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They were not allowed to play any role in public life and therefore they often experienced a double economic disadvantage. Lesbians suffered the same destruction of community networks as gay men. In Austria, after Anschluss (the annexation of Austria into greater Germany under the Nazi regime), a similar debate led to the inclusion of lesbianism in the penal code. Ultimately lesbians were not included in the legislation and they were subsequently not targeted in the same way as gay men. Collective murder actions were undertaken against gay detainees, exterminating hundreds at a time.ĭuring the 1935 redrafting of Paragraph 175 in Germany, there was much debate about whether to include lesbianism, which had not been recognised in the earlier version. Many were castrated and some subjected to gruesome medical experiments. Most died in the camps, often from exhaustion. There they could be subjected to hard labour and torture, or they were experimented upon or executed.Īn estimated 10-15,000 men who were accused of homosexuality were deported to concentration camps. Most homosexuals were sent to police prisons, rather than concentration camps, where they were exposed to inhumane treatment. Significant numbers of gay men were arrested, of whom an estimated 50,000 received severe jail sentences in brutal conditions. The police established lists of homosexually active persons. The thriving gay culture in Berlin was lost. Unknown numbers of German gay men and lesbians fled abroad, and others entered into marriages in order to appear to conform to Nazi ideological norms, experiencing severe psychological trauma. On, the Nazis violently looted and closed The Institute for Sexual Science, burning its extensive collection on the streets. Repression against gay men and lesbians commenced within days of Hitler becoming Chancellor. Nazi conceptions of race, gender and eugenics dictated the Nazi regime’s hostile policy on homosexuality. In 1929 the process towards complete decriminalisation had been initiated within the German legislature. Magnus Hirschfeld’s Institute for Sexual Science led the world in its scientific approach to sexual diversity and acted as an important public centre for Berlin lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender life.
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