The essential film Paragraph 175, which gathers the personal histories of a number of lesbian and gay survivors of the holocaust, is now available with subtitles on YouTube. Using personal testimonies, the film shows how Berlin was the world’s hub for lesbian and gay liberation before the rise of Naziism, before going on to reveal how hopes and dreams were destroyed, how people were repressed, tortured and murdered and how, in some ways, Europe has never recovered from the Nazi era; during which the German anti-homosexual law Paragraph 175 was beefed up to make homosexuals dispensable as part of the final solution. To date, the victims have still received no reparation for any of their ordeals.
Although some testimonies and images are harrowing, the horror is not dwelt upon at length and there are amusing and touching anecdotes aplenty in this remarkable archive.
Paragraph 175 also serves as a grim reminder to all of us what happens when people sit back and allow the politics of hate to take hold of a nation’s psyche. To see the film, click here
Disclaimer: During the film, one witness refers to boys as young as 12 being involved in same-sex relationships in the early German Youth Movement. LGBT History Month recognises that this is child abuse and our endorsement of the film in general does not imply that we believe this would or should be considered acceptable.