Thank you to those who have read "Something to Share…", and especially to those moved to leave comments. They are deeply appreciated, and deeply felt, and Zombie's relaying how Holocaust survivors, 'liberated' by the allies, were herded back to brick-and-mortar prisons, made me think of Paragraph 175.

For anyone who has not seen this documentary, you need to. Klaus Müller, an out filmmaker, was driven to capture the voices of those who Gay man and women who survived. In 1999 very few were left, ten I believe, and all but two agreed to appear in the film. Their testimony added volumes of unknown information to previously published Holocaust accounts.

Paragraph 175 is the former section of the German penal code criminalizing consensual affectional contact between adults of the same gender. Previous to it's enacting in 1871, every German state had legal policy based on the Napoleonic code, which recognized the state had no legal right into people's private matters. While the nascent German Empire was in the process of revising a unified set of laws, a Hungarian jurist named Karl-Maria Kertbeny wrote open letters in opposition to the proposals that Gays be treated as criminals for being Gay. His efforts began in 1869, one hundred years before Stonewall.

For our kind, the years between the wars in Germany were a roller coaster of advancements and setbacks. Gay was cool in the 20's. People felt free to explore, and did so with love in their hearts for Gay folk, even if they were not 'permanently' inclined to stay sleeping with their own gender (think Caberet!). Very few Paragraph 175 charges were brought up that did not include some form of 'aggravation.' And by 1929 the law was voted out of committee as a violation of civil liberty, but as such, it became a political 'wedge issue' for the Nazi and the other right-wing parties that backed them. Their increased presence in German legislatures is at least partial responsible due to homophobia used as vote-getter. Something we unfortunately know all too well today…

During the Nazi regime, as well documented in many published accounts, Gays were rounded up, tortured and told to 'name names.' At it's height, more than 8,000 persons a year were sent to concentration camps wearing the pink triangle. Those who were Jewish and Gay, had a yellow triangle sewn over the pink one, in the opposite direction, and were singled out for death. This either came in the form of slave labor and starvation, or later in the middle of war, in the gas chambers. Others minorities, like Gypsies, Jehovah's Witnesses, and so forth, also had a distinctive color, and Gay members of these groups would also have two triangles on their clothes. As most of Paragraph 175 victims were German and Christian, there was no official sanction to exterminate them. However, published accounts speak of unofficial incentives. For example, SS officers were given one day of leave for every Gay person who died in his personal custody. Tens of thousands died, although an exact number will never be known, and right-wing groups today have a vested interested in consistently lowering the number. 'They're just queers…' they seem to say.

But Paragraph 175 is a personal story. The accounts of Alberct Becker meeting the love of his life, with whom he lived before and after the war, is heartwarming, and inspiring. And the eyes of Heinz Dömer who relays "the song of the woods" will haunt you for the rest of your life. He relives it in quiet stillness, as he 'sees' the men being crucified and tortured outside the confines of the camp, but the sounds – the song – wafted over the fence to torture all of the pink triangle prisoners.

Here is a link to the film online:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N84lMZLVXFg

And here is wikipedia's entry on this shameful law:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paragraph_175

Paragraph 175 was only repealed in March of 1994, and by that time, there had already been 44 convictions in the first months of that very year. That being said, it still must be acknowledged that Germany's repeal beat the United States by a full ten years!