Germany Remembers Gay Victims of Nazis

["F A B I O C C H I::" <eco_fabiocchi@tin.it>]

15.12.2003

Germany Remembers Gay Victims of Nazis

The Nazis sent thousands of homosexuals to their death in concentration
camps.
http://www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1432_A_1061158_1_A,00.html


In a decision that's been called "long overdue," the German parliament has
approved plans to build a memorial for thousands of homosexual men
persecuted or killed by the Nazis.


The government's decision is the result of more than a decade of lobbying by
Germany's Gay and Lesbian Federation.  "It's a big success for us," said,
Günter Dworek, one of the federation's directors.  "Germany has always had a
hard time dealing with this part of its history in particular. Even after
the war, the persecution of homosexuals wasn't recognized, and gays
continued to be treated as criminals."

Christina Weiss, the government's commissioner for culture and media
policies, said the decision to approve a memorial was "long overdue."

"We want to and we will remember this group of victims, because we must not
be allowed to be silent about what price those who revealed their sexual
orientation had to pay," she said.

Brutal persecution

Some 50,000 gays were branded criminals and degenerates by the Third Reich,
and forced to wear a pink triangle.  Between 10,000 and 15,000 gays were
sent to concentration camps, and many were castrated or sterilized because
their sexual orientation was seen as a threat to the purity of the Arian
race.  Germany's law against homosexuality was only repealed in 1969. In
2002, despite objections by conservatives, the German government granted a
formal pardon to homosexuals convicted under Nazism.

"That pardon was a breakthrough," Dworek said. "It represented a clear break
with the thinking of the past."

The government has allotted ?50,000 ($61,500) for the building of the
memorial, to be located in Berlin's central Tiergarten park, near the
Brandenburg Gate.

"It's an important place near the Brandenburg Gate with all that it
symbolizes," said Dworek.  "And it's going to be across from the site where
the monument to the murdered Jews of Europe is being built [photo,] so there
'll be a connection for people going to visit the site."

There are no design plans for the memorial yet. Instead, there's to be an
open competition where artists can put forward their visions.  The only
stipulation, said Dworek, is that the design incorporate two elements.  "It
should remind people of the gay victims of the Nazis, but it should also
send a message today that gays and lesbians still suffer discrimination and
persecution in parts of the world," he said.

Conservative objections

The bill approving the monument was passed with the backing of the governing
Social Democrats and Greens, as well as the opposition Free Liberal
Democrats.  The opposition Christian Democratic Union was against it,
arguing instead for a memorial commemorating all the victims that suffered
persecution under the Nazis.

Greens parliamentarian Volker Beck accused the CDU of using the suggestion
of a common memorial to mask their rejection of a memorial specifically for
gays.  "Homosexual victims of the Nazi regime were mostly shut out of
Germany's culture of remembrance in the past," Beck said.  "That is now
over."