Heinz Heger

Gay survivors of Nazi concentration camps recount their experiences

The True, Life- and Death Story of Homosexuals in the Nazi Death Camps

The Men with the Pink Triangle

Linus Rogge

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

The Men with the Pink Triangle The True, Life- and Death Story of Homosexuals in the Nazi Death Camps

Reviews

Highlights