Weimar and Nazi Germany (1918-1939): The Treatment of Homosexuals

To the Nazis the ideal family was a mother and father with many children. Homosexuals, according to the Nazis, contradicted this view. It was also a Nazi belief that being a homosexual was immoral, and that gay men were unable to fight effectively for Germany.

From 1935, the Nazis started to legislate against homosexuals, with large scale imprisonments. Some were placed into state-run mental hospitals. The Nazis also used chemical castration as a punishment for Homosexuals. When they were imprisoned in the concentration camps, homosexuals wore pink triangles. This was an insult to them, as those who had sexually assaulted children were also made to wear pink triangles.

 During the Holocaust there were between 5000 and 15000 homosexuals killed. Homosexuals also faced a difficult liberation struggle as many were persecuted by anti-homosexual laws after the war, and had the time they spent in concentration camps taken off their sentences.