Heinz Heger

The first, and still the best known, testimony by a gay survivor of the Nazi concentration camps translated into English, this harrowing autobiography opened new doors onto the understanding of homosexuality and the Holocaust when it was first published in 1980 by Gay Men's Press. THE MEN WITH THE PINK TRIANGLE has been translated into several languages, with a second edition published in 1994 by Alyson Books. Heger's book also inspired the 1979 play Bent by Martin Sherman which was filmed as the 1997 movie of the same name, directed by Sean Mathias.

The True, Life-And-Death Story of Homosexuals in the Nazi Death Camps (Large Print 16pt)

The Men with the Pink Triangle

Linus Rogge

The third and most cynical argument was also the most influential: "Aryan" lesbians could be used as breeders regardless of their own feelings, and reproduction was the most urgent goal of Nazi population politics.

However, some testimonies suggest a pattern of special brutality during police raids toward gay men who were discovered to be Jewish as well.

Gay Holocaust survivors received no moral or financial support after 1945—not from the government, not from Holocaust researchers, not from the fragile gay and lesbian community. As a result, some internalized Nazi persecution as their own fault, blaming themselves for not having been smarter in hiding their lives. "It all happened because we stupid queens didn't hide our address books," one survivor told me.

What does it say about the world we live in, if an adult man is told how and whom he should love?

The camp commander stood right by, and looked visibly more than a little interested in the proceedings. At each stroke his eyes lit up, and after a few strokes his whole face was red with excitement. He buried his hands in his trouser pockets and could clearly be seen to masturbate, quite unperturbed by our presence. After satisfying himself in this way, the perverted swine suddenly disappeared, being no longer interested in the further execution of the punishment.

Homosexual behavior between two "normal" men is considered an emergency outlet, while the same thing between two gay men, who both feel deeply for one another, is something "filthy" and repulsive.

Himmler's idea, however, was that those of us in the pink triangle category should be "cured" of our homosexual disposition by compulsory regular visits to the brothel. We were obliged to show up there once a week, in order to "learn" the joys of the other sex.

A few SS NCOs had got hold of prisoners' clothing, planning to disguise themselves as prisoners as the Americans approached, and disappear in the confusion of impending liberation. Many of them, indeed, did do so, though only in rare cases did they manage to escape subsequent imprisonment and conviction by the occupying powers.

The Men with the Pink Triangle quotes

Join the club