People with a History: An Online Guide to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trans* History
Section IV Europe Since World War I
Editor: Paul Halsall
Contents:
Section IV: Europe Since World War I
Go to the following pages for other parts of People with a History
Chapter 12: The German Gay Rights
Movement
Discussions:
Texts:
- Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935):
- Sigmund Freud: Letter to a Mother
Although the psychoanalytic movement in the US became a major
victimizer of homosexuals [through its dedication to the notion
of ego-normality], Freud himself, as in this letter to the mother
of a homosexual, was much more approving.
Websites:
-
Magnus Hirschfeld Exhibit [At Internet Archive]
-
Schwules Museum Berlin/Akademie der Künste [The Gay Museum/The
Academy of Arts] Goodbye to Berlin? HUNDERT JAHRE SCHWULENBEWEGUNG - 100 YEARS OF GAY LIBERATION -
CENTENAIRE DU MOUVEMENT GAI [At Internet Archive, from www.adk.de]
An exhibition celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of the
founding of the TheWissenschaftliche-humanitäre Komitee (Scientific
Humanitarian Committee) in May 1897 in Berlin. There are English
and German versions of the site.
Back to Contents
Chapter 13: The Nazis and the Gays
At one time it was fashionable to claim that the Nazis accepted
homosexuality. Partly this was a way to slur the Nazis [as if
they need slurring], and partly a reflection of the suppressed
homoeroticism of Nazi visual expression. What was overlooked until
the 1970s, and the publication of a series of articles by James
Steakley in the Toronto Body Politic (quite possibly the best
bi-weekly ever produced by the modern gay community), was that the Nazis
had directed laws, prisons, and the full panoply of the state
against homosexuals; had deliberately destroyed the sex research
institute set up by Magnus Hirschfeld; and added homosexuals to
the list of those to be eliminated. In other words the world managed
to "forget" the holocaust of homosexuals.
In recent years this forgetting has been overcome. Thanks to the
efforts of Steakley, Richard Plant and Burchhard Jellonek, as
well as the publication by Hans Heger [pseud.] of his memoirs,
and the play Bent by Martin Shaw, the suffering of gays
under the Third Reich has become well known. Now the Holocaust
Museum in Washington DC makes sure to explicate the issues involved.
The total number of gays killed seems to have been about 15,000
[figures from Jellonek], mostly by being worked to death. Gays
were not sent as gays to extermination camps. This is massively
smaller than the devastation visited on Jewish, Gypsy and Serbian
populations. But documenting the Nazi attacks on homosexuals is
not part of a "catch-up" game with Jews, or other groups.
It is rather an exposing of the possible effects of dehumanizing
any group.
Recently some members of the American Religious Right [a diverse
group that should no more be demonized than any other], have taken
to denying the gay holocaust, and in fact asserting that the Nazi
part was essentially homosexual. This is nonsense, and not one
serious historian countenances the charge. Nevertheless the book
- The Pink Swastika - which makes this charge has been subjected
to a line by line refutation, available via here.
Discussions:
- James Steakley: Homosexuals and the Third Reich, The Body Politic 11, January/February 1974,
This was the first important article to discuss the Nazi attack on gays.
-
Christine Mueller: Refutation of Radical Right claims Connecting Gays and Nazis,
[At Internet Archive, from Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Catholic Handbook]
- Night of the Long Knives. june 30, 1934, [At HistoryPlace]
An account of Hitler's attack ond, and removal of Roehm, the SA leader who was homosexual.
-
See also the Table of Contents and homophobic introduction to the book The Pink Swastika discussed by Professor Mueller. . [At Internet Archive, from Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual
Catholic Handbook]
- Scott Lively/Kevin Abrams: The Pink Swastika [At Abiding Truth]
This is an example of a Radical Religious Right to claim that
that Nazi party was "homosexual". The book is a lie,
but, since truth is not afraid, I provide an online link to it.
A
condensed version is also available [At Leader U]
- Eugene Narrett:
THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF NAZISM,
from The Wanderer, August 8, 1996
An example of the way the Lively/Abrams book is popularized by
the Radical Religious Reich press. This is from the extreme right
ring Catholic paper The Wanderer, owned by Paul Weyrich.
This article is classcic case of Weyrich's evil. It describes
the deaths by working to death of circa 6000 gay men, and then
seeks to account for the Nazi's "leniency" by arguing
that leading Nazis were gay. A truly sick approach. Fortunately
only imbeciles read the Wanderer.
-
Citizens Allied for Civic Action (CAFCA): THE ANNOTATED PINK SWASTIKA[At Geocities],
Extensive [600 Kbyte] point by point refutation of the Lively/Abrams
book. The effort is worthwhile, but it should be noted that no
serious historian takes the Lively/Abrams book seriously as anything
other than evidence about the modern American far right [a phenomenon
of serious historical interest.]
Texts:
Websites:
Back to Contents
Chapter 14: Post-WW I Europe to
1990
Discussions: Entire Period
Discussions: InterWar Years
Discussions: Entire Period since WWII
-
Edmund White: on Jean Genet: Once a Sodomite: Twice a Philosopher, Harvard Gay and Lesbian Review 3:1 (Winter 1996) [PDF file] [At Harvard
Gay and Lesbian Review]
- Mark Finch: Victim Victorious?, City Limits (London), November 1985, [At Planet Out]
Reviews the history of gay film in the UK.
Discussions: 1950s
Discussions: 1960s
Discussions: Gay Rights Movement
-
Andrew Hodges and David Hutter, With Downcast Gays, (1974) [At Outgay.co.uk]
Full text of an important analysis of the oppression of lesbians
and gays.
- Bob Mellors - Obituary, April 13 1996, The Guardian [At Internet Archive, from Guardian site]
A founding Member London GLF. Murdered.
Discussions: Gay Rights Movement Since Origins
Discussions: 1970s
Discussions: 1980s
-
Hart Murphy: FOUCAULT'S VIRTUAL PASSION [At Internet Archive, from www.ctheory.com]
Review of James Miller, The Passion of Michel Foucault.
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993. Pb: Anchor Doubleday, 1994.
Discussions: 1990s
Texts:
Texts: Literary
Websites:
Back to Contents
Chapter 15: The Lesbian and Gay
Movement in Europe
Discussions:
Texts
- Gay Liberation Front: Manifesto (London, 1971, as revised 1979)
Classic example of Gay Liberationist analysis. Parts of it still
read as provocative, other parts seem dated - for instance its
attack on "butch/femme" culture!
-
James Kirkup: The Love That Dares.
[At Internet Archive, from Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Catholic Handbook]
This poem, published in Gay News was [and is] banned in
Britain under the use of an ancient blasphemous libel law. The
banning was fought, unsuccessfully, all the way to the European
Court of Human Rights. Recently attempts have been made to prosecute
British websites which link to the American location of this poem,
where it is protected by the First Amendment (Thank you Mr. Madison!)..
-
The Alsop Review: Background Information on the Love That Dares [At Hooked.net]
This page contains British press reports of the closing down of
the LGCM website, and some obituaries of Denis Lemon, the editor
of Gay News and chief defendant. It also links to the poem
and to a picture of Kirkup.
-
Legal Age of Consent Around the World [At Age of Consent.com]
Websites:
-
OutRage
UK activist group information at Peter Tatchell's web site, with documentation of past and current
LGBT issues in the UK.
Back to Contents
Chapter 16: Europe: Current Politics and Strategies
Discussions:
Texts:
Websites:
- International Lesbian and Gay Human Rights Commission
-
IGLHRC On-line Resources
A really valuable list of centralized information web sites around
the world. Many national groups maintain resource guides in English
as well as their national languages.
- Archive of International Lesbian and Gay Press Stories,
by Rex Wockner.
All of Wockner's stories since 1994, searchable in a variety of
ways.
"The Gai Pied ARCHIVES give you an unprecedented access to
the complete set of Gai Pied Hebdo back numbers. At a click the
summaries, the articles and interviews, etc. You can research
by volume number, date and even by searching words in the fully
indexed articles.
-
SETA, the Finnish
organization of sexual equality. [In English]
Back to Contents
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© Site Concept and Design: Paul Halsall created 26 Jan 1996: latest revision 12 March 2023 [CV]
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