9781422283776

THE H I STORY OF I DENT I T Y POL I T I CS 13

CLOSE-UP: THE GAY HOLOCAUST

Today, the Holocaust is remembered as the Nazi slaughter of ap- proximately six million European Jews during World War II. People often forget, though, that the Holocaust also included the Nazis’ systematic murder of millions of people from other groups—including homosexuals. Between 5,000 and 15,000 German homosexuals were sent to concentration camps. The Nazi government declared that homo- sexuals were contrary to “wholesome popular sentiment,” and were consequently regarded as “defilers of German blood.” The Gestapo (the Nazi police) raided gay bars, tracked individuals using the address books of those they arrested, and encouraged people to scrutinize the behavior of their neighbors and report suspected homosexual behaviors. Tens of thousands of gays were convicted between 1933 and 1944 and sent to camps for “rehabilitation,” where they were identified first by yellow armbands and later by pink triangles worn on the left side of their jackets and right pant legs. Hundreds were castrated (their genitals mutilated) by court order; others were hu- miliated, tortured, used in hormone experiments conducted by Nazi doctors, and killed. After the war, the full extent of gay suffering was slow to be revealed. Many victims kept their stories to themselves because homosexuality remained a criminal offense in postwar Germany.

Homosexuality as a Disorder

The word homosexual rarely appeared in print until 1926, when the New York Times became the first major American publication to use the term. At that time, homosexuality was considered a medical disorder or mental