin and Hamburg until the mid 1930s and underground meeting places remained open even later. These, however, came under increasing police surveillance and made it far more difficult, especially for homosexual men to connect with each other.
In 1935, the Nazi regime amended Paragraph 175 to broaden the scope of punishable offenses, criminalizing even non-physical expressions of homosexuality, such as mutual glances with "lustful intention." The Gestapo increased surveillance, and actively identified and arrested suspected homosexual men, dismantling social networks and meeting places like bars and clubs. This amendment led to a dramatic increase in convictions; between 1933 and 1945, approximately 100,000 men were arrested under anti-homosexual laws, with around 50,000 officially sentenced.
The Nazis targeted institutions that symbolized the progressive Weimar era's sexual freedoms. On May 6, 1933, the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft was ransacked by Nazi-affiliated students and members of the Sturmabteilung (SA) not only because of its importance for the homosexual emancipation movement, but also because of Hirschfeld's liberal sexual politics and the fact that he was Jewish. They destroyed invaluable archives, books, and research materials on sexuality and gender. These confiscated materials were then publicly burned in Berlin's Opernplatz, symbolizing the regime's broader assault on intellectualism and sexual diversity.
“The catalyst for the intensification of repression against homosexual men was the murder of SA (Sturmabteilung, commonly called Stormtroopers) chief of staff Ernst Röhm in July 1934, which was publicly justified with alleged SA putsch plans and their 'moral depravity' - numerous SA leaders were homosexual, above all Röhm himself.” Röhm, a close friend and early ally of Hitler, initially enjoyed Hitler’s protection Hitler due to his loyalty and utility to the Nazi Party. Röhm's homosexuality was long known; in 1931 a leftist newspaper had outed him as homosexual and his sexuality was then used in the election propaganda of the moderate-left “Social Democratic Party (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands).” Despite the controversy, Hitler defended Röhm. He remained in charge of the SA and his homosexuality did not play a decisive role until the SA's ambitions for power became too great. Röhm's homosexuality was later used as a pretext for his arrest and execution during the Night of the Long Knives (1934), when Hitler purged the SA leadership. Hundreds of SA members died. Röhm's downfall demonstrated the regime's intolerance for even high-ranking officials who did not conform to its ideals. This action consolidated Hitler’s control over the Nazi regime and marked a brutal turn in the Nazi leadership’s path.
“As a result, the number of denunciations of homosexual men increased, while at the same time the police authorities began to initiate more persecution measures - albeit at very different levels from region to region. While the Nazis used paragraph 175 to arrest and charge homosexual men, several other laws were used to target people whose gender identity and sexuality did not conform to party ideals. Paragraph 183, the law against “causing public disturbance” was one of the laws used to arrest transgender people and cross dressers. Lesbian women were also denounced because of their 'deviant' sexuality and became the focus of police attention. They could not be prosecuted because homosexual acts between women were not punishable by law. Female sexuality was not However, in criminal proceedings that were actually concerned with other offenses, there were sometimes references to lesbian sexuality.“ Lesbians were also arrested under the use of paragraph 183 as well as other laws that singled them out for what Nazis considered “asocial” behavior.
Heinrich Himmler’s homophobia was central to his broader ideological vision of creating a racially pure and militarily strong German state. As a leading figure in the Nazi regime, Himmler, head of the SS (Schutzstaffel), used his position to promote extreme policies regarding sexual behavior, which were directly tied to Nazi racial and social theories. His attitudes toward homosexuality were not just moralistic but also politically and racially motivated, as he believed that homosexuality weakened the German people and threatened the health of the Nazi state. He considered homosexuals as enemies of the state who formed a "secret organization that runs counter to the interests of the people.” Himmler’s fixation on this issue became more prominent as he attempted to consolidate his power and enforce a strict code of conduct within the SS. His views on homosexuality reflected a broader Nazi campaign to purge what they considered "degenerate" behaviors from German society.
In a speech delivered to SS-Gruppenführer (Generals) on February 18, 1937, in Bad Tölz, Germany Himmler expressed concerns about the impact of homosexuality on the German nation's demographic balance, particularly in the context of the loss of men during World War I. He argued that the combination of war casualties and homosexuals led to a shortage of men capable of reproduction, which he believed could result in a national catastrophe: "The future of the German nation depends upon the strength of the family. We are building a strong state, yes, but we must have healthy, strong families who will raise children to carry on the ideals of the National Socialist state. Homosexuality undermines the family. It represents a weakening of our race, and thus it is an enemy of the state itself." Thus, Himmler articulated that the "preservation of the Aryan race" required the elimination of homosexuality and other forms of social decay. In an internal memo from 1937, Himmler wrote: "Homosexuality is not just an individual failure. It is a threat to the strength of our nation. It threatens the future of the German people and, therefore, we must stamp it out wherever it exists, especially in the SS, which must be a beacon of purity."
Himmler’s views on homosexuality were put into practice through the policies he implemented within the SS and the broader Nazi state. Himmler’s SS actively hunted homosexuals, seeing them as a form of social and racial contamination. Some were even subjected to forced castration in an effort to "cure" them of their homosexuality.
Treatment in Camps and Following the War
“Around 100,000 men were sentenced by the Nazi judiciary on the basis of Paragraph 175, and it is assumed that around 10,000 men persecuted as homosexuals were imprisoned in concentration camps.”
Homosexual prisoners were among the most marginalized groups in the camps, often subjected to harsher treatment and brutality from guards and fellow inmates. Far less numerous than other prisoners, they experienced a hell of a particular kind. The first transport of homosexuals noted by the Nazis arrived at Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp, near Hamburg. This was a new prisoner category to be indicated by the pink triangle (Rose Winkeln) in the badge system the Nazis created. Transgender women were also assigned the pink triangle badge while lesbian prisoners were assigned the black triangle badge for “asocials”. As opposed to the Jews and the Roma, the Nazis intended not to exterminate homosexuals, but to “re-educate” them. Estimates suggest that between 5,000 to 15,000 homosexual men were imprisoned in these camps, though the exact number of fatalities remains uncertain, since homosexuals, as opposed to Jews and Roma, could easily conceal their otherness. Survivor accounts reveal that homosexual prisoners often faced higher mortality rates compared to other prisoner groups. It is also difficult to ascertain the exact number of transgender people sent to the camps since the SS did not label them as a distinct group.
As a rule, the homosexuals obtained the worst labor assignments, and were often rejected by their fellow prisoners and treated as deviants. The camp Kapos overseeing labor details also refused to help them. Thousands did not survive their arbitrary and brutal imprisonment or were murdered. Rudolf Höss, who held the post of commandant of the Sachsenhausen camp before being transferred to Auschwitz, was convinced that sexual orientation could be changed through hard labor. The results of this reeducation were lamentable: the majority of the prisoners under his control died. The Sachsenhausen camp, regarded until 1942 as “the Auschwitz for homosexuals,” held large numbers of homosexuals. They mostly quarryed clay and made bricks in the camp. Regardless of the weather, they had to push carts full of clay towards the machines that produced the bricks. This work was particularly difficult because the pits were almost empty; most of the clay had already been dug out of them. The half-dead prisoners pushed their carts uphill, urged on all the time by the SS men and the Kapos guarding them. The carts ran on tracks which frequently derailed and tumbled back downhill, crushing defenseless prisoners who did not even attempt to get out of the way. The sounds of breaking bones and the lashings of the blows directed at the prisoners who remained alive could be heard. Prisoners assigned to the shoe-testing detail were made to walk an average of 25 miles per day, carrying 25-pound packs on their backs, to increase the stress placed on the soles made from various materials. About 20 people died on the track every day. In addition, homosexuals had limited contact with the outside world; it rarely happened that families maintained contact with prisoners wearing the pink triangle, and their friends outside had no desire to maintain contact with those who were in the camps.
“Researching the fate of lesbian concentration camp inmates is complicated because there was no separate category of prisoner. Some lesbians were imprisoned for "asocial" behavior or in the context of the Nazi regime's broader persecution of women who were considered to be undermining the family structure. The National Socialists subsumed various undesirable behaviors under this category, which gave them great scope for persecution: homeless people, prostitutes or women who stood out due to an 'immoral lifestyle' were for example threatened.“ Lesbians in Nazi Germany faced persecution, though not to the same extent as homosexual men. While the Nazis viewed male homosexuality as a threat to the strength of the German nation, lesbian women were not specifically criminalized in the same way. However, their lives were still heavily restricted by Nazi ideology, which strictly adhered to gender roles and promoted traditional family structures. Nazi views on women were centered around their roles as mothers and wives in service to the state. The Nazis promoted the idea that women should focus on bearing children and caring for the family. Homosexuality in women was seen as less of a threat to the state's strength than in men, but lesbian women still did not fit into the ideal of "Aryan motherhood."
The end of World War II did not immediately alleviate the plight of homosexual individuals in Germany. The Allied forces did not recognize homosexuals as victims of Nazi persecution, and many who survived the camps were re-imprisoned under the still-enforced Paragraph 175. Survivors of Nazi persecution for homosexuality were not recognized as victims of the regime, and Paragraph 175 remained in force, until 1994 when the Reichstag repealed the last remnants of Article 175 in the newly unified Germany. In 2002, the government overturned Nazi-era convictions for Paragraph 175. For the first time, homosexual men who had suffered at the hands of the Nazis became eligible for monetary compensation from the German government for injustices perpetrated against them. In 2008, the Memorial to Homosexuals Persecuted under Nazism (Denkmal für die im Nationalsozialismus verfolgten Homosexuellen) was unveiled in Tiergarten Park in central Berlin.
