As part of the Nazis’ attempt to purify German society and propagate an “Aryan master race,” they condemned homosexuals as “socially aberrant.” Soon after taking office on January 30, 1933, Hitler banned all gay and lesbian organizations. Brownshirted storm troopers raided the institutions and gathering places of homosexuals. While this subculture had flourished in the relative freedom of the 1920s, Nazi tactics greatly weakened it and drove it underground.
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![<p>A writer from Duesseldorf who was arrested for homosexuality. Duesseldorf, Germany, 1938. [RW 58-61940]</p>
<p>The Nazis posed as moral crusaders who wanted to stamp out what they labeled as the "vice" of homosexuality in order to help Germany win the racial struggle. They <a href="/narrative/4631/en">persecuted homosexuals</a> as part of their so-called moral crusade to racially and culturally purify Germany. </p>](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/thumb/df606ccb-213b-4c8b-b902-760bc95d3b7e.jpg)
