Brutal Torture of Gay Men under Nazi Regime
- Rape, Castration & Medical Experiments - Nazi Germany

4 October 2022

Category: Nazi Victims

Despite the fact that homosexuality was illegal, in the mid- to late-nineteenth century, there were indications of nascent and growing gay communities in Germany Political and social conditions even allowed for people to publicly campaign for the decriminalization of sexual relations between men and the repeal of “Paragraph 175” which from 1871 banned sexual relations between men. In terms of legal policy relating to the German criminal code, the Nazi Party opposed efforts to decriminalize sexual relations between men and repeal Paragraph 175. The Nazi Party denounced homosexuality as a deviation from normal behavior that was completely antithetical to its fundamental belief in the need to increase the pure, "Aryan" population and proper family life.

However, there were known gay men even in the Nazi movement, most notably Ernst Röhm who used the word “same-sex oriented”, to describe himself. After the Nazis came to power on the 30th of January, 1933, they sought to dismantle the visible gay cultures and networks that had developed during the Weimar Republic. The Nazis used new laws and police practices to arrest and detain without trial a limited number of gay men beginning in late 1933 and early 1934.

Castration into legal practice

The Nazi German judicial system also introduced castration into legal practice. As of late 1933, courts could order mandatory castration for certain sexual offenders. However, at least initially, men arrested under Paragraph 175 could not be castrated without their supposed consent but in some cases, men imprisoned under this statute could secure early release if they volunteered to be castrated. One such man was Friedrich-Paul von Groszheim. In fall 1934, Reinhard Heydrich ordered the police of all large cities to make a list of known homosexuals. These lists have come to be known as the “pink lists,” although this is not what the Nazis or the police called them.

In late 1934, the Gestapo, which was the official political police, raided gay bars and made mass arrests of homosexual men; most of whom were not involved in politics. Three events in the years 1934–1936 radicalized the Nazi regime’s campaign against homosexuality and led to more systematic oppression of gay men. First was the murder of Ernst Röhm and other SA leaders in June–July 1934. Second, in June 1935 the Nazis revised Paragraph 175, the statute of the German criminal code that banned sexual relations between men.

Finally, in 1936 SS leader and Chief of the German Police Heinrich Himmler established the Reich Central Office for the Combating of Homosexuality and Abortion. The Nazi campaign against homosexuality intensified in 1935–1936. In the mid- to late 1930s, the police raided bars and other meeting places that they believed to be popular with gay men. A neighbor, acquaintance, colleague, friend, or family member could inform the police of their suspicions.

100,000 men arrested

There were gay men who took the risk of resisting the Nazi state for political and personal reasons. Some gay men helped hide Jews or joined underground anti-Nazi resistance groups. Such was a case of Willem Arondeus, a gay member of the Dutch resistance, who on the 27th of March 1943, during the German occupation of the Netherlands, participated in an attack on the Amsterdam Population Registry offices. Not all of approximately 100,000 men arrested under Paragraph 175 during the Nazi regime shared the same fate. Between 5,000 and 15,000 men were imprisoned in concentration camps as “homosexual” offenders.

The pink triangle called attention to this prisoner population as a distinct group within the concentration camp system. According to many survivor accounts, pink triangle prisoners were among the most abused groups in the camps. SS guards murdered homosexual prisoners out of cruelty or during sadistic games. Beginning in November 1942, concentration camp commandants officially had the power to order the forced castration of pink triangle prisoners.

Josef Kohout, imprisoned under Paragraph 175, was 24 when he was arrested in March 1939 when his Christmas card to his male lover had been intercepted. Scholars estimate that there were approximately 100,000 arrests under Paragraph 175 during the Nazi regime. More than 53,000 resulted in convictions.

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