Nazism and homosexuality

The myth that Nazis condoned or promoted homosexuality sprang up as a slander against Nazi leaders by their socialist opponents in the 1930s. Only one of the half-dozen leaders in Hitler's inner circle, Ernest Rohm, [sic] is believed by credible historians to have been gay. ... There is no question that the Nazis saw homosexuality as one aspect of the "degeneracy" they were determined to extinguish. When it came to power in 1933, the Nazi Party moved quickly to strengthen On Oct. 11, 1936, Hitler's security chief, Heinrich Himmler, went further, announcing that homosexuality was to be "eliminated" in Germany, along with miscegenation between the races.

The apparent connection between Nazism and homosexuality is cited by various wingnuts as proof that the gay agenda is a Nazi-style conspiracy to destroy the family. It is widely regarded by most decent scholars as homophobic vitriol and utter bollocks, as well as a form of pseudohistory. The Nazis were opposed to homosexuality and abortion, despite what Conservapedia may tell you.

Apart from one notable exception (see below), the Nazis were predominately heterosexual, and up to 15,000 gay men were killed in the Holocaust. Which would be odd for a party enforcing a gay agenda, wouldn't it?

Treatment of homosexuals in Nazi Germany


After roll call on the evening of June 20, 1942, an order was suddenly given: 'All prisoners with the pink triangle will remain standing at attention!' We stood on the desolate, broad square, and from somewhere a warm summer breeze carried the sweet fragrance of resin and wood from the regions of freedom; but we couldn't taste it, because our throats were hot and dry from fear. Then the guardhouse door of the command tower opened, and an SS officer and some of his lackeys strode toward us. Our detail commander barked: 'Three hundred criminal deviants, present as ordered!' We were registered, and then it was revealed to us that in accordance with an order from the Reichsfuhrung SS, our category was to be isolated in an intensified-penalty company, and we would be transferred as a unit to the the next morning. The Klinker factory! We shuddered, for the human death mill was more than feared. Although some claim that the persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany was a myth, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum claims 5,000 – 15,000 gay men were killed in the Holocaust. Male homosexuality was made illegal in Nazi Germany under – a law so vague that it prohibited same-sex fantasies – and were forced to wear a pink triangle in concentration and death camps.

As the Strasserist and moderate (by Nazi standards) views of Röhm weakened in January 1933, the Nazis conducted a purge of "homophile" (LGB) clubs in Berlin, outlawed sex publications (particularly those from the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft) and banned organised homophile groups, causing many such as and writer  to flee Germany. In March 1933, Kurt Hiller, the main organiser of Magnus Hirschfeld's Institute, was sent to a concentration camp. In May 6 of the same year, the Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) made an attack on the Institute, and 20,000 books and journals, and 5,000 images, were destroyed in the process. However, the names and addresses of gay men, lesbians, transgender people, etc. were seized by the Nazi authorities, and used for political blackmail later on. In 1937, Himmler gave a speech, reiterating his belief that the German nation would "go kaputt", unless a systematic killing of gay men occurred, ASAP.

Nazi Germany thought of German gay men as against the plan of creating a Herrenvolk ("master race"), and sought to force them into sexual and social conformity. Gay men who would not change or feign a change in their sexual orientation were sent to concentration camps under the "Extermination Through Work" campaign. More than one million gay Germans were targeted, of whom at least 100,000 were arrested and 50,000 were serving prison terms as "convicted homosexuals". Hundreds of European gay men living under Nazi occupation were castrated under court order.

Lesbians, on the other hand, were considered "asocial" for some reason, and given a black triangle.

Institut für Sexualwissenschaft

 * Position: Pro-gay

The (Institute for Sexual Science) was an early sexology institute (1919-33) headed by  (a Jewish physician), who is widely considered a father of the modern gay rights movement in Germany and anti-Nazi fighter. According to der Ewige Jude, Hirschfield was an example of what happens when the Jews meddle with Aryan culture, as he "promoted homosexuality and perversion", and "in the guise of scientific discussions ... tried to direct mankind's healthy urges down degenerate paths".

Reichszentrale zur Bekämpfung der Homosexualität und der Abtreibung

 * Position: Anti-gay

The (created on 10 October 1936 by a special decree of the Reichsführer-SS, Heinrich Himmler)  was the central instrument of Nazi Germany for the fight against homosexuality and abortion in Nazi Germany. It was based on a similar organisation set up by Stalin to combat immorality in the USSR. The primary task of the Reichszentrale was the collection of data about homosexuals.

Its creation was the sign of the revival of persecution of gay men during the relative calm after the 1936 Summer Olympics, and the central archive of data allowed the Reichszentrale to coordinate and begin the persecution and punishment of homosexuals in Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. In order to do this, it had at its disposal special mobile squads, which also could carry out executions. By 1940 the section had acquired data regarding some 41,000 homosexuals, both suspected and convicted. Investigation of homosexuality within the Party was not encouraged, unless the leadership ordered it for political reasons, such as during the Night of the Long Knives.

Gay Nazi list
While there were some sexual deviants [homosexuals] in the SA, notably who defended homosexualism [sic] as leaving patriotic men free from family concerns to devote their activities to the nation, this was a minority tendency. This faction was crushed in any case during the along with the  All major NS [National Socialist/Nazi] figures such as Hitler, Himmler, Goebbels, Hess, Göring, [and] Heydrich were heterosexuals.
 * (ALLEGED by me ) – all that talk on homosexuality (see "see also") seems like a form of psychological projection to me.
 * der Führer himself (ALLEGED) – yes, he had a wife, but that doesn't deter some to suggest that Hitler may have been gay.
 * Ernst Röhm (CONFIRMED GAY) – killed in the Night of the Long Knives (aka Röhm Putsch/Rebellion), as he was deemed an opponent of Hitler. He was the only Nazi official who referred to Hitler as the familiar du, prompting the rumour that Hitler was actually gay himself, as anyone who is friendly with a gay man must also be gay, right?