The Hidden Holocaust?: Gay and Lesbian Persecution in Germany 1933-45

by Günter Grau (Editor), Claudia Shoppmann (Editor)

Overview

The persecution of lesbians and gay men by the Nazis is a subject that has been constantly debated during the last decade, providing a theme for books, articles, and plays. Until recently the discussion has remained speculative: most of the relevant documents were stored in closed East German archives, and access was denied to scholars and researchers.

As a result of the unification of East and West Germany, these archives are now open. Hidden Holocaust, by the German scholars Gunter Grau and Claudia Shoppmann of Humboldt Uinversity, Berlin, demonstrates that the eradication of homosexuals was a declared gol of the Nazis even before they took power in 1933, and provide proof of the systematic anti-gay campaigns, the methods used tjo justify discrimination, and the incarceration mutilation and murder of gay men and women in Nazi concentration camps.

A chilling but groud-breaking work in gay and lesbian studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781134261055
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	08/21/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Günter Grau, Claudia Shoppmann

Table of Contents

Persecution, ‘Re-education' or ‘Eradication' of Male Homosexuals between 1933 and 1945; The Position of Lesbian Women in the Nazi Period; Part I Public Discrimination against Homosexual Men; (a) Disputes about Whether Homosexuality Should Be a Criminal Offence; (b) Police Raids, Bans and Arrests: 1933 to 1935; Part II Tightening up the Law from September 1935; (a) The National Socialist Revision of Section 175 of the Penal Code; (b) Discussions Concerning the Prosecution of Lesbians; Part III The Stepping up of Prosecutions from 1936; (a) Nation-wide Registration of Homosexual Men; (b) The Reich Office for the Combating of Homosexuality and Abortion — an Instrument of Practical Implementation; (c) The Consequences; Part IV Intensified Persecution after 1939; (a) ‘Ruthless Severity' in the Wehrmacht; (b) The Death Penalty for Homosexuals in the SS and Police; (c) Action in the Occupied Territories; (d) Combating ‘Homosexual Transgressions' in the Hitler Youth; Part V Castration as an Instrument of Repression; Part V Castration as an Instrument of Repression; Part VI Homosexual Men in Concentration Camps; (a) Pink-Triangle Prisoners at Buchenwald Concentration Camp; (b) Experiments in ‘Reversal of Hormonal Polarity' at Buchenwald

Editorial Reviews

"This is an excellent text for the casual and serious reader interested in primary source material related to homosexuals in Nazi Germany and those concerned about Holocaust studies. Recommended." — Academic Library Book Review

From the Publisher