Museum of Resistance and Resilience

HISTORY

During the period of Nazi Germany, many laws were imposed to outlaw the existence of gay men. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Musuem, an estimate of around 100,000 men were arrested from the years 1933 to 1945 (Waxman, 2018). Most likely, they were thrown in prisons based on their violation of a law enacted in 1935, which stated that any semblance of homosexual behavior—from looking to touching to rumors—would result in lawful punishment (Waxman, 2018). Several thousand men were imprisoned in concentration where they were segregated, tortured, and tested on. A 1972 memoir by Heinz Heger, a former doll boy in these camps (prisoners who were sexually abused by guards in exchange for food or protection), recounts the horrific experiences within these camps. Perhaps the most symbolic image of these persecutions is the pink triangle, which was plastered on the uniform of these prisoners and furthered the deep segregation and alienation that they faced.

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