Homosexuals and the Holocaust

Essay # 58350

Gender and Sexuality > Homosexuality
History > European - 20th Century
Holocaust Studies

An examination of the persecution of homosexuals by the Nazis.

1,158 words () | 5 sources | MLA | 2005 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper examines one of the minority groups targeted by Hitler, the "Pink Triangles", or thousands of homosexuals, the vast majority male, who were imprisoned, tortured, and murdered in Hitler's concentration camps. In particular, it looks at how they never received the same recognition as the Jews and other groups and how they were never offered apologies or reparations from the West German government.

From the Paper:

"In addition, gay men were disproportionately chosen for cruel, non-anesthetized medical experiments, including amputation of limbs, abdominal surgery, and experiments to study the effects of phosphorous burns. Also, the most arduous work in the camps was often reserved exclusively for the homosexual prisoners. At Dachau, gays were assigned the job of pushing and pulling a road-impaction roller through the streets from morning to night. At Sachsenhausen, homosexuals made up most of the work force for the Klinker Brickworks, which was known as a "human death mill" (Rector, p. 136)."