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LGBTQ* History You Should Know

(and then what happened)

Following the liberation of concentration camps, many gay survivors (the pink triangles) were placed in prison by German authorities. Since concentration camps were not considered “jail,” homosexual men were still in violation of Paragraph 175 (a law outlawing homosexuality in Germany) and were then placed in prison to serve time for breaking the law.

To this day, not one single gay survivor or family member has been given financial payments by the government in Germany. 

KNOWhomo history reblogs.

Would you like to know more? Check out:

#History You Should Know 

#Black/African American 

#Pink Triangle History 

#Flag(s) History 

#Military/Armed Forces 

#Vintage 

#Christian 

#Jewish 

#Muslim 

LGBTQ* People You Should Know — Love Letters You Never Saw
(and a castle you should recognize)

Ludwig Friedrich Wilhelm II (pictured above) to Richard Wagner (Composer)

My one Friend, my ardently beloved!
          This afternoon, at 3.30, I returned from a glorious tour in Switzerland! How this land delighted me! – There I found your dear letter; deepest warmest thanks for the same. With new and burning enthusiasm has it filled me; I see that the beloved marches boldly and confidently forward, towards our great and eternal goal.
          All hindrances I will victoriously overcome like a hero. I am entirely at thy disposal; let me now dutifully prove it. – Yes, we must meet and speak together. I will banish all evil clouds; Love has strength for all. You are the star that shines upon my life, and the sight of you ever wonderfully strengthens me. – Ardently I long for you, O my presiding Saint, to whom I pray! I should be immensely pleased to see my friend here in about a week; oh, we have plenty to say! If only I could quite banish from me the curse of which you speak, and send it back to the deeps of night from whence it sprang! – How I love, how I love you, my one, my highest good! …
          My enthusiasm and love for you are boundless. Once more I swear you faith till death!
          Ever, ever your devoted
                    Ludwig

Note: Ludwig II was the King of Bavaria from 1864-1886. As a young man he discovered the works of Wagner and became one of the composers biggest fans. Many historians argue that Ludwig was gay but due to his Roman Catholic beliefs fought against his feelings. There are speculations of Ludwig’s involvement with military men and important men of the theatre, including a friendship of question with Josef Kainz.  His engagement (to Duchess Sophie of Bavaria) never finished in a marriage; he called it off due stating that no love or reason is enough to marry.

Wagner never returned the attraction. His letters were less of admiration and more of political strategy.

During the time in Ludwig’s court, rumor circulated that Wagner may be homosexual. It has been argued/proven that Wagner was a womanizer and was using the young king for his money and advancements. After Ludwig’s court kicked Wagner out of the King’s castle(s) and royal engagements, Ludwig continued to think of the composer. Wagner had such an impression on Ludwig that many of his castles where designed in dedication to Wagner or themes within Wagner’s work, including Neuschwanstein.

Recognize it? Maybe you will recognize its famous illustrated/trademark form:

 For more information:

King, Greg. The Mad King: The Life and Times of Ludwig II of Bavaria. (1996)

McIntosh, Christopher. The Swan King: Ludwig II of Bavaria. (1982) 

Wrba, Ernst (photos) & Kühler, Michael (text). The Castles of King Ludwig II. (Verlagshaus Würzburg, 2008)

Till, Wolfgang: Ludwig II King of Bavaria: Myth and Truth (2010)

LGBTQ* Stories of Survival

“I’m living proof that Hitler didn’t win.

I’m aware of that every day.” The speaker is Friedrich-Paul von Groszheim. (pictured above) At the age of eighty-eight, this charming gay man celebrates his birthday twice a year. “You never know,” he says.

One can hardly imagine the suffering he endured. Von Groszheim was among 230 men arrested in Lübeck in the course of a single evening in 1937. The police hauled him from his home and imprisoned him for ten months. He was released, but re-arrested. This time, the Nazi authorities forced him to choose between castration, or incarceration at the concentration camp in Sachsenhausen. He submitted to castration.

His nightmare had not ended, however. In 1943, von Groszheim was arrested a third time, and was put into a satellite camp of Neuengamme. He survived that ordel, but half a century would have to pass before he started to tell his story.

— Dr. Klaus Müller

Introduction to THE MEN WITH THE PINK TRIANGLE

LGBTQ* Organizations You Should Know

Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee(WhK)

( English: The Scientific-Humanitarian Committee)

* Founded in May 1897 in Berlin

* FIRST organization for homosexual, bisexual and transgender advocacy

* Founded to combat Paragraph 175 (the persecution of homosexuals)

* Members of the organization produced/wrote numerous articles on homosexuality, transgender research and political corruptness

* Released the Jahrbuch fur Sexuelle Zwischenstufen (Yearbook of Intermediate Sexual Types)

* WhK peaked at 500 members in 25 cities in Germany, Netherlands and Austria

 —- Signatories included: Albert Einstein, Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse, Leo Tolstoy, Mangus Hirschfeld and Rainer Maria Rilke

 * Group dissolved in 1933 after Nazi raids 

(Above picture: WhK’s Board of Directors 1901

— Left to right: Georg Plock, Dr. Ernst Burchard, Dr. Mangus Hirschfeld and Baron von Teschenberg)

LBGTQ* History Through Photographs

Nazis burn the library of Magnus Hirschfeld’s Institute for Sexual Science in Berlin, 1933.

In doing so countless texts and documentation of early 20th century LGBTQ* history disappears.

Remember, it’s never “just some books.”

LGBTQ* History You Should Know

(and then what happened)

Following the liberation of concentration camps, many gay survivors (the pink triangles) were placed in prison by German authorities. Since concentration camps were not considered “jail,” homosexual men were still in violation of Paragraph 175 (a law outlawing homosexuality in Germany) and were then placed in prison to serve time for breaking the law.

To this day, not one single gay survivor or family member has been given financial payments by the government in Germany. 

LGBTQ* Film (History) You Should Know

Different From The Others (Anders Als Die Andern) — 1919

Arzt: Respected ladies and gentlemen take heed. The time will come when such tragedies will be no more. For knowledge will conquer prejudice, truth will conquer lies, and love will triumph over hatred.

* Partially funded by the Institute for Sex Research and Dr. Magnus Hirshfeld , who makes a cameo in the film

* One of the first explicitly gay films

* Follows a violin teacher who falls in love with one of his students

* Through a series of flashbacks, the audience follows Paul Körner  as he becomes aware of his sexual preference and methods he takes in which to suppress it over time

* One strong scene in the film follows Körner as he is reading the obituaries which are filled with suicides, though Körner knows many of the deaths are of gay men in the throws of Paragraph 175

* The film was not censored but filming was fear of government intervention led to the film being handled with extreme caution and little to no touching of its main characters. Attraction and relationships are shared through glances and lingering looks

You can watch it HERE. 

Thank you Love-Teatime for the link.

LGBTQ* History

The Pink Triangle

* The Pink Triangle was a badge designated for gay/homosexual (male) prisoners in the Concentration Camps during World War II

—> Pink Triangles were considered the “lowest” / “most insignificant” prisoner

(Pink Triangles could be paired with other triangles, like the yellow triangle, marking a prisoner as gay and Jewish)

* It is estimated over 50,000 men were detained/sentenced to punishment for being homosexual from 1933-1945

—> Estimated 5,000 - 15,000 of those men were sent to concentration camps

—> There is no official record of how many of those prisoners would go on to perish in the camps

— The play/film BENT focuses on the Pink Triangles

*In the 1970s the Pink Triangle was adopted by the gay rights movement(s) as a symbol of solidarity and pride

—> Some people link the reclaiming of the Pink Triangle with the release of THE MEN WITH THE PINK TRIANGLE (a memoir of survivor Heinz Heger)

LGBTQ* Historical Novels To Keep On Your Radar

Aimée & Jaguar: A Love Story, Berlin 1943

BASED ON A TRUE STORY

Written by: Erica Fischer (Edna McCown translator)

Acclaimed in Germany and England, this tragic and remarkable real-life love story won a Lambda Literary Award when it was first published in America in 1995. Lilly Wust (“Aimée”) was a conventional middle-class mother of four, estranged from her philandering husband, when she met Felice Schragenheim (“Jaguar”) in 1941. Their passionate affair unfolded against the backdrop of the deportation of Jews from Berlin, but several months passed before Felice could even bring herself to tell Lilly that she was Jewish and living illegally on the streets. “I knew, of course, what it meant,” Lilly recalled in old age. “Not for a moment did I think that I too could be in danger. On the contrary, all I wanted to do now was to save her.” Lilly’s heroic efforts to conceal and protect Felice through the next two years make for painful and inspiring reading. Felice was arrested in August 1944 and sent her last letter to Lilly four months later. In 1981 Lilly was awarded the German Federal Service Cross, though no one could read this as a happy ending. —Regina Marler