1. Richard Plant
EricPaul Noonan
Professor Patricia Vazquez
English 272, Section 1001
The Pink Triangle: The Nazi War against Homosexuals
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2. “These people will obviously be publicly degraded and
dismissed and handed over to the court. After that they
will be all taken into a concentration camp and in the
camp they will be shot while escaping”
(Himmler)

3. Biography
In became necessary wasPlant tounder his own name, he because
It addition to works for changing and in 1936, he fled to the
Life in Switzerland published leave Germany, mainly wrote
Richard1947 towas enforcement histhethe agetheOctoberthe 1939.
The nextPlantsixteen,his career wasPlaut in at of twenty-two in
Although he startedGeneva; it inof published in Cityam of
At the arrived S.O.S.bornstarteda professor Frankfurt Paragraph
of was 1973, he Richard at provisions of children’s
Plant overzealous Plant was Switzerland writing at
Fromage of in Basel, Switzerland college education University
several a of dissertationU.S., he workedand translator- Dieterto
Uponof his yearsin the he and he screenplay called Taschenbuch
United States of America which Schnitzler, a with
his physician, veteran, Socialist, as a name
AHeadiddetective to 1910. wrotechanged hisbothmore children’s
Ason German-American on Arthurhe collaborated from Plaut
As Germany novels writer, a wrote many parents were
couple arrival later
Main, and York, first codein medicine his next book Thethe Social
Many yearsof Frankfurt againstUniversity of Baselin for foot-in
books, thethere and before he wrote and New School Dragon
175 New criminal book was a the homosexuals by
of of
Universitytrue he attended the children’s fable called, Die he
1933 his passed intermittently at the literature where Kist Nazis
Jews. and Oskar Seidlin playwright, andOskar Seidlin. of Stefan
des Films (Paperbackhe Film). the U.S. department of writer
Plant. and writer, poet, under the with History intoWar of
books his Doctorate in Literature and the original
physician,
scriptwriter-broadcaster for Seidlin had moved
Cunz of hisusuallyinoncollaborated collective pen-name
emit dem groβen Spartner Oskar in 1948.
stepsbecause his (The box
and
the Forest, which was 1927. with the big S), published in 1936.
received father
Research. published
“Eyes Wide Shut.” other words, war propaganda.
1935.
Switzerland. or in
Information,
Brockhoff.

4. His One & Only Love!
After Seidlin’s death Plant decided from a sense of personal
involvement on several levels to write his last book, The Pink
Their love really did not blossom until he followed Seidlin
Plant lived and worked together in Newthe University over
They and Oskar Seidlin metthe ageat eighty-seven in Der
while City for of
Triangle: The Nazi War against Homosexuals, (Rosa Winkel: his
Richard Plant died in 1998 at were of Yorkcultivate their
to Switzerland in they were both studying literature in
FrankfurtNazis gegen dieand they in 1984. to he first
where 1933 Homosexuellen), which
able
Krieg der years surrounded by his family and friends.
forty-five was until Seidlin died
love. and
home
1929.
published in German in 1986 and then translated into English
in 1991.

5. “So many young gay people today
don't realize the important significance
of the pink triangle ~ they think it just
another symbol of pride, and don't
realize that it has been reclaimed from
a horrific history in which many men
died for their sexuality. This book helps
the common reader understand why
Hitler began his hateful anti-
homosexual campaign. Through the
survivors’ stories, it paints a vivid portrait
not only of the despicable depths of
hatred to which men can sink, but it
also shows us the undefeatable spirit of
the human race to withstand and
move on from such adversity. I cannot
recommend this book enough ~ it is
only through realizing what we have
been through that we learn what we
will be able to overcome.” Snyder, 1988

6. The Pink Triangle:
The Nazi War against
Homosexuals
• To read this book in either German or English, Plant‟s book is a comprehensive work that details the
horrific treatment of homosexuals under the all-reaching arm of the Third Reich.
• At the beginning of the twentieth century, there was a vigorous homosexual emancipation movement.
• Discussed in ten folds is the powerful homophobia that underlay the Nazi desire to eradicate the
homosexuals of Germany.
• In the book, Plant shows just how the Nazi party rose to power and felt it necessary to stomp out the
homosexuals throughout the lands that were under their regime.
• Most importantly, the evolution of the official Nazi policy toward homosexuals is shown, which includes
the abundance of strategies used to incarcerate, humiliate, enchain, and annihilate all homosexuals.
• Also discussed are the documents from the actual Nazi officers and soldiers that wrote about their
logbooks, memorandums sent to concentration camps Commandants, and personal diaries.
• The most riveting aspect revealed through diaries, documents, letters, listens to, or watch the interviews
from the few survivors.

7. These are homosexual men standing for roll call, which could last hours,
and many died in the process.

8. Plant began to see propaganda throughout his city and knew that something was about to
take a turn for the worse.
He brings to the forefront how he saw the rise of the Nazi party and the increase in sexual
prejudices that came with them.
This was the rise of a vigorous homosexual emancipation movement, the virulent
homophobia that underlay the Nazi desire to annihilate German’s homosexuals, and the
evolution of official Nazi policy toward them.
Plant even discusses the recurring strategies for the
degradation, imprisonment, enslavement, and extermination of the gay man and even some
lesbians.
The main focal point of the book explores the Nazi’s policy towards homosexuals and the
tactics that were inflicted upon those men while imprisoned in concentration camps.
Plant also brings to the surface the methods of torture of these gay men at the hands of
Himmler and his SS.
He also translates diaries, documents, letters, and interviews that had never been read or
heard before from survivors and some that are no longer with us.

9. A list of gay men who
were transported to
concentration camps

10. Reich Penal Code
Paragraph 175
The enforcement of this penal code was the main reason Plant left Germany
175. A male who indulges in criminally indecent activities with another male or who
allows himself to participate is such activities will be punished with Jail.
If one of the participants is under the age of twenty-one, and if the crime
has not been grave, the court may dispense with the jail sentence.
175(a). A jail sentence of up ten years or, if mitigating circumstances can be established,
a jail sentence of no less than three years will be imposed on:
1. Any male who by force or by threat of imminent violence and danger to life and
limb compels another male to indulge in criminally indecent activities, or allows
himself to participate in such activities;
2. Any male who forces another male to indulge with him in criminally indecent
activities by using the subordinate position of the other man, whether it be at
work or elsewhere, or who allows himself to participate in such activities;
3. Any male who indulges professionally and for profit in criminally indecent
activities with other males, or allows himself to be used for such activities or
offers himself for same.
175b. Criminally indecent activities by males with animals are to be punished by jail; in
addition, the court may deprive the subject of his civil rights (Plant, 1986).

11. Some Men who were arrested
under Paragraph 175

12. This was a chart
designed to identify if
you were
Jewish, gypsy, political
, gay, Catholic, or a
combination
depending on your
triangle color.

13. Mind Set
Translation:
This type of discrimination was imposed by
“GermanNazis on only!”
business
Homosexuals, Jews, gypsies, Catholics, and
any others classified as “Undesirables.”
“Jews not allowed to shop!”

14. Through Plant‟s research he discovered that discrimination against homosexuals
was not a new occurrence in the Nazi regime. In 1871, Section 175 (Paragraph
175 in English) was added to the Reich Penal code, which criminalized
homosexuality under German rule.
Adolf Brand, also a revolutionary gay German writer, pushed for the reform of this
section in 1928 until the government on October 16, 1929 approved it.
Though these reforms were approved in 1929, they were not put into effect until
after the Great Depression, when the German government once again had the
means to enforce these policies.
Unfortunately, in 1933, the Nazis‟ took over and put their anti-homosexual campaign
into effect.
All that Brand fought for was lost due to the Nazi‟s Campaign, and he soon lost all
he had both financially and materialistically.
In the following years, between 1933 and 1945, an estimated 63,000 were
convicted of homosexuality, many of whom were sent to concentration camps.

15. “Our Führer has given the order for the merciless
extermination of these festering sores”
(Himmler)

16. “We must exterminate these people, root and branch… We can’t
permit such danger to the country; the homosexuals must be
entirely eliminated”
(Himmler)

17. The Beginning of the End
It is important to bring to the forefront that Plant makes it clear to the reader that it
was not Adolf Hitler who went after homosexuals; it was Heinrich Himmler who had
a much larger hatred for the homosexual, even more than the Jew.
It is gruesome the maltreatment that the homosexuals had to endure, in fact it was
much worse than the other prisoners had to endure, even the Jews.
If you were suspected to be a homosexual or were on one of their many lists, you
were arrested and then almost immediately convicted, without a trial.
Once convicted, all that were sent to concentration camps were required to wear a
pink cloth triangle about three and a half inches high.
Their insignia was significantly larger than those of the other prisoners, making
them easily distinguishable from other prisoners.
Often homosexuals received the worst treatment within the camps since they found
themselves the victims of both the guards and the other prisoners.
In an attempt to improve their status, many stole other insignia to wear, sometimes
even resorting to the yellow Star of David that classified Jews.

18. Following Up!
Plant‟s book discusses how homosexuality at this time was thought of as a disease. To prevent
contamination of other prisoners, some camps isolated homosexuals or attempted to cure them
through forced sexual acts with women prisoners, mainly Jews and gypsies.
Almost all homosexuals were sent to a concentration camp on the island of Sylt, in the North Sea.
Ironically, this island is owned by the nobility of Germany and is a resort destination for
Germans.
Many incidences the guards ordered sexual favors from homosexuals.
It was well known that the Nazi guards preferred homosexuals to Jewish women.
When the camps were liberated, homosexuals were also released with the other prisoners.
Unfortunately, unlike other prisoners, homosexuality remained illegal until 1969 and these victims
were therefore classified as criminals and were unable to receive compensation for their
incarceration.
After their release, families often refused to accept the homosexual ex-inmates, and former
homosexual friends likely perished in camps or left Germany, leaving survivors on their own.
To this day, homosexuality has a negative connotation, preventing full research of Nazi persecution
of these individuals to be completed.

19. Gay men who were working in the camps.

20. Mahnmal Aufschrift, Germany
This Memorial built in 1995 states:
“The Gay and Lesbian victims of National Socialism;
Hushed up! Beaten to death!”

21. One Survivor’s Story
Plant interviewed one man by the name of Heinz Heger. Heger tells
his story in detail of his experiences in German prisons and the
Sachsenhausen (Saxony House) concentration camp in Germany.
Heger was born in Vienna, Austria in March 1917 and was a university
student at the time of his arrest. Then he went by his birth name of
Josef Kohout, but all who knew him called him Heinz.
This man was well ahead of his time because he was openly gay with
all who came in contact with him, including his family, which accepted
him with open arms.
Because of Paragraph 175 of the criminal code, Heger was arrested
without any warning and was taken to prison for six months and from
there he went on to the Sachsenhausen, where he stayed until the end
of the war.
Plant discusses Heger‟s terrible conditions that he had to endure and
was forced to endure to survive.
A photo of Heinz Heger prior to his
arrest around the age of twenty-two.

22. Heger used an old trick that many did before
him and after him and that was to be called by
an effeminate name, “dolly-boy.”
This was to assist the men who were having
sexual relations with him feel secure with their
actions, even though they were almost always a
leader of the gangs in the camp or one of the
German guards.
In return for all of the sexual favors Heger was
performing, he received larger rations of food A photo of Heger (left) prior to his
and protection from harsh treatment and arrest with a couple of friends
punishment.
It did not hurt that Heger upheld a good
reputation, near the end the war he became the
first homosexual gang leader and remained in
that position until the war was over.
Plant does disclose that Heger had written his
own book about the suffering of the
homosexuals of the war, but it was far different
from his own.
A couple of years before Heger died
in 1994 at the age of seventy-six.

23. This Memorial
was built in
1985 but not
placed here
until 1995 and it
states:
“Hushed up.
Beaten to death.
The Gay
Victims of
National
Socialism”
Gay Holocaust Memorial Dachau, Germany

24. Predecessors and Successors
Heinz Heger (Josef Kohout): The Men with the Pink Triangle (Die Männer mit dem rosa
Winkel), 1972
Hegers’ book inspired the play Bent in 1979, which inspired the same movie in 1997.
Frank Rector: Nazi Extermination of Homosexuals, 1981
Günter Grau: Lesbians and Gays – What Now?, 1991 and Hidden Holocaust, 1995
Jean-Luc Schwab: Itinerary of a Pink Triangle, 2010

25. It states the following on it:
“This is here to inspire and support lesbians and gays in their struggle
against denial, oppression, and discrimination.”
It was the first monument in the world to commemorate gays and
lesbians who were killed by the Nazis.
Homomonument In Amsterdam, Holland

26. It is still alive and well!
Plant wrote his piece of work as a window to the past for all to view and yet the bigotry is still happening today. A few years ago, this transpired and
there are many cases similar to this.
In 2003, Republican Arlon Lidner, a state legislator in Minnesota claimed that no such persecution of gays in Nazi Europe ever occurred, and is
somehow tying that argument to his proposal to repeal his state's human rights amendment that protects gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered
persons from discrimination. Lidner proposed further legislation to remove sexual orientation as a protected class in the state of Minnesota's hate
crimes laws. How he justifies his homophobic crusade is based on his argument that gays were not gassed by their Nazi captors is unclear.
However, this view may well be more relevant now than ever because a crucial part of history may be fully discarded, and by ignoring, it risks it
happening again.

27. Finally!
Nazi-Era Gays Pardoned
“German lawmakers on Friday completed the pardon process of thousands of Nazi-era army deserters and
homosexuals sent to concentration camps during World War II. About 50,000 gay men and 22,000 deserters were
included in the pardon passed by the lower house in Berlin, an extension of a 1998 law that cleared the names of
hundreds of thousands of Germans convicted of crimes under the Nazis. The conservative opposition voted against the
law, arguing that it sends the wrong message because it doesn‟t examine each individual case. "Finally the deserters
and homosexuals who were persecuted will receive justice," said Volker Beck, a spokesman for the Greens
Party, which supports the law. "It is an important signal in these times when Europe is swinging to the right.”
German justice minister Hertha Daeubler-Gmelin welcomed the law as long overdue. She said it was humiliating and
difficult for victims of Nazi military courts to be expected to produce evidence of their convictions and undergo a review
of their case before being cleared. Those convicted under Nazi laws include not only deserters but also soldiers
accused of "cowardice" or "marriage without permission," she said. "We all know that our decisions today are more than
50 years late," she told parliament. "They are necessary nonetheless. We owe it to the victims of wrongful Nazi justice."
Of the estimated 50,000 gay men convicted by the Nazis, few ever came forward after World War II because of the
continuing stigma—as well as the fact that the law under which they were convicted remained on the books in West
Germany until 1969.” (Advocate, May 21, 2002)

28. The Last One
Rudolf Brazda is one of the last stories recounted by Plant.
Rudolf Brazda (right) just as he was liberated This is Rudolf Brazda on his last visit to
at the end of the war! Germany in 2006!
The last gay concentration camp survivor died August 5, 2011 by himself in Mulhouse (Alsace), France at the age of 98.
“His body emaciated and his toothless mouth hanging open, Rudolf Brazda is skin and bones. Then comes his scream -- a loud lament that
becomes a moan and then tapers off. Brazda is lying in his hospital bed, waiting at death's door. He alternately shouts, whispers or goes
silent. Minutes creep by, then a quarter of an hour, then half an hour. Sometimes he'll say something and then go quiet again. When he
does speak, he utters lines like, "I'm too old to live," "I'm waiting for time to pass by," "I just don't want to do this anymore!" or
"Everything's shit’” (Hornig).

29. Links of Interest
The last Survivor
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/i-had-always-been-blessed-with-good-fortune-
at-98-gay-concentration-camp-survivor-shares-story-a-772667.html
Another article about the last gay man:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/06/world/europe/06brazda.html?_r=0
Video of last interview by last gay survivor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-1uFsOXWhQ&feature=player_embedded#
Really Great site:
http://gaynorfolk-net.norfolk.on.ca/life-on-brians-beat-redux/stalag69.html
Pink News – A New Beginning (Lesbians too)!
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2011/05/31/new-memorial-to-gay-holocaust-victims-to-be-built-
in-munich/
A institute for research about sex
Institut für Sexualwissenschaft
Press space bar or click to continue…

30. Bibliography
• Advocate. “Nazi-Era Gays Pardoned.” www.glapn.org/sodomylaws/world/germany/genews011. 21 May 2002. Web. 10 March. 2013.
• Hornig, Frank. “„I had Always Been Blessed with Good Fortune‟: At 98, Gay Concentration Camp Survivor Shares Story.”
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL. (6 JULY 2011): SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL. Web. 10 March 2013.
• Plant, Richard. “The Pink Triangle: The Nazi War Against Homosexuals.” Ed. Marc Granetz. Canada:H.B. Fenn and Company Ltd. 1986. Print.
• Williams, John. “VA / John Williams - Schindler's List OMPS (MCAD-10969)” MCA. Soundtrack from Schindler‟s List (1993), Performed by Itzhak
Perlman and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Web 18 April 2013. Edited for length. CD.