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-WWI ends

-Stab in the back theory: Jews and Communists encouraged failure of the war and lack of support at home.

-November Criminals - those who signed the treaty

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Hitler, still a member of the German military is designated as an informant

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Revolutions: Freikorps (paramilitary unit) help the German Military to fend off the Bolsheviks and the Jews.

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Hitler writes his first antisemitic writing in a letter to German military commander

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Adolf Hitler’s First Anti-Semitic Writing

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Encyclopedia of Jewish and Israeli history, politics and culture, with biographies, statistics, articles and documents on topics from anti-Semitism to Zionism.

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Weimar Constitution passed:

2 Major Weaknesses

Proportional representation in the Reichstag

Article 48

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Hitler joins the German Workers Party Member 555 (actually 55).

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The German Workers Party becomes the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP - or the Nazi Party)

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The History Place - Rise of Hitler: The 25 Points of Hitler’s Nazi Party

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Composed by Adolf Hitler in 1920, the 25 Points outlines the political platform of the Nazi Party and remained mostly unchanged from 1920 through Hitler’s demise in 1945. This is part of a complete online history, The Rise of Adolf Hitler - From Unknown to Dictator of Germany, at The History Place.

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Who were the SA?: (Strum Abteilung) fromed. Known as stormtroopers these were the party militia. They were also known as brown shirts because of their uniform style.

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March on Rome: Benito Mussolini who founded the National Fascist Party in Italy came to power. Became prime minister without a fight. Led revolutionary group known as the black shirts.

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The Hitler Youth (Hitlerjugend, or HJ) was the Nazi-organized youth movement. It is made up of different sections for boys and girls. The boys' branch was called the Hiter Youth. The girls' branch was called the Leauge of German Girls (Bund Deutscher Madel, BDM)

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France occupies the Ruhr,

Hyperinflation is at its height

Gives fuel to radical groups that call for reform

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Runs SA

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Hermann Goring | Biography, History, Death, & Facts | Britannica

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Hermann Goring, a leader of the Nazi Party and one of the primary architects of the Nazi police state in Germany. He was condemned to hang as a war criminal by the International Military Tribunal at Nurnberg in 1946 but took poison instead and died the night his execution was ordered.

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Trial

Nazi Party Banned

Sentenced to 5 years in jail

Only served a little over 8 months—released on good behavior.

The jail cell was a lavish apartment in retrospect.

Had a personal secretary visit him daily which allowed him to write Mein Kampf

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National rhetoric pushes Hitler's ideas further

Hitler realizes that violence will no longer convey his ideas --> Change of strategy

The nationalistic feelings saves Hitler from a large prison sentence

In jail, Hitler wrote Mein Kampf and had many priviledges

Propaganda and nationalisic ideas encouraged Hitler to steer away from violence and instead appeal to the people.

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Created economic stability in Germany

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Hitler released from Jail: New Mission

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Joseph Goebbels joins the Nazi party

Will eventually serve as the Reich Minister of Propaganda.

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Bavarian authorities liften ban on NSDAP and was re-founded. No longer a paramilitary organization.

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PO I: Dedicated to undermine and overthrowing the German democratic government

PO II: Designed to create a government in waiting a highly org. Nazi government within a republic

Had its own dept. of agriculture, economy, interior, etc...

The Nazi Party divided Germany into 34 districts (Gaue): each one having its own leader. (Gauleiter) Each Gaue was divided up into "circles" (Kreise), and each one of those had its circle leader (Kreisleiter). Lastly, it was then divided up into Ortsgruppen, or local groups.

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Adolf Hiler publishes "Mein Kampf" (My Struggle)

Book tanks, no one wants to listen to Hitler.

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April 1925 - Paul Von Hindenburg becomes President

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April 1925 - Paul Von Hindenburg becomes President

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Franco Prussian War and WWI vet. Honored and well respected by man.

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The Great Depression Hits USA - Stops sending $ to Germany

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Von Hindenburg envokes Article 48.

Dissolves Reighstag and calls for new elections

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On election day, September 14, 1930, the Nazis received 6,371,000 votes - over eighteen percent of the total - and were thus entitled to 107 seats in the German Reichstag.

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Hitler Appointed Chancellor of Germany

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Reichstag Fire

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Dachau Opens

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Passing of the Enabling Act- bill that allows Hitler's government to by pass the Reichstag for four years. Political parties dissolve

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Key Historical Concepts in Holocaust Education: The Totalitarian Regime

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Nazis declare a boycott of all Jewish businesses. Uniformed Nazis, some armed with rifles, station themselves in front of every Jewish-owned shop, business, or professional office and keep customers from entering.

Was not as successful as the Nazis had hoped it would be

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Jews are restricted from working in civil service jobs.

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A new set of laws sets a Jewish quota of 1.5 percent for high school and university enrollment and stipulates a limit of 5 percent for Jewish enrollment in any single school. Jews will be barred from German schools by 1938, and Jewish schools will be ordered closed in autumn 1941.

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Gestapo Created - Originally by Hermann Goering

"Secret Police"

Eventually taken under control by the SS.

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Raid on Magnus Hirschfeld, who was both Jewish and gay and advocated for decriminalizing homosexuality.

Paragraph 175

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The Nazi regime carried out a campaign against male homosexuality between 1933 and 1945. This campaign persecuted men who had sexual relations with other men. It is unclear how many of these men publicly or privately identified as gay or were part of gay communities and networks that had been established in Germany before the Nazi rise to power.

Beginning in 1933, the Nazi regime harassed and dismantled these communities. They also arrested large numbers of gay men under Paragraph 175. Paragraph 175 was the statute of the German criminal code that banned sexual relations between men. During the Nazi period, the police arrested about 100,000 men for allegedly violating this statute. Approximately fifty percent of these men were convicted. In some cases, this led to their imprisonment in concentration camps.

It is important to note that not all of the men arrested and convicted under Paragraph 175 identified as gay. However, any man who had sexual relations with another man faced potential arrest in Nazi Germany, regardless of how he understood his own sexuality.

Identifying as a gay man was never explicitly criminalized in Germany. However, the Nazi campaign against homosexuality and the regime's zealous enforcement of Paragraph 175 made life in Nazi Germany dangerous for gay men.

Gay men in Germany were not a monolithic group, nor did the Nazi regime view them as such. Being gay could and often did result in persecution. However, other factors also shaped gay men's lives during the Nazi era. Among them were supposed racial identity, political attitudes, social class, and cultural expectations about how men and women should behave (i.e., gender norms). This diversity meant that gay men had a wide range of experiences in Nazi Germany. For example, gay men active in anti-Nazi political movements risked being arrested as political opponents. And gay Jewish men faced Nazi persecution and mass murder as Jews.

Gay Men in Germany, circa 1900

Already in the mid- to late-nineteenth century, there were indications of nascent and growing gay communities in Germany. At this time, the nature of human sexuality became an area of scientific investigation and debate in Europe and the United States. Germany was at the forefront of this development, not least because of debates regarding Paragraph 175. Paragraph 175 was the statute of the German criminal code that banned sexual relations between men. It was enacted in 1871 following the unification of the German Empire and the codification of German law.

Political and social conditions in nineteenth-century Germany allowed people to publicly campaign for the decriminalization of sexual relations between men and the repeal of Paragraph 175. Eventually, individual campaigners began to organize together into groups dedicated to decriminalization. In addition to joining such groups, men who were attracted to other men also began to socialize at bars and other meeting places. These efforts helped men connect with each other and form early networks and communities.

It was in this context that some German men who were attracted to other men began to describe themselves using a new vocabulary. In addition to the older German slang phrase " warmer Bruder " ("warm brother"), some men described themselves using new words. Among these terms were " gleichgeschlechtlich " ("same-sex oriented") and " homosexuell " ("homosexual"). The latter term dated to 1869, when a pamphlet advocating for decriminalization of sexual relations between men used the term " Homosexualität " ("homosexuality"). There were also other terms used by advocates for reform, for example, " Urning " ["Uranian," "urning"] or " dritten Geschlecht " ["third sex"]. The newer slang word " schwul " (often translated into English as "gay") was also increasingly popular among certain groups.

Today, the terms " Homosexualität " and " homosexuell " are often considered derogatory. At the time, however, they came into common use in Germany and beyond. These new German words were adopted into both English and French. With time, they became part of the international lexicon on sexuality. Although no longer widely accepted, these German words were early attempts to describe sexual orientation. In the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries, LGBTQ+ communities have built on, and challenged, this language.

Gay Men during the Weimar Republic (1918-1933)

Gay communities and networks in Germany continued to grow and develop during the Weimar Republic (1918-1933). This was a moment of political turmoil and economic distress, but also a time of cultural and artistic freedom. As part of the cultural and social transformations of the time, Germans publicly challenged gender and sexual norms. Sex and sexuality became points of contention in politics and culture. This was especially true in big cities such as Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg, and Frankfurt am Main.

Sex and Sexuality in the Weimar Republic

Many Germans welcomed the less restrictive social, political, and cultural climate in the Weimar Republic. Many gay men embraced this new culture. Some groups more actively and openly advocated for decriminalizing sexual relations between men. Among them were the Scientific Humanitarian Committee ( Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee , WhK, established in 1897 ) and the League for Human Rights ( Bund für Menschenrecht , BfM, established in the 1920s). Such groups cooperated with other reform-minded groups that advocated for new legal approaches to prostitution, birth control, and abortion.

But not all groups that advocated for decriminalization shared the same political perspective. For example, the German Jewish physician and sex researcher, Magnus Hirschfeld, founded the internationally renowned Institute for Sexual Science ( Institut für Sexualwissenschaft ) in Berlin in 1919. Hirschfeld was a pacifist and a leftist, and the Institute tended to attract people who were also left of center. The Institute conducted pioneering scientific studies and provided public education on human sexuality. It also offered various other services related to sex, including birth control and marriage counseling.

In contrast, the network of gay men that developed around author Adolf Brand and his organization Gemeinschaft der Eigenen ( The Community of Kindred Spirits ) took a different approach. Brand's organization became, over time, more right-wing and nationalist. Brand and Hirschfeld agreed on the issue of decriminalization. Both men also promoted public discussions of sexuality. However, they disagreed on conceptual and political issues regarding gender and nationalism.

Not all Germans welcomed public discussions of sex. Nor did all Germans embrace the reformist agenda. Many people saw these discussions as part of the decadent, overly permissive, and immoral tendencies that they believed characterized Weimar culture. They were disturbed by the increased visibility of sex in advertising, film, and other aspects of daily life. Various right-wing and centrist political groups, as well as mainstream religious organizations, sought to promote their own version of German culture. This version was rooted in traditional music and literature, religion, and the family. In some cases, these groups blamed Jews and Communists for corrupting German culture. For example, Hirschfeld came under attack from many of these groups because of his open discussions of sexuality, his Jewish background, and his leftist political opinions.

Gay Communities and Networks in the Weimar Republic

It was in the relatively freeing atmosphere of the Weimar Republic that gay communities and networks grew and developed in unprecedented ways. More German men chose to live openly as gay. Some joined "friendship leagues" ( ), groups that politically and socially organized gay men, Freundschaftsverbände lesbian women, and others. Gay men gathered together at meeting places, such as bars, that catered to a gay clientele. The most famous of these was the Eldorado in Berlin.

Gay newspapers and journals, such as Die Freundschaft ( Friendship ) and Der Eigene (translated variously, but in this context implying "his own man"), contributed to the growth of gay networks. These publications educated readers about sexuality and published poems and short stories. They actively tried to build a sense of community among gay men, and included personal ads and information about gay meeting places. In bigger cities, readers could purchase these journals at newsstands. Throughout Germany, readers could subscribe to them by mail.

In general, gay communities were more accepted in Germany's major cities. Smaller towns and rural areas tended to be less accepting. In Berlin, the gay community was particularly prominent. But even in bigger cities, such as Munich, gay communities were not always welcome.

Nazi Attitudes and the Case of Ernst Röhm

Before coming to power, Adolf Hitler and many other Nazi leaders condemned Weimar culture as decadent and degenerate. Part of this condemnation was a rejection of the era's open expressions of sexuality, including the visibility of gay communities. Some prominent Nazis, including Alfred Rosenberg and Heinrich Himmler, were clearly homophobic. However, Hitler and other Nazi leaders rarely spoke publicly about homosexuality. In fact, it was not part of the 1920 Nazi Party platform, which focused on such issues as the creation of a Greater German state, the Jews, and the economy.

In terms of legal policy relating to the German criminal code, the Nazi Party opposed efforts to decriminalize sexual relations between men and repeal Paragraph 175. During parliamentary debates, Nazis claimed that sexual relations between men were a destructive vice that would lead to the ruin of the German people. They asserted these relations should be even more severely punished than current German law allowed.

But some leaders, as well as rank and file members, of the Nazi Party held attitudes that were more varied and ambivalent. There were known gay men in the Nazi movement, most notably Ernst Röhm. Röhm used the word " gleichgeschlechtlich ," same-sex oriented, to describe himself. He was the leader of the SA ( Sturmabteilung, commonly called Stormtroopers), a violent and radical Nazi paramilitary.

For Röhm, his sexuality did not conflict with Nazi ideology or compromise his role as SA leader. In Röhm's understanding, legalizing sexual relations between men was not about encouraging liberal democratic rights or tolerance. Rather, he believed it was about the overthrow of mainstream morality. Röhm wrote that the "prudery" of some of his fellow Nazis "does not seem revolutionary to me."

Röhm's sexuality was an open secret in the Nazi Party that turned into a public scandal in 1931. A leftist newspaper outed Röhm as gay. His sexuality was then used in the election propaganda of the moderate-left Social Democratic Party ( Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands ). Despite the controversy, Hitler defended Röhm. Röhm remained in charge of the SA until Hitler had him murdered in 1934. However, Röhm's position in the Nazi leadership did not temper the movement's condemnation of homosexuality and gay communities.

Gay Men in the First Years of the Nazi Regime, 1933-1934

The Nazis came to power on January 30, 1933. Shortly thereafter, they sought to dismantle the visible gay cultures and networks that had developed during the Weimar Republic. One of the Nazis' first actions against gay communities was to close gay bars and other meeting spots. For example, in late February/early March 1933, in response to a Nazi order, the Berlin police closed numerous bars. Among them was the Eldorado, which had become a prominent symbol of Berlin's gay culture. Similar closings of gay meeting places occurred across Germany. However, in cities like Berlin and Hamburg, some established gay bars were able to remain open until the mid-1930s. Underground gay meeting places remained open even later. Nonetheless, the Nazi closures and increased police surveillance made it far more difficult for gay men to connect with each other.

Another early action undertaken by the Nazi regime was the elimination of gay newspapers, journals, and publishing houses. Newspapers had been one of the primary means of communication in Germany's gay communities. The Nazi regime also forced gay associations to dissolve. In May 1933, the Nazis vandalized Magnus Hirschfeld's Institute for Sexual Sciences and ultimately forced it to close. Part of this action included destroying Hirschfeld's writings in Nazi book burnings. These book burnings targeted works written by prominent Jewish intellectuals, pacifists, and left-wing authors. The destruction of the institute was a clear sign that the Nazis would not tolerate the reformist sexual policies that the institute promoted.

In a further escalation, the Nazis used new laws and police practices to arrest and detain without trial a limited number of gay men beginning in late 1933 and early 1934. This was part of a larger Nazi effort to reduce criminality. The Nazi regime instructed the police to arrest people with previous convictions for sexual crimes such as public exhibitionism, sexual relations with a minor, and incest. These crimes were defined in Paragraphs 173-183 of the German criminal code. Those arrested included a number of gay men, some of whom were imprisoned in the regime's early concentration camps.

In fall 1934, the Berlin Gestapo (political police) instructed local police forces to send them lists of all men believed to have been engaged in same-sex behavior. Police in various parts of Germany had been keeping such lists for many years. However, centralizing this list in the hands of the Berlin Gestapo was new. In addition, the Gestapo specified that local offices should be sure to note if these men were members of Nazi organizations and if they had any prior criminal convictions under Paragraph 175. These lists have come to be known as "pink lists," although this was not what the Nazis or the police called them.

These early measures were just the beginning of the Nazi campaign against homosexuality. Nazi actions would escalate in the second half of the 1930s.

Escalating the Persecution of Gay Men, 1934-1936

Three events in the years 1934-1936 radicalized the Nazi regime's campaign against homosexuality and led to more systematic oppression of gay men.

First was the These killings changed how murder of Ernst Röhm and other SA leaders in June-July 1934. Nazi propaganda talked about homosexuality. Röhm and the other SA leaders were murdered on Hitler's orders as part of a power struggle at the highest levels of the German government and Nazi Party. But after the purge, Nazi propaganda used Röhm's sexuality to help justify the killings. In doing so, they played on much of the German population's prejudice against same-sex sexuality.

Second, in June 1935 the Nazis revised Paragraph 175, the statute of the German criminal code that banned sexual relations between men. Under the new Nazi version of the statute, a wide range of intimate and sexual behaviors could be, and were, punished as criminal. In addition, the Nazi revision stipulated that non-consensual and coercive acts between men could result in a sentence of up to ten years of hard labor in prison. The revision provided the Nazi regime with the legal tools necessary to prosecute and persecute men engaged in same-sex behavior in much larger numbers than before.

Finally, in 1936 SS leader and Chief of the German Police Heinrich Himmler established the Reich Central Office for the Combating of Homosexuality and Abortion ( Reichszentrale zur Bekämpfung der Homosexualität und der Abtreibung ). This office was part of the Kripo (criminal police) and worked closely with the Gestapo (political police). The notoriously homophobic Himmler saw both homosexuality and abortion as threats to the German birth rate and thus to the fate of the German people.

By the end of 1936, conditions were in place for the Nazi regime to intensify its campaign against homosexuality.

The Peak of the Nazi Campaign Against Homosexuality

The Nazi campaign against homosexuality intensified in 1935-1936. From this point forward, the regime focused less on shutting down gay meeting places. Instead, the Nazis prioritized the arrest of individual men under Paragraph 175. In the Nazis' understanding, these men were "homosexual" (" homosexuell ") offenders and thus criminals and enemies of the state. Himmler believed that targeting these men was necessary for the protection, strengthening, and proliferation of the German people. He directed the Kripo and Gestapo to diligently carry out a campaign against homosexuality. These police forces used raids, denunciations, and harsh interrogation and torture methods to track down and arrest men whom they believed violated Paragraph 175.

Raids

In the mid- to late 1930s, the police raided bars and other meeting places that they believed to be popular with gay men. The police set up cordons around bars or other locations, and questioned anyone who seemed suspicious. Some men caught up in raids would be released if there was no proof against them. Those whom the police deemed guilty would be tried for violations of Paragraph 175 or, in some cases, sent directly to a concentration camp.

Police raids were public and high-profile displays in the Nazi campaign against homosexuality. Through raids, the police threatened and intimidated gay communities and individuals. However, raids were not particularly effective. They were not the primary means through which the police tracked down men for alleged violations of Paragraph 175.

Denunciations

The Kripo and the Gestapo relied on tips or denunciations from the public to gather information about men's intimate lives and uncover potential violations of Paragraph 175. A neighbor, acquaintance, colleague, friend, or family member could inform the police of their suspicions. The language people used in denunciations makes it clear that these Germans tended to agree with Nazi attitudes towards homosexuality. Denouncers referred to those they denounced as "effeminate," "unmanly," and "perverse." Unlike raids, denunciations were a very effective tool of repression. These acts resulted in perhaps tens of thousands of arrests and convictions.

Interrogations

The Gestapo and Kripo interrogated men caught up in raids, as well as those denounced. During these often physically and psychologically brutal interrogations, the police frequently insisted on full confessions. Under the pressure of harsh interrogation and torture methods, men were forced to name their sexual partners. This in turn helped the police identify other men to arrest and interrogate. In this way, the police caught entire networks of gay men.

The Fate of Those Arrested

Not all men arrested under Paragraph 175 shared the same fate. Typically, an arrest would lead to a trial before a court. The court would either acquit or convict the accused and sentence them to a fixed prison sentence. The conviction rate was approximately 50 percent. Most convicted men were released after serving their prison sentence. In rarer cases, the Kripo or the Gestapo would send a man directly to a concentration camp as a "homosexual" (" homosexuell ") offender. Typically, but not always, men sent to concentration camps in this way had multiple convictions or other extenuating circumstances.

The Nazi German judicial system also introduced castration into legal practice. As of late 1933, courts could order mandatory castration for certain sexual offenders. However, at least initially, men arrested under Paragraph 175 could not be castrated without their supposed consent. In some cases, men imprisoned under this statute could secure early release if they volunteered to be castrated.

During World War II, the number of men arrested under Paragraph 175 declined. The needs of a total war took precedence over the Nazi campaign against homosexuality. Many men who had Paragraph 175 convictions either joined or were conscripted into the German military. The military needed the manpower and in most cases they considered a soldier's sexuality to be of secondary importance. Nevertheless, arrests and convictions under Paragraph 175 continued throughout the war years.

Scholars estimate that there were approximately 100,000 arrests under Paragraph 175 during the Nazi regime. Over half of these arrests (approximately 53,400) resulted in convictions.

Gay Men in Concentration Camps

This group of prisoners was typically required to wear a pink triangle on their camp uniforms as part of the Between 5,000 and 15,000 men were imprisoned in concentration camps as "homosexual" (" homosexuell ") offenders. prisoner classification system. Many, but not all, of these pink triangle prisoners identified as gay.

The pink triangle called attention to this prisoner population as a distinct group within the concentration camp system. According to many survivor accounts, pink triangle prisoners were among the most abused groups in the camps. Sometimes pink triangle prisoners were assigned the most grueling and demanding jobs in the camp labor system. They were often subjected to physical and sexual abuse by camp guards and fellow inmates. In some cases, they were beaten and publicly humiliated. In Buchenwald concentration camp, some pink triangle prisoners were subject to inhumane medical experiments. Beginning in November 1942, concentration camp commandants officially had the power to order the forced castration of pink triangle prisoners.

Fearing guilt-by-association, already prejudiced fellow prisoners shunned pink triangle prisoners. Pink triangle prisoners were left isolated and powerless within the prisoner hierarchy. Prisoner networks provided tools of survival, such as access to food and clothing, for many camp inmates. The fact that most pink triangle prisoners were German-speakers provided some measure of protection by giving them access to less onerous work details such as administrative positions. Nonetheless, the typically isolated position of these prisoners made their survival much more difficult. An unknown number of pink triangle prisoners died in the concentration camps.

Gay men could be imprisoned and persecuted in concentration camps for reasons other than their sexuality. Some gay men were sent to camps as political opponents, Jews, or as members of other prisoner categories. In these cases, their sexuality was generally secondary to the reason for their imprisonment. They wore the badge that corresponded to their official prisoner category.

An unknown number of gay Jewish men were murdered in the Holocaust.

Gay Men's Responses to Nazi Persecution

Gay men responded to Nazi persecution in different ways. Not all gay men made the same decisions. Nor did they all have the same choices. For example, gay men categorized by the Nazi regime as Aryan had far more options than those categorized as Jews or Roma (Gypsies). Jewish and Romani gay men-above all-faced persecution for racial reasons.

Some gay men, especially those with financial resources, could try to hide their sexuality and outwardly conform. Some broke off contacts with their circles of friends or withdrew from the public sphere. Others moved to new cities, the countryside, or even to other countries. Some gay men also entered marriages of convenience.

There were gay men who took the risk of resisting the Nazi state for political and personal reasons. Some gay men joined underground anti-Nazi resistance groups or helped hide Jews.

Documenting and Memorializing Gay Experiences

In spring 1945, Allied soldiers liberated concentration camps and freed prisoners, including those wearing the pink triangle. But the end of the war and the defeat of the Nazi regime did not necessarily bring a sense of liberation for gay men. They remained marginalized in German society. Most notably, sexual relations between men remained illegal in Germany throughout much of the twentieth century. 1 This meant that many men serving sentences for allegedly violating Paragraph 175 remained in prison after the war. Tens of thousands more were convicted in the postwar era.

Uncovering the histories of gay men during the Nazi era was difficult for much of the twentieth century because of continued prejudice against same-sex sexuality and the ongoing enforcement of Paragraph 175. Many gay men were afraid to share their testimonies or write memoirs. Nonetheless, scholars have sought to document gay men's experiences, using police, court, and concentration camp records.

The efforts of scholars and German gay rights organizations have helped to bring the persecution of gay men under the Nazis into the public eye. In the 1990s, the German government acknowledged "persecuted homosexuals" (" verfolgten Homosexuellen ") as victims of the Nazi regime. In 2002, the government overturned Nazi-era convictions for Paragraph 175. For the first time, gay men who had suffered at the hands of the Nazis became eligible for monetary compensation from the German government for injustices perpetrated against them.

In the early twenty-first century, the German government opened four memorials to Nazi victims in central Berlin. The largest is the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, which opened in 2005. A few years later, in May 2008, the M emorial to Homosexuals Persecuted under Nazism ( Denkmal für die im Nationalsozialismus verfolgten Homosexuellen ) was unveiled nearby in Tiergarten park in central Berlin.

Scholars continue to research the Nazi campaign against homosexuality and the regime's persecution of gay men .

Last Edited: May 28, 2021

Author(s): United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC

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The Nazi regime carried out a campaign against male homosexuality and persecuted gay men between 1933 and 1945.

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Book Burnings

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In July 1933, the Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring was enacted. This law requires the forced sterilization of German citizens with hereditary illnesses such as "feeblemindedness," schizophrenia, manic depression, epilepsy, hereditary blindness or deafness, serious physical deformities, and more. Between 200,000 and 350,000 individuals were sterilized between 1933 and 1945.

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Japan invades Manchuria

Little invasions in China

The League of Nations threatens Japan, and LON can't do anything about Japan.

Hitler saw that the League wouldn't do anything, and after that, he left the League.

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A German-Polish non-aggression pact was signed, stating that neither would use force to settle disputes.

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Hitler merges the offices of Chancellor and President to become the sole and unrivalled leader of Germany, to be known as the Fuhrer.

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Germany Takes Saar

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Military Conscription Begins:

Soon after, Jehovah's Witnesses are persecuted/jailed for refusing to join the military. By May 1935, Jews were no longer allowed to serve in the Armed Forces.

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Nuremberg Laws Enacted

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March into the Rhineland

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Spanish Civil War

Right-wing forces, known as the Nationalists; led by General Francisco Franco and other military generals - launch an uprising with the intent to overthrow the democratically elected Spanish Republic. Over the next three years of violent conflict, Italy and Germany will provide military aid to the Spanish Nationalists, using the conflict as testing grounds for new warfare methods and hoping to secure a potential ally in the right-win leader and future dictator, General Franco.

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Berlin Olympics Begin

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Economic Program to prepare them for war.

2 Goals:

Stipulates a timetable for intensified rearmament and gives the Wehrmach (German military) operational capabilities within four years

People are to be deported from occupied territories to forced labor camps to comply with plan

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Italy invades Ehtiopia

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Germany and Japan sign Anti-Comintern Pact

Directed against the Communists (Soviet Union)

Put pressure on British to reach terms with Japan because of the threat to lands in the east

Italy will join in 1937

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March 1937 - Catholic Church Criticies Nazi Ideology

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March 1937 - Catholic Church Criticies Nazi Ideology

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Pope Pius XI criticizes Nazi ideology but doesn't mention the plight of German Jews.

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Tancredi Scarpelli - Pope Pius XI - (MeisterDrucke-38458)

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July 1937 - Buchenwald Concentration Camp opens

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July 1937 - Buchenwald Concentration Camp opens

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Opens as one of the largest camps in Germany.

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July 1937 - Buchenwald Concentration Camp opens

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Jewish businesses have to reigister as Jewish- this will make it easier to be identified and banned from economic life an dpush forth the process of "Aryanization" or confiscation of Jewish property.

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The Anschluss - The annexaion of Austria by Nazi Germany

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Evian Conference

Delegates from 32 countries to met in Evian, France- Called by FDR.

Discuddion of growing refugee problem.

Evian Conferece fails to aid refugees.

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Buchenwald Concentration Camp opens - one of the largest concentration camps

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Jews are required to take on new middle names: Isreal for men and Sarah for women. Later in 1938, Jews will be required to add the letter J. This mark made it more difficult to find places for safe haven.

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Munich Conference - Leaders from France, Great Britain, Italy and Germany. Met to discuss the future of Sudeyenland - Agreed that Germany could annex the Sudetenland but that would be it. Czechoslovakia was not included in on the conversation.

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Kristallnach Pogrom Nationwide riot against Jews.

1,400 synagogues are torched. Many were arrested and sent to camps. 91 Jews were reported murdered. Jewish-owned shops and businesses are looted and burned. The jewish community will later be forced to pay compensation for the extensive damage.

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First Kindertransport arrves in GB. During the period 10,000 children (7,500 were Jewish) were rescued from Germany, Austria, Czech, and Poland to GB

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Jewish businesses must register as Jewish

Easier to identify and ban from economic life and push the process of Aryanism

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The Anschluss

Annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany

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Evian Conference

Meeting of world leaders at the time, delegates from 32 countries met in Evian, France

Called by FDR discussing concerns of growing refugee problem

The US does not wish for immigrants into country for financial issues along with antisemitism in the US.

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Voyage of St. Louis

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T4 Program begins

Murder of the mentally and physically handicapped.

This is where they start experimenting with methods of killing (injection, carbon monoxide gassing, etc...)

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Non-Aggression Pact

Germany and the Soviet signed pact (Molotov-Rivventrop Pact)

The pact allows Germany to invade Poland and partition Poland with SU.

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Germany invades Poland using the tactic known as Blitzkrieg

Event starts WWII

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What rescue efforts were put forth prior to the start of WWII?

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What rescue efforts were put forth prior to the start of WWII?

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Kindertransports

Evian Conference

The Voyage of the Saint Luis

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1. Allied Powers - Objective: Win the War

2. Lack of Access

3. Individuals faced severe consequences

What were the punishments faced by individuals who were hiding/sheltering Jews?

4. Hostility

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In late summer 1943, German occupation authorities imposed martial law on Denmark in response to increasing acts of resistance and sabotage

On September 28, 1943, a German businessman warned Danish authorities of the impending operation, scheduled for the night of October 1-2, 1943. With the help of their non-Jewish neighbors and friends, virtually all the Danish Jews went into hiding.

Danish resistance organized a rescue operation, in which Danish fishermen clandestinely ferried some 7,200 Jews (of the countries total Jewish population of 7,800) in small fishing boats, to safety in Sweden.

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Code name for Rada Pomocy Zydom, the Council for Aid to Jews

Polish underground organization that provided social welfare to Jews

Began in 1942, supported by the Polish government-in-exile. Zegota's main objective was to coordinate efforts to save Jews from Nazi persecution and murder

Operated in secret, providing fake IDs, and providing hiding spots

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Some European churches, orphanages, and families provided hiding places for Jews, and in some cases, individuals aided Jews already in hiding.

In France, Belgium, and Italy, underground networks run by Catholic clergy and lay Catholics saved thousands of Jews. Such networks were especially active both in southern France, where Jews were hidden and smuggled to safety to Switzerland and Spain, and in Northern Italy, where many Jews went into hiding after the Germans occupied Italy in September 1943

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Nobody asked who was Jewish and who was not, where you were from, who your father was, or if you could pay. They just accepted each of us, taking us in with warmth and sheltering children, often without their parents, children who cried in the night from nightmares.

Large protestant population

Provided refuge for around 5,000 people who were fleeing from Vichy authorities

Many regarded the Jews as "chosen people," and when they were escorted 300 kilometers to the Swiss border, the guides were aware that they were following the same routine.