The Internally and Externally Persecuted: Homosexuals Under the Nazi Regime

Melody m

Professor Deborah Hertz

HIEU 158, Winter Quarter
March 11, 2014

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In Donald M. McKales biographical novel Hitlers Shadow War: The Holocaust
and World War II, the author stated that some have asserted the emphasis on a
uniquely Jewish tragedy has focused attention on certain groups of victims to the
exclusions of others.1 While the Jews were the target of Adolf Hitlers Final Solution and
were the majority group persecuted in World War II, one should not discount the other
victims whose lives were brutally changed and, in many cases, destroyed. These victims
the Roma/Sinti (Gypsies), Poles and other Slavs, prisoners of war, Communists,
Jehovahs Witnesses, and homosexuals were swept into the mass murders of the Jews
because of the way they felt, were, or the things they believed in. Such differences,
whether political, ethnic, or religious, were not welcome in the ideal German-Aryan
nation that would exist after the war. In the case of the homosexuals, however, the
persecution was different from the other groups in that it was one of the first times in
history where the persecutors could, if found out, be persecuted themselves. After Berlin
unofficially became a major center of gay tolerance before the Second World War, the
Third Reich feared such a reputation returning to mock their masculinity.2 How, then, was
this seemingly threatening minority group discovered in a land as ideally robust and
masculine as Nazi Germany, and how would the Nazis be able to justify their
homophobic persecution against Aryan brothers and sisters?
Defining Homosexuality in the Third Reich
In Germany, up until the 21st century, a fear, disdain, and disgust towards all
members of the LGBTQ community were the norm. 3 Indeed, laws in Germany even
became so invasive as to prohibit specific sexual acts between members of the same sex,
even during the Weimar Republic era, which was seen as the most progressive and

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sexually liberating time for the gay community. An example of such a law is Section 175
of the German penal code, which prohibited acts of anal and oral sex between men. 4 Even
Ernst Rohm, Hitlers homosexual Chief of Staff and head of the SA (Sturmabteilung) of
the Nazi Party until his assassination, called this kind of government intervention
obtrusive.5 Rohm was not alone; certainly there were three major gay-rights groups
protesting for the repeal of the section, including the BMR (Bund fur Menschenrecht), the
activist group Rohm had connections to. Such an invasive law bothered all members of
the homosexual community, including lesbians, even though strangely enough, these
women were arguably nowhere near as persecuted as their male counterparts were.
The reason for this lenience towards female homosexuality lies behind the NaziGerman idea of masculinity, and how any trace of femininity in a man could damage the
reputation of a group as masculine as the NSDAP. The characteristics that defined a true,
Aryan man in the 1920s and 30s were related to those traits of men on the battlefield:
courage, honor, honesty, obedience, comradeship.6 Lesbians, though harboring
untraditional feminine traits, could not threaten the manly stereotype like homosexual
men could. Masculinity was equivalent to discipline, and, in Rohms point of view, chaos
and even respectability were equivalents of femininity and weakness.7 Rohm, a
homosexual within the top ranks of the Nazis, was a threat to his subordinates and
comrades without even knowing it. He almost subconsciously made sure to exert these
traits in his own demeanor to make up for the fact that he, himself, was not openly proud
to be a gay man.8 His overt masculinity blurred the lines between what it was to be a
homosexual man, making other Nazis, including the extremely homophobic Heinrich
Himmler, nervous.9 Rohm did not display the so-called flamboyant conventional

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stereotypes of the homosexual man, and men within the party began to worry that
homosexuality could be spread through social means.10
Homosexuality was not only seen as unnatural, but was also displayed as a
problem in the creation of the Aryan kingdom the Nazis hoped to create in the nearby
future. Reproduction of the Aryan race was necessary in order to expand the Germanic
race across Europe.11 How, then, was this to occur without intercourse between the
traditional heterosexual married man and woman? The state simply cared about the
reproduction of the Aryan race, and held apathy towards the fidelity and intimacy
between the two parents.12 Heterosexual marriages of convenience, created for the sole
purpose of the reproduction of children, were common among homosexuals. 13 Both gays
and lesbians willingly had children but were not forced by the state to have sex only with
the opposite sex.
The largest overall resounding issue was not the fact that there was a homosexual
minority in Germany, but that fellow ideal Aryans could, in fact, have the supposed
biological flaws to be born gay. Could the Nazis, a group who credited themselves on
being composed of men from the purest and most perfect race, have flaws within their
own volk, or nation? Hypocrisies came into play and worked out a solution that put minds
to rest: homosexuality occurred as a result of traumatic pedophilic seduction and could be
spread through any kind of sexual or even emotional contact. 14 That assured the men that
such erroneous behaviors could technically be avoided, because they could not be
biologically inherited. Doctors and sexual theorists who disproved such claims and
instead asserted that homosexuality was non-pathological and unrelated to disease, such
as Dr. Karl-Gunther Heimsoth, spread their findings in secret. 15 Still, the distribution of

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information contrary to Nazi policy was still a risk, and Heimsoth was frequented by the
Gestapo more than once.16 Homosexuality, many people believed, could be
psychologically reversed and cured in therapy sessions pointedly created to somehow
convert a person to heterosexuality.17
The Pink Triangle and Its Implications
According to German researchers, about 50,000 men during the Third Reich were
convicted for homosexuality, out of the 100,000 accused. From these 50,000 men, a range
between 10 and 30 percent actually were sentenced off to the concentration camps: about
5,000 to 15,000 men.18
There was no standard way to assess in the courts whether or not a person was
truly guilty to have had sexual relations with a person. The only thing that brought a man
to the courts was a mere accusation, and because so many men were accused out of anger,
jealousy, and political reasons, many men were able to evade prosecution because of a
lack of evidence. However, evidence was also the only thing needed to prove an accused
man unlucky. The severity of punishment was different with each particular case,
depending on the seriousness of the case, which man started the relationship or sexual
tryst, the number of partners, and the ages of the people involved. In addition, if an Aryan
man was not from the Nazi party, he would likely have to serve in jail, pay a large fine,
or, as a last resort, be sent off to work in a concentration camp. 19 NSDAP members were
stripped of their positions and punishment was again unique to the circumstances. Often,
they underwent conversion treatments at psychological centers aimed at changing the
sexuality of these patients, because it was believed that homosexuality was taught, and
that a person could be corrected and then suddenly transformed into a productive

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member of society.20 A Jewish gay man, however, was even more reviled in the eyes of
these Nazis, and was always sent to a concentration camp.21
Castration, while used throughout criminal cases against gay males, could not be a
viable solution to the problem of homosexuality because while the process destroyed the
means to indulge in sexual acts, it did not completely expel the libido. 22 It was not a
routine procedure that occurred systematically or even often during the Third Reich. 23
While greatly lowered, the sexual urge would still exist in the mind. And, because the
Nazi definition of homosexual was so broad and socially related, a castrated man could
still technically be considered infectious with his homosexuality.24 The definition even
went so far as to describe friendly affections of interaction as suspicious. Nazi lawyer
Rudolf Klare attempted to amend the law because the epidemic was so apparently
alarming.25 As mentioned in the previous section, homosexuality was regarded as a
disease that technically any German man could require out of seduction, and a supposed
endless chain of seduction could tear apart Aryan society.
The pink triangle, the symbol attached to the sleeves of homosexual prisoners,
was a standard inverted triangle in pink, a typically effeminate color, chosen likely to
mock the prisoners for their lack of masculinity. Perhaps even more humiliating and
degrading was the original symbol for the homosexual prisoners: the letter A used to
crudely reference the German term Arschficker, an offensive throw towards anal
intercourse.26 This pink color of the triangle easily clashed against the striped uniforms
the prisoners were forced to wear, identifying the prisoner against the sea of yellow stars
of David for the Jewish inmates. In Richard Plants book, The Pink Triangle: The Nazi
War against Homosexuals, the author admits that the lack of extensive historical

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knowledge and statistics about the homosexuals in concentration camps are limited
because fairly few homosexuals were actually sent off to the concentration camps.27 This
keeps true with the statistical information presented at the head of this section. Miserable
conditions were presented to the homosexual prisoners in the camps, and special
treatment the secret Nazi code word for instant murder was a frequent consequence
they faced.28 The historical book contains selective historical summaries and testimonies,
eventually pointing to the fact that, out of all the prisoners who survived the Holocaust
and were brought to their liberation, the least amount liberated were the homosexuals.29
A key problem that the Nazis had to accept, however, was that the people they
were persecuting were still Aryan peoples. What made this superb Germanic race
different, however, compared to the other undesired races, was that Aryans could be
corrected. Given that the majority of Jews were persecuted for being Jewish, no major
historical Jewish figures had revealed themselves so much to the Gestapo that they would
also have been identified as homosexual.30 Life in the concentration camps would have
put them at the lowest of the low in the unfortunate camp hierarchy. Hitler understood
that the ancient Greeks long ago had practiced homosexuality as a norm within their
community, which spread and infected even the most masculine of men. 31 In addition,
sexuality scientist Theo Lang of the Bayerische Kriminalbiologische Sammelstelle in
Munchen concluded that there has never existed a single group of people on the face of
the Earth that lacked homosexuals.32 Bisexuality and homosexuality, he inferred, have
always existed, though in minorities. Therefore, claims that homosexuality was solely
associated with racial inferiority could be eliminated. Yet, still needing to save face for

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the Aryans as the most perfect human peoples, top Nazi officials were adamant that
homosexual Nazis could be saved.33
Homosexuality and Homoeroticism Within the Nazi Party
After Rohms murder in 1934 during the Night of Long Knives, legalized
persecution against the homosexual community only increased. According to Eleanor
Hancock in her article Only the Real, the True, the Masculine Held Its Value: Ernst
Rohm, Masculinity, and Male Homosexuality, a gay man was able to evade persecution
and notice by the Nazis if he lived a discreet life free of activism and protest. From
Rohms rise to the top of Nazi power and until his execution, his influence or
consciousness of his position on the part of others ensured that while homosexual rights
organizations, publications, and commercial meeting places were closed, homosexuality
itself was not an official ground for arrest or persecution.34
Hitler did not have Rohm assassinated because of his sexuality.35 However, he did
use his sexuality as the scapegoat for his planned murder, insisting that no member of the
NSDAP would be successful by having such men around.36 It was likely due to
Himmlers brainwashing and rampant hate towards the gays that he was able to find a
way to make Hitler distrust Rohm and other rivals: by using sexuality as a cause of
political dissent. In Himmlers view, gay men held imperious characters that included
special intuitions that made it very easy for them to backstab and secretly organize
against a leader.37 Clearly, Himmler knew what to say to make Hitler want to expel Rohm
and other men who may or may not have actually been gay within the Nazi party. Hitler
never cared about the personal lives of his underlings, and yet with Himmlers takeover
of the SS and Rohm out of the picture, homosexuals became the undesirables in society

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that Hitler had to dispose of in order to maintain his reputation as the noble Aryan
fighting for the rest of his pure volk.38
Hans Bluher, a leading German psychoanalyst of the time, had suggested that
homoeroticism, strangely enough, was always naturally prevalent in relationships in
which a follower obeys the instructions of a leader.39 In fact, Bluher even stated that all
relationships that are not developed through familial ties have this basis of explicit male
homoeroticism in them.40 In an all-male group pushing for the difference and inequality
of the sexes, in which the stronger male sex would propel society into its strong, ordered,
masculine form, it is interesting to note that the Nazis were built on relationships they
actually feared. The German nationalistic idea the Nazis stressed to form within the
NSDAP, titled the Mannerbund, could either be the mold to hold together the party, or it
could become the grounds on which homosexual accusations could run chaotic.
The Mannerbund, in its essence, was centered in an elite membership of males
who then centralized the state with themselves ruling at the top. The term was not
contrived from the Nazis; indeed, the term had roots from the early 18 th century, in which
the men from Bunde were able to develop friendships that allowed their political
ambitions to prosper and which was of a greater importance than the relationships shared
within families. A group of males together did not have to tone down their natural egos or
hyper-masculinity in order to appease women; indeed, such relationships only fostered a
proud, shared nationalism and helped collectivize ambitions. The male, the head of the
family and of the government, could utilize the brainpower of the better gender to work
harder and more efficiently. He could work alongside other males with his utmost
strength to achieve whatever ambition he set out to do.41

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The term homoerotic is defined as something that is made to arouse the desires
of the same sex towards each other. The men in the NSDAP only worked with each other,
fought amongst each other, and spent time with each other throughout their day, with
female visitation far and few in between. Their actions were always directed towards
each other and, regardless of how the Nazis themselves felt, their relationships definitely
had the potential to make observers wonder if that kind of Mannerbund-centered
attachment and loyalty was only platonic. Bluher believed that subliminal homosexual
intent was necessary to not only create but to also maintain such powerful bonds. This
strong, masculine male culture not only indicated a separation between the male and
female spheres but also enforced an anti-feminist, misogynistic view that automatically
eliminated women from the ranks of masculinity and all things associated with it, like
politics, race, and war.42
Its ironic that rumors of homosexual relations and favors were found in
Himmlers SS (Schutzstaffel), given that the man was ready to eliminate any gay male
from his army, viewing them all as disruptions in Aryan society. The SS, the organization
that was supposed to embody the highest National Socialist values and therefore, the
highest degrees of masculinity, could not dare to be tainted with homosexuality. In public,
Himmler often downplayed the number of cases linked to accusations of homosexuality,
believing that he was solving the problem of homosexuality. Indeed, Himmler wrote
about how it was perfectly acceptable to kill homosexuals, and to shoot them as they ran
throughout the concentration camps they would all be sent to. However, with time,
Himmler began to send those convicted to the front of the battle lines rather than straight

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towards the death chambers, the reasons for this likely being the decrease in labor as the
war carried on and the Germans continued losing.43
Even Hitlers political enemies stressed accusations that Hitler was gay. However,
any evidence of Hitler actually being homosexual is quite limited. Also, noting how such
an accusation in that time was so derogatory and insulting, such accusations were likely
thrown to besmirch a reputation and destroy a career. It is not commonly accepted that
the Fhrer was actually a homosexual man.44
The lack of information on the lesbian account during Nazi Germany is
disappointing, but rather confirms the political evidence. As mentioned above, lesbian
lifestyles were nowhere near as antagonized as gay ones were, because the women did
not have the means to alter the structure of masculinity the NSDAP standardized. They
were, therefore, not threatening to the Nazi social order. Even the accounts of
homosexuals who had lived through the Holocaust are to this day still incredibly difficult
to come by, because a small amount of homosexuals actually spent time in the
concentration camps. Because of the horrific conditions the few homosexuals lived under
at the bottom of the camp hierarchy, not many of them were able to come out alive. It is
important to note that the Holocaust was genocide against the Jews, but it allowed for the
Nazis to bring in other minorities and undesired non-Aryans to destroy along their path.
Therefore, the experiences of these minorities, and the acknowledgement in their part as
victims should not be overlooked.

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Notes
1. McKale, Donald M.. "Expansion of Auschwitz, Allied Victories, and More
Deportations, 1943-1944." In Hitler's Shadow war: The Holocaust and World War
II. New York: Cooper Square Press, 2002. 357.
2. Hancock, Eleanor. Only the Real, the True, the Masculine Held Its Value: Ernst
Rohm,
Masculinity,
and
Male
Homosexuality.
JSTOR.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3840412 (accessed March 11, 2014). 617.
3. Ibid., 622.
4. Ibid., 617.
5. Ibid., 623.
6. Ibid., 617.
7. Ibid., 618.
8. Ibid., 625.
9. Ibid., 618.
10. Oosterhuis, Harry. "Medicine, Male Bonding and Homosexuality in Nazi
Germany." JSTOR. http://www.jstor.org/stable/261240 (accessed March 11, 2014).
119.
11. Hancock, Eleanor. Only the Real, the True, the Masculine Held Its Value: Ernst
Rohm,
Masculinity,
and
Male
Homosexuality.
JSTOR.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3840412 (accessed March 11, 2014). 624.
12. Ibid, 638.
13. Ibid.
14. Oosterhuis, Harry. "Medicine, Male Bonding and Homosexuality in Nazi
Germany." JSTOR. http://www.jstor.org/stable/261240 (accessed March 11, 2014).
204.
15. Hancock, Eleanor. Only the Real, the True, the Masculine Held Its Value: Ernst
Rohm,
Masculinity,
and
Male
Homosexuality.
JSTOR.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3840412 (accessed March 11, 2014). 625.

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16. Hancock, Eleanor. Only the Real, the True, the Masculine Held Its Value: Ernst
Rohm,
Masculinity,
and
Male
Homosexuality.
JSTOR.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3840412 (accessed March 11, 2014). 629.
17. Oosterhuis, Harry. "Medicine, Male Bonding and Homosexuality in Nazi
Germany." JSTOR. http://www.jstor.org/stable/261240 (accessed March 11, 2014).
193.
18. Ibid., 188.
19. Ibid., 189.
20. Ibid., 194.
21. Ibid., 190.
22. Ibid., 191.
23. Ibid.
24. Ibid.
25. Ibid., 190.
26. Haeberle, Erwin. "Swastika, Pink Triangle and Yellow Star: The Destruction of
Sexology and the Persecution of Homosexuals in Nazi Germany." JSTOR.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3812563 (accessed March 11, 2014). 282.
27. Lovin, Clifford. "The Pink Triangle: The Nazi War against Homosexuals by
Richard Plant." JSTOR. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1430490 (accessed March 11,
2014). 194.
28. Ibid.
29. Ibid., 195.
30. Oosterhuis, Harry. "Medicine, Male Bonding and Homosexuality in Nazi
Germany." JSTOR. http://www.jstor.org/stable/261240 (accessed March 11, 2014).
192.
31. Ibid., 191.
32. Ibid.
33. Ibid., 192.

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34. Hancock, Eleanor. Only the Real, the True, the Masculine Held Its Value: Ernst
Rohm,
Masculinity,
and
Male
Homosexuality.
JSTOR.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3840412 (accessed March 11, 2014). 635.
35. Ibid., 631.
36. Ibid., 636.
37. Oosterhuis, Harry. "Medicine, Male Bonding and Homosexuality in Nazi
Germany." JSTOR. http://www.jstor.org/stable/261240 (accessed March 11, 2014).
194.
38. Ibid., 195.
39. Ibid., 201.
40. Ibid.
41. Ibid., 202.
42. Ibid., 197.
43. Giles, Geoffrey. "The Denial of Homosexuality: Same-Sex Incidents in Himmler's
SS and Police." JSTOR. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3704558 (accessed March 11,
2014). 257.
44. Ibid., 266.