27/01/2026
The pink triangle. Once a symbol to identify gay men in N**i concentration camps, and has since been reclaimed as a symbol of q***r resistance.
This holocaust memorial day, we must never forget that for LGBT+ survivors of N**i oppression, 1945 did not bring about any kind of liberation; rather, it marked the beginning of a systematic process of persecution and wilful suppression. One that would result in their erasure from the pages of popular history.
Q***r Holocaust survivors did not leave their camps as recognized victims. Instead, even after liberation, they left as convicted criminals thanks to the barbaric paragraph 175.
This statute, which criminalized homosexuality, had been intensified under Adolf Hi**er to mandate harsher sentences, castration, and deportation to concentration camps. Yet in 1945, the occupying powers chose not to repeal it. For gay survivors of N**i terror, liberation meant trading pink triangles for prison cells.
Activist groups like Hamburg’s Humanitarian Society (founded by gay survivors in 1949) petitioned governments to recognize N**i-era persecution. They were met with silence or ridicule.
West Germany’s 1956 Federal Compensation Law explicitly excluded Paragraph 175 convicts, citing “moral guilt.”
It was not until 2002 when the German parliament issue a formal apology; reparations claims were largely denied due to “expired” statutes of limitation.
Today we honour all victims of the holocaust and hold a place in our hearts for the pink triangle prisons, and ensure they are never forgotten. We honour the stories that never got to be told.
