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<p>An official order incarcerating the accused in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp for the "offence" of homosexuality. Germany, July 1944. </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>

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persecution of gays and lesbians

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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All Content Tagged 'persecution of gays and lesbians'

<p>Portrait of a gay couple. Berlin, Germany, ca. 1930.</p> <p><a href="/narrative/2765/en">Nazi ideology</a> identified a multitude of enemies and led to the systematic persecution and murder of many millions of people, both Jews and non-Jews. The Nazis posed as moral crusaders who wanted to stamp out the "vice" of homosexuality from Germany in order to help win the racial struggle. Once they <a href="https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005204">took power</a> in 1933, the Nazis intensified <a href="/narrative/4631/en">persecution</a> of German male homosexuals. </p>
Photo A gay couple in Berlin
<p>Interior designer from Duesseldorf who was charged with <a href="/narrative/4631/en">homosexuality</a> and imprisoned for 18 months. Duesseldorf, Germany, date uncertain.</p>
Photo An interior designer imprisoned for homosexuality
<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>
Photo Arrested for homosexuality
<p>An official order incarcerating the accused in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp for the "offence" of homosexuality. Germany, July 1944. </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>
Photo Incarcerated for homosexuality
<p>One of six children, Willem grew up in Amsterdam where his parents were theater costume designers. When Willem was 17, he fought with his parents about his homosexuality. He left home and severed contact with his family. He began writing and painting, and in the 1920s was commissioned to do a mural for the Rotterdam town hall. In 1932 he moved to the countryside near Apeldoorn.</p> <p>1933-39: When he was 38, Willem met Jan Tijssen, the son of a greengrocer, and they lived together for the next seven years. Although he was a struggling painter, Willem refused to go on welfare. In 1938 Willem began writing a biography of Dutch painter Matthijs Maris, and after the book was published, Willem's financial situation improved.</p> <p>1940-44: The Germans <a href="/narrative/5566/en">invaded the Netherlands</a> in May 1940. Soon after the occupation, Willem joined the resistance. His unit's main task was to falsify identity papers for Dutch Jews. On March 27, 1943, Willem's unit attacked the Amsterdam registry building and set it on fire in an attempt to destroy records against which false identity papers could be checked. Thousands of files were destroyed. Five days later the unit was betrayed and arrested. That July, Willem and 11 others were executed.</p> <p>Before his execution, Willem asked a friend to testify after the war that "homosexuals are not cowards." Only in the 1980s did the Dutch government posthumously award Willem a medal.</p>
ID Card Willem Arondeus