Remembering the forgotten gay stories of Auschwitz
Holocaust Remembrance Day was established by the United Nations to commemorate the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust, as well as the other victims of the Nazi regime.
Among them were the gay people who were arrested and killed in what is remembered as the most severe persecution of homosexuals in history.
It was estimated that between 6,000 and 7,000 gay men were imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps and 98 of them were sent to Auschwitz.Homosexuality in Germany had been illegal since 1871, but the law was made harsher in 1935 by the Nazi regime, with even simply “having homosexual fantasies” becoming illegal.
Of those who were deported to camps, it is estimated that 60 per cent died. Many were executed, but many more died because of forced labour, malnutrition and the horrifying tortures they had to endure.Moreover, the gay inmates were subject to unusually cruel treatment not only by the SS, but also by other fellow inmates who isolated them and considered them the lowest of the camp hierarchy.
