German parliament remembers LGBTQ+ victims of the Nazis
The German parliament for the first time dedicated its annual Holocaust memorial commemoration on Friday to LGBTQ+ people who were killed or persecuted by the Nazis.
Bundestag President Bärbel Bas acknowledged the parliament’s delay in granting official recognition for gay, bisexual and transgender Holocaust victims – a step that has been taken in past years by other German institutions. “For our remembrance culture, it’s important that we tell the stories of all victims of persecution, that we make their injustice visible, that we recognise their suffering,” Bas said in a speech to lawmakers to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
The Nazis killed about six millions Jews in the Holocaust and also persecuted and murdered members of other groups such as the Roma community, people with disabilities and mental illnesses, and those from sexual and gender minorities.
Historians estimate that about 100,000 gay and bi men were arrested between 1933 and 1945 and thousands were sent to concentration camps.
