Nazi Persecution Of Homosexuals In Germany

The Impact of Nazis on Homosexuals

Though Jewish people in Germany suffered extreme and torturous hardship during the Nazi era, they were not the only innocent people criminalized and abused by the regime. Homosexuals suffered immense cruelty and persecution as well. Though the oppression of male homosexuality in Germany was an issue before the rise of Nazi power, becoming officially criminalized in 1871 under the Reich Penal Code, Hitler and his followers increased homosexual maltreatment greatly (Grau, The Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals). The Nazi party claimed that male homosexuality “carried a ‘degeneracy’ that threatened the ‘disciplined masculinity’ of Germany” (Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals 1933-1945). Due to the improbability
In concentration camps, both guards and other prisoners tormented homosexuals. Upon arrival at prisons and camps, gays were forced to wear a pink triangle insignia, which made them easily seen and targeted. They were also often “segregated […] in order to prevent homosexuality from spreading to other inmates or guards” (Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals In the Third Reich). Homosexuals were tortured sexually, sometimes being forced to have sex with women prisoners in order to “cure” their homosexual tendencies or were forced to give sexual favors to the guards (Grau, The Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals). Some were even “castrated under court order or coercion” (Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals 1933-1945). “According to many survivor accounts, homosexuals were among the most abused groups in the camps” (Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals In the Third Reich). Friedrich-Paul von Groszheim, a victim of homosexual persecution in Nazi Germany, stated, “In January 1937 […] I was imprisoned for 10 months. In 1938 I was re-arrested, humiliated, and tortured. The Nazis finally released me, but only on the condition that I agree to be castrated. I submitted to the operation” (Nazi Persecution of