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Germany: Government Excludes Homosexual Victims of Nazism From Rehabilitation and Compensation

03/01/2000

Summary:

Fifty-five years after the fall of Nazism, most of those who suffered imprisonment or death at its hands have been legally rehabilitated in Germany. However, homosexuals, along with military deserters, continue to be excluded both from procedures erasing legal stigma, and from collective or individual compensation for injustice. IGLHRC joins with German and international activists in calling on German authorities to recognize and, so far as remains possible, to right the wrongs endured by those imprisoned under Paragraph 175 of the German penal code, in force both during and after the Nazi regime. It urges the German government to annul sentences, apologize publicly for homophobic persecution, and include homosexuals among those entitled to recognition and recompense as victims of Hitler's hatred.

Action:

Please send a copy of your letter to the Lesben-Schwulenverband Deutschland (LSVD), the German LGBT advocacy group which introduced the resolution, at:

LSVD Projekt Erinnern und Gedenken
Katzbachstr. 5
10965 Berlin
GERMANY

You may also e-mail copies of your letter to LSVD at etz@snafu.de and guenter.dworek@gruene-fraktion.de.

Sample letter:

Dear Herrn Prof. Dr. Rupert Scholz;

I am writing in solidarity with the Lesben- Schwuleverband Deutschland (LSVD) and in support of the Pink Triangle Coalition's demands passed at their International Colloquium in Berlin this February. I adamantly urge the following:

  • That all those convicted under Paragraph 175 of the Reich Penal Code between 1935 and 1945 have their sentences immediately annulled. Specifically, the sentences imposed on homosexual victims by the Nazi judiciary pursuant to Paragraphs 175 and 175a, No. 4, RStGB (Reich Criminal Code) must be officially set aside in a wholesale manner.
  • That the Bundestag, the German governement, and all other German states support initiatives such as those undertaken by the City of Hamburg and sponsored by the PDS group in the Budestag, pertaining to the full rehabilitation of the homosexual victims of National Socialism.
  • That the German Bundestag apologize for the fact that the exact 1935 version of Paragraph 175 remained in effect until 1969 in the Federal Republic of Germany, and give collective reparation, e.g. by the restoration of a Magnus Hirschfeld Institute on Sex Research in Berlin.
  • That individual rehabilitation and compensation be offered to all , whether the injustice was sustained before or after 1945.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. I know that you, like me, are horrified by the atrocities perpetrated by the Nazis. I am sure you will agree that in light of the persecutions under Paragraph 175, these demands are both reasonable and just.

Sincerely,

Cc: LSVD

Background:

IGLHRC forwards this action on behalf of the Pink Triangle Coalition, of which it is a founding member. The Pink Triangle Coalition, an International Coalition for Coordinating Affairs Relating to Nazi Persecution of Gay Men and Lesbians, was formalized in February 1998 in Berlin. The purpose of the coalition is twofold:

  • to ensure representation of the gay victims of the Nazis vis-à-vis the various new international funds that are being created (such as the Swiss Humanitarian Fund and the Nazi Persecutees Fund) with a view to maximizing resources for educational projects and ensuring fair distribution of any such resources; and
  • to collect and disseminate information about Nazi persecution of gay men and lesbians with a view to involving other NGOs and facilitating a structured approach.

At the Pink Triangle Coalition's February 1999 colloquium in Berlin, the following resolution was introduced by the Lesben-Schwulenverband Deutschland (LSVD), another member group. It was adopted unanimously. The resolution provides historical background exposing the inequity and inconsistency of the German government's present stance.

Resolution by the International Colloquium
"The Persecution of Homosexuals in the Third Reich"
on 12/13 February 2000 in Berlin

Immediate Rehabilitation of the Homosexual Victims of the National Socialist Judicial System

The participants of the International Colloquium on "The Persecution of Homosexuals in the Third Reich" (held in February 2000 in Berlin by the Pink Triangle Coalition, coordinated by the the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, and by the Heinrich Böll Stiftung-an affiliate of the German Green Party), demand the rapid and complete legal rehabilitation of the homosexual victims of the Nazi judicial system. We call upon the German Federal Government and the German Bundestag to take immediate action in this regard.

In 1935, the National Socialists severely tightened the provisions of paragraph 175 of the criminal code, both in defining the "crime" of homosexuality and its possible punishment. Any type of sexual conduct between men was threatened with punishment. For some Nazi judges, even "covetous looks" were enough to constitute the crime. In the years 1935-1945, the Nazi judiciary convicted over 50,000 people for homosexual "lewdness." To this day, individuals convicted pursuant to Nazi paragraph 175 have still not received any type of compensation, nor have they been legally rehabilitated.

In June 1998, the German Bundestag passed a "Law to Annul Unjust Sentences Imposed During the National Socialist Administration of Criminal Justice." Two groups were excluded from the wholesale annulment of unjust Nazi sentences: deserters and homosexuals. This gap in the Nazi Annulment Law must now finally be closed. The sentences imposed on homosexual victims by the Nazi judiciary pursuant to paragraphs 175 and 175a, No. 4, RStGB (Reich Criminal Code), must likewise be officially set aside in a wholesale manner.

The city of Hamburg and the PDS group in the Bundestag have recently initiated legislation to this effect in independent initiatives. We call upon the Bundestag, the German government, and the other German states to support the initiatives and translate them into action. Those who refuse to do this are perpetuating injustice.

Paragraph 175 retained validity, in its exact 1935 version, in the Federal Republic of Germany until 1969. As such, even following the end of the Nazi dictatorship, it had gravely affected the lives of homosexuals. We demand that the German Bundestag apologizes for this injustice and gives collective reparation, e.g. by the restoration of a Magnus Hirschfeld Institute on Sex Research in Berlin. We also demand individual rehabilitation and compensation for all victims if the injustice was sustained before or after 1945.