Paragraph 175

I recently saw, on DVD, the documentary Paragraph 175, produced and directed by Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman, released in the 2000 Sundance festival, where it won the documentary jury prize for direction. The title refers to a section of the 1871 German Penal Code, which states "an unnatural sex act committed between persons of the male sex or by humans with animals is punishable by imprisonment; the loss of civil rights may also be imposed."

Between 1933 and 1945 100,000 men were arrested for homosexuality under Paragraph 175. Some 10-15,000 people were sent to concentration camps. Some 4,000 survived. This is the highest death rate among non-jewish nazi camp prisonors.
Fewer than ten survivors were known to be alive when the documentary was filmed. Research on this neglected topic was spearheaded by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. The main historian featured in the documentary is Hans Muller, who had never heard of the persecution of homosexuals in nazi Germany, and came upon the topic in finding his identity as a gay historian. Encouraged by the work of historians and researchers, eight of these survivors, then in their 80s and 90s, gave their personal testimonies in 1995. The documentary is a criss-cross of these testimonies. It starts with the Weimer Republic period, during which Paragraph 175 was in effect, but homosexuals enjoyed a climate of acceptance and openly assumed their sexuality (unusual for the period). Berlin was an Eden for gays and lesbians, with numerous gay bars and dance clubs.
It covers the rise to power of the nazi party, which initially appeared to accept homosexuals. The leader of the nazi brown shirted stormtroppers, the Sturmabteilung (SA), Ernst Roehm, was openly gay, and the nazi opposition used that as a political tool against the nazis. Hitler stood by Roehm during these attacks, and wrote "[the SA] is not an institution for the moral education of genteel young ladies, but a formation of seasoned fighters. [...] private life cannot be an object of scrutiny, unless it conflicts with basic principles of National Socialist idealogy." However, Roehm fell victim to the political struggles with the Nazi party, and was killed in the night of the Long Knives (June 19-30 1934). Hitler then used Roehm's homosexualtiy as further argument for his murder. Homosexuals were purged from the Nazi party and prey to generalized persecution.
In 1935, on the anniversary of Roehm's murder, the nazis introduced a new sodomy law and created the Reich Office for the Combate of Abortion and Homosexuality. Lesbianism was seen as a temporary and curable condition, and lesbians were sparred persecution to a large extent. Women were seen as having a pivotal role in the reproduction of the aryan race. Male homosexuality, however, was seen as incurable and contagious, and depriving "Germany of the children they owe her" (Himmler). While most were sparred the gas chambers, they were among the chosen for medical experiments and castration.
The nazi version of Paragraph 175 remained in effect West Germany until 1969!! According to the notes that accompany the documentary, "some survivors were re-arrested after the war and re-imprisoned. The East and West German governments not only excluded all homosexuals from reparations but also deducted time spent in concentration camps from their pensions. Marriage, escape by suicide, or retreat into isolation were common responses. In the 1950s and 1960s, the number of convictions for homosexuality in West Germany nearly equaled the number under the Nazi regime."

The documentary is not a "heavy, depressing" documentary (I often hear that complaint from people reluctant to watch and learn from such documentaries). There are inevitably grim historic points that never fail to impress, such as when Heinz Dormer, who had been compelled to join the hitler youth but was later interned in Sachsenhausen concentration camp, described the 'Singing Forests': prisoners hung from a hook on poles, howling and screaming, an inhuman sound. "Beyond human comprehension. And much remains to be told," says Dormer. [And the need to try to understand is what compells me to see even the most 'depressing' of documentaries'.]
But there are also many stories of bravery and it is endearing to see these men, after all they have gone through, recollect with a smile in their eyes their first gay experience, covert gey encounters. One of the interviewees, Albrecht Becker, was briefly imprisoned under Paragraph 147, but after his release, and realizing there were nearly only women in his town, joined the army in order to "be around men."
One of the most piercing interviews is that of Pierre Seel, a French Alsatian. He confessed to conflict in being interviewed by the German historian Muller, for he vowed never to shake hands with a German. Later he describes how he was forced to watch (together with 300 other prisoners) the torture and murder of his friend in Schirmeck camp, and how he himself was beaten and sodomized with a 25cm piece of wood. With visceral indignation, he yells at Muller "Do you think I can talk about that? That it is good for me?" "I am ashamed for mankind", he concluded. Those words had such a powerful, haunting resonance for me. Not a personal embarassment, not a jab at the Germans, but a generalized disapointment with humanity.
Another, Gad Beck, a Jew and gay, is out-right inspiring. His strength and vitality are in stark contrast with all the other interviewees, who seem more affected by age and experience. Beck played a role in the Jewish resistance in Berlim, after the war helped in the construction of Israel, and later returned to Germany to work with Berlin's Jewish community. He tells an extraordinary story. He learned from his lover's boss that he and his family had been arrested. The boss asked him "Do you have courage?", and gave Beck his son's hitler youth uniform. Beck entered the school, saluted 'Heil Hitler' and asked to see the officer in charge. He asked for his lover, Manfred. A Gestapo asks whether he'll bring him back, and Beck replies 'What eles? He's a Jew"'. Twenty meters out of the school house, already safely out, Manfred calmly says 'I cannot go with you Gad. If I leave my sick family now, I'll never be free again. I have to go with them. I'm the only strong one'. Without saying goodbye, he turned and walked back to the school house. 'Something was forever broken in me', concluded Beck.
Another interviewee, Heinz F. was repeatedly arrested during the war, having spent over eight years in concentration camps. He was released from Buchenwald and immediately recruited into the retreating army, eight before the German defeat. He told no one of his experiences until appearing in this film, "out of shame" he confessed with visible distress. He described how after the war his mother said or asked nothing. "It's all about patiently carrying one's burden." Muller asked whether he would have liked to have talked to someone about his experience with anyone. And in a moving moment, this 92 year-old, cries as he says he would have liked to talk about it with his father.

Heinz Dormer, repeatedly re-arrested in t the 50s and 60s, under Paragraph 175, was still seeking reparations when the documentary was released. And Pierre Seel, 90% disabled from the torture suffered, was still seeking official acknowledgment of his case. This documentary is also a inspiration to historians and artists. A year after its release, 2001, the German government issued an official apology to gay victims of the Nazis. Which reminds me to write about 'apologies' some time soon.