Gay and Lesbian Issues - The Nazi Extermination of Homosexuals Essays

Gay and Lesbian Issues - The Nazi Extermination of HomointimatesThe Holocaust is the greatest atrocity ever committed. Millions upon millions of people were ruthlessly tortured and executed during the infamous reign of the Third Reich. The events and conditions surrounding Adolf Hitlers rise to power have been extensively studied by historians, sociologists, policy-making scientists, and psychologists in the hopes of disallowing this state of merciless dictatorship from ever recurring. Due to the splendour of the Nazi campaign against those of the Jewish faith, that ethnic group is or so a good deal menti atomic number 53d in association with the density camps and exterminations of the Third Reich. However, t present were many other(a) groups who were persecuted alongside the Jews. These groups include political dissidents, criminals, gypsies, the handicapped, Jehovahs Witnesses, emigrants, and homosexuals (Heger 32). The plight of homosexuals is, perhaps, the most overlooked aspect of the Holocaust. Of all the concentration camps, Sachsenhaussen, just north of Berlin, was the most important in the imprisonment and execution of homosexuals. The conditions under which all prisoners here were forced to live were absolutely inhuman, but for homosexuals it was far worse. As the one group that was despised by both the Nazis and those who were imprisoned within concentration camps, gays were persecuted with the greatest enthusiasm, and because of the taboos surrounding their lifestyle, their tragedy was left unnoticed for nearly ternary decades. The persecution of homosexuals at Sachsenhaussen was a natural outgrowth of the Nazi idea of the operate race and was made possible by manipulation of German law. Homosexuals, harmonize to Nazi propaganda, ... ...he testimonies of gay survivors from Sachsenhaussen are to teach us anything, it is that they, like the Jews and each other group exterminated by the Nazis, were victims. Their tragedy has been comp ounded by societys rejection of their plight. In order to truly abolish the mordacious views of Nazism, we must first learn to accept all people as human beings, no matter what their national origin, religious beliefs, or sexual orientation may be. This must be our goal if we are to prevent the atrocities of Sachsenhaussen from ever happening again. References Feig, Konnilyn G. Hitlers Death Camps. New York Holmes & Meier, 1979. Heger, Heinz. The Men With the criticise Triangle. London Gay Mens Press, 1972. Plant, Richard. The Pink Triangle. New York hydrogen Holt, 1986. Rector, Frank. The Nazi Extermination of Homosexuals. New York Stein and Day, 1981.