Gay and Lesbian Issues - The Nazi Extermination of Homosexuals Essays

Gay and Lesbian Issues - The Nazi quenching of HomosexualsThe Holocaust is the greatest atrocity invariably committed. Millions upon millions of batch were ruthlessly tortured and executed during the infamous reign of the Third Reich. The events and conditions surrounding Adolf Hitlers rise to power have been extensively studied by historians, sociologists, semipolitical scientists, and psychologists in the hopes of preventing this state of merciless dictatorship from ever recurring. Due to the immensity of the Nazi campaign against those of the Jewish faith, that ethnic group is most often mentioned in association with the concentration camps and exterminations of the Third Reich. However, there were many other groups who were persecuted alongside the Jews. These groups include political dissidents, criminals, gypsies, the handicapped, Jehovahs Witnesses, emigrants, and homosexuals (Heger 32). The plight of homosexuals is, perhaps, the most overlooked fount of the Holocaust. Of all the concentration camps, Sachsenhaussen, just north of Berlin, was the most important in the imprisonment and execution of homosexuals. The conditions under which all prisoners here were forced to live were short inhuman, but for homosexuals it was far worse. As the one group that was despised by both the Nazis and those who were imprisoned within concentration camps, gays were persecuted with the greatest enthusiasm, and because of the taboos surrounding their lifestyle, their tragedy was odd unnoticed for nearly three decades. The persecution of homosexuals at Sachsenhaussen was a natural outgrowth of the Nazi idea of the master race and was made possible by usage of German law. Homosexuals, according to Nazi propaganda, ... ...he testimonies of gay survivors from Sachsenhaussen are to teach us anything, it is that they, like the Jews and every other group exterminated by the Nazis, were victims. Their tragedy has been intensify by societys rejection of their plight. In order to truly abolish the dangerous views of Nazism, we must first learn to accept all people as human beings, no matter what their national origin, religious beliefs, or sexual orientation may be. This must be our goal if we are to prevent the atrocities of Sachsenhaussen from ever happening again. References Feig, Konnilyn G. Hitlers Death Camps. New York Holmes & Meier, 1979. Heger, Heinz. The Men With the Pink Triangle. London Gay Mens Press, 1972. Plant, Richard. The Pink Triangle. New York Henry Holt, 1986. Rector, Frank. The Nazi Extermination of Homosexuals. New York Stein and Day, 1981.