History Commons^™

Homosexual Persecution In The Holocaust, Ethan Ryan

Spring Showcase for Research and Creative Inquiry

During the Holocaust, same-sex desiring men were persecuted alongside Jews, political prisoners, and other minority groups. The punishments that same-sex desiring men faced were directed at the act of homosexuality instead of the identity of homosexual. Incarceration in Nazi camps for same-sex desiring men included sexual violence and an attempt to convert these men to a heterosexual lifestyle. This research explores memoirs by homosexual holocaust survivors, including Heinz Heger and Pierre Seel, as well as experiences with same-sex desiring men written by a communist prisoner of Sachsenhausen, Harry Naujoks.