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"Homosexuals in the Third Reich" Book Essay on: by Valeria Golodnitska for Prof. Marcuse's lecture course |
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About Valeria Golodnitska I am a junior Law and Society and Global Studies double major at UCSB. I am quite interested in German history (particularly the WWII period) because I was born and raised in Eastern Europe, my grandparents experienced evacuation during WWII, and I have many relatives who reside in Germany at the moment. I chose to write on the topic of homosexuality in the Third Reich because I feel that in today’s society the lives and fate of the Nazi Germany’s homosexuals are not being discussed in a great detail. It is important to acknowledge that homosexuals were bitterly mistreated during the WWII era, and to bring their misfortunes to light. Abstract (back to top) Richard Plant’s The Pink Triangle is a scholarly masterpiece that discusses the lives and fortunes of homosexuals in the Nazi Germany. The author argues that the history of the Third Reich’s homosexuals has been veiled by shadows for far too long and the time has come to bring these tragic stories and encounters to light. Plant starts out by discussing various social and political problems that have led to perceiving homosexuals as scapegoats for the evils during the early twentieth century. The author then talks about some notorious homosexuals in the Nazi political elite, such as Ernst Roehm, and then he examined the people responsible for the gay holocaust: Heinrich Himmler and Theodor Eicke. Plant concludes his work by stating various accounts of how homosexuals were mistreated and preyed upon in various concentration and work camps. Richard Plant presents a chilling account of innocent lives ruthlessly destroyed by the murderous machine of the Third Reich. |
Essay (back to top) Homosexuals in the Third Reich Introduction In The Pink Triangle, Richard Plant argues that because the fate of Nazi Germany’s homosexuals has remained concealed for many years, the time has come to reveal the travesties surrounding these men’s lives and demonstrate that their struggles comprised a significant and tragic part of German history. To prove this point Plant traces the life of Germany’s homosexual men (Plant does not focus in great detail on the homosexuality of women) before the creation of the Third Reich, looks at some notorious homosexuals during Hitler’s rise to power, describes the infamous figures who set the wheels of the gay holocaust in motion, and finally, comes face to face with the destiny of those men who had to bear the sign of powerlessness and hatred, the pink triangle. Although Plant provides a detailed timeline of the events leading up to the Nazi’s meticulous extermination and hatred of the homosexuality, the author does not pay sufficient attention to speculations that many members of Nazi political elite, including Hitler, fell under suspicion of demonstrating strong homosexual tendencies. Nazi Germany is notorious for preying upon and exterminating such groups as Jews, Gypsies, the physically handicapped, and mentally ill people. In comparison, the life and fate of the Third Reich’s homosexual population remains in the shadows partly because the subject of homosexuality produces feelings of hostility and anger till this day. Shedding light on the tragic events of the lives of the Third Reich’s homosexuals is an important tool in learning how to let go of unnecessary stigmas and embracing differences and diversity in the world. Social and Political Events The Homosexual movement in Germany started under Kaiser Wilhelm II and gained significant recognition with the help of Jewish physician Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935). One of Hirschfeld’s life-long goals was to reconstruct Germany’s Paragraph 175, which stated, “‘A male who indulges in criminally indecent activities with another male or who allows himself to participate in such activities will be punished with jail’.” (Plant, p.30). Furthermore, Hirschfeld founded an institute for Sexual Research, which not only practiced research but also provided advice and treatment for those who struggled with sexually transmitted diseases or other sex-related problems. Hirschfeld’s most significant achievement was the organization of the First Congress for Sexual Reform in 1921 where various experts gathered to discuss revolutionary topics in the sexology field. Such prominent political figures as August Bebel, the leader of Social Democratic political party, supported Hirschfeld’s endeavors denouncing Paragraph 175 and arguing that:
Another one of Hirschfeld’s allies, Dr. Helene Stoecker, the leader of the League for the Protection of Maternity and Sexual Reform, argued that persecuting homosexuals was absurd. Unfortunately, with the tragic events of the WWI (1914-1918) and the collapse of the Weimar Republic (1919-1933), a feeble hope for solidarity between Germany’s homosexual and heterosexual communities ceased to exist. Plant argues:
After the humiliating defeat of WWI, the fear of socialist revolution coupled with the experience of rapid inflation and extreme unemployment threw people into the state of frenzy and despair. Many Germans felt betrayed by the government and humiliated by the Treaty of Versailles. Using extensive propaganda Hitler seized the opportunity to promise the rebirth of a strong German nation, avenge the demands made by the Treaty of Versailles, and take revenge on those individuals who were responsible for Germany’s ultimate defeat. (Plant, p. 26). Poor, unemployed, and rallied by the vicious Nazi slogans, many Germans started looking for scapegoats for various social and political problems, and homosexuals made the perfect target. The Roehm Affair Before examining the numerous injustices Nazi Germany’s homosexuals had to endure, it is important to analyze how homosexuals were treated within prominent Nazi circles. Although Plant does not discuss the issue of homosexuality at the top Nazi government level in great detail, the one person he does focus on is Ernst Roehm. Roehm was the leader of Nazi Storm Troopers (SA) and a well-known homosexual. Roehm’s downfall came with the proposal of combining the army and the SA into single organization where the SA would exert a degree of authority over the army. Because the army’s support was crucial in solidifying Nazi power, Roehm’s idea was perceived as a threat and he was executed on the so-called Night of the Long Knives, in July 1934. Plant suggests:
Thus, Roehm’s murder demonstrates an attempt to exterminate those undesirable to the state, in this case starting with the top of the social elite and gradually moving down toward the common folk. Men Responsible for the Machinery of Death It is important to note the two main figures directly responsible for many unfortunate deaths of homosexuals in the Third Reich: Heinrich Himmler and Theodor Eicke. Himmler was in charge of the SS and Gestapo, and obsessed with the idea of a superior Aryan race. On February 18, 1937 Himmler gave a speech where he accused homosexuals of perverting heterosexual males, which would put strains on procreation and continuation of the supreme Aryan race. The other notorious figure in the death machine of Nazi Germany was Theodor Eicke. He began his career as a commander of the Dachau Concentration Camp; Eicke’s regime of calculated punishment and repression spread to other infamous camps. Plant states, “Eicke organized various procedures through which the inmates were humiliated and broken…” (Plant, p. 175). Eicke’s ruthless methods and Himmler’s disregard of the law result in bitter consequences for many homosexuals of the Third Reich. The Lives and Fortunes Now that all the characters have been introduced, we can look at the lives and fortunes of those men forced to wear the pink triangle. In early Fall 1933, the government started a vicious campaign against homosexuals. The provisions of Paragraph 175 were widened, and the Third Reich’s Federal Security Department for Combating Abortion and Homosexuality was established. Homosexuality was regarded as a disease and homosexuals were unfairly labeled as people of the third sex. Plant writes, “Three special offensives were launched against homosexuals…These campaigns were directed against the youth movement, the Catholic Church, and the armed forces.” (Plant, p. 126). As one can see, the Nazi party has repressed various social movements in hopes of purging these groups of dangerous “sexual deviants.” Many homosexuals were shipped off to concentration camps such as Buchenwald and Dachau for crimes under Paragraph 175. Due to the camps’ lack of legal regulations and the hostile atmosphere created by Himmler and Eicke, homosexuals were introduced to physical violence, emotional humiliation, strenuous labor, and dangerous medical experiments. L.D. von Classen-Neudegg, one of the Sachsenhausen survivors discusses the issue of working in Dora-Mittelbau, a factory producing V-2 rockets, “‘There you’ll learn to do honest work with your hands…You are a biological mistake of the Creator. That’s why you must be bent straight…” (Plant, p. 174). Furthermore, Plant reveals the tragic story of a man he calls Willy. According to Plant, Willy was sent to the camp for violating Paragraph 175. After experiencing many misfortunes, Willy volunteered for the front-line duty where he was captured by the Russians. Miraculously, Willy was able to survive the horrors of WWII and tell his appalling story. Plant recounts another gay holocaust survivor’s story, a young Austrian homosexual man detained at Flossenburg. The main reason why the inmate was able to live through the travesties of the camp was the fact that an SS guard saw him as a potential lover. Thus, desperate to stay alive, the young man has agreed to sexual relations with that particular SS guard. These passages demonstrate that homosexuals were perceived as a class of sub-humans, without any rights or privileges. Even after the end of WWII, homosexuals were treated with suspicion. Plant argues, “The world into which they [homosexuals] found themselves liberated was still officially hostile. According to German law, homosexual ex-prisoners were to be treated as criminals.” (Plant, p. 181). This passage proves that even the modern world of human rights and protections is still guilty of attaching negative stigma to homosexual culture. Speculations While Richard Plant covers the main events describing the history of homosexuals’ persecution and fates in thorough detail, he does not focus attention on speculations that many power figures in the Nazi government were suspected of practicing homosexuality. Although Plant does mention Ernst Roehm, he discusses the SA leader in the context of the Nazi systematic extermination as opposed to focusing more on Roehm’s sexuality and relating it to the concerns of the practice of homosexuality among the top government officials. Scott Lively, the coauthor of the Pink Swastika: Homosexuals and the Nazi Party, echoes Samuel Igra’s suspicion that Hitler was a male prostitute during his early days in Vienna. (http://www.leaderu.com/jhs/lively.html). Furthermore, Lively refers to Rector who speculates that many of Hitler’s top ranking officials such as minister of economics Walter Funk and Hitler Youth leader Baldur von Schirach were homosexuals. (http://www.leaderu.com/jhs/lively.html). There is a possibility that widespread homophobic attitudes led these men to suppress their natural sexual interests and lash out against ordinary people who did not enjoy the protection of political clout; perhaps the scale of such ferocious anger could be attributed to Nazi political leaders’ hidden fears of being found out and persecuted. Neglecting to discuss the possibility of homosexual practices among the top Nazi elite detracts from inferring a full scope of possible explanations to the gay holocaust. Conclusion Richard Plant’s The Pink Triangle uses historical inferences and chronology in order to outline the lives and fates of homosexuals during the times of the Third Reich. The author discusses the events before Nazi party came to power, the Roehm affair, and people responsible for the Nazi machine of repression, as well as hardships that fell upon the lives of homosexuals during WWII. Although Plant omits a full discussion of speculations about homosexuality among the prominent members of the Nazi party, the book gives a thorough and convincing account of the Third Reich’s homosexuals before, after, and during the war. The Pink Triangle is an important work of scholarship. It sheds light on the aspect of the world’s sexual culture, which remains a difficult subject till this day. I would recommend this book to anyone who desires to broaden their horizons and attempt to embrace the diversity the planet has to offer. Seeing the array of struggles homosexuals had to endure proves that the world is full of differences one must acknowledge and respect. |
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