Memorial to the Persecuted Homosexual Community during Nazi Germany

There are two images on this page

Along with the persecution of Jewish people, Jehovah's Witnesses, Roma-Sinti Gypsies, and other minorities, the Nazis persecuted gay men and to a much lesser extent, lesbians.

In 1935, with the passing of the new penal code by the Nazi party, paragraph 175 specified that homosexuality was illegal in Germany. The Gestapo made a list of those who were gay and arrested them. They did not actively persecute lesbians, though the Austrian Nazi party did.

Gay men were arrested, tortured, and some were used in horrible "pseudo-scientific" experiments. Those who were not "rehabilitated", were sent to concentration camps. They were forced to wear an upside down pink triangle on their clothing to identify them. They were subjected to extra harsh treatment by the guards in the camps.

At the end of the War, Germany did not recognize gay people as a group of people persecuted by the Nazi party. Paragraph 175, written by the Nazi party, stayed, word for word, in the German penal code. Homosexuals continued to be subjected to cruelty and prosecuted until 1969. At that time, West Germany and many Western countries, including Canada, removed the laws specifying the illegality of homosexuality.

In remembrance of paragraph 175, May 17th (5th month, 17th day) of every year is recognized as International Day against Homophobia. This is to pay respect to those who were tormented and forced to "live in a closet". On that day, we all wear pink shirts to honour those gay men who were forced to wear upside down pink triangles in the camps.

The German government did not apologize to the Gay community until 2002.

The Memorial to the persecuted Gay people stands in Tiergarten, Berlin. Tiergarten is a large park in central Berlin. The Memorial is a large steel block. The Memorial is not a perfect square or rectangle, and was thoughtfully designed not be straight at the top. The Memorial stands alone in the park, symbolizing the lonliness that many gay and lesbian people suffered throughout history. Anything lobbed or put on the structure, such as eggs or spray paint will not adhere. The structure is solid, bullet proof and bomb proof. At one end of the end of the structure is a small bullet proof glass window and if one looks inside, will see two men kissing.

Any two people expressing compassion to one another, has never hurt anyone in the WORLD

A picture of the Memorial

The first picture does not reveal the size of the structure. The second picture does so better. The structure is much taller than any human being