On May 1st I, like many others, will observe Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day. I’m not Jewish, but I don’t think you have to have ties to a group to memorialize them and their suffering. Millions of lives were taken during the Holocaust, and countless more were affected. It was a human tragedy that must be remembered.
However, there was more than one group of people sentenced to torturous lives in concentration camps. Most notable of course, were the Jews who had to wear yellow double-triangle badges (which formed the Star of David). Red triangle badges were worn by political prisoners. Green triangles were badges assigned to “habitual criminals”. Foreign forced laborers were assigned a blue triangle badge. Purple triangle badges were for Jehovah’s Witnesses and other religious groups. The black triangle badge was assigned to a varied group of people deemed “antisocial”, including Roma/Gypsies (who were later assigned a brown triangle), the handicapped, alcoholics, vagrants, pacifists, lesbians, prostitutes, and more. And the pink triangle badges were for the “sexually deviant”, mostly gay men. There were others as well – those labeled as “race defilers”, and prisoners of war. There were a lot of different groups of people suffering in those camps. And even if you don’t belong or identify with one of those groups, there is still something we all have in common – we’re people. And we can take it upon ourselves to remember their pain and fight against human suffering.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_concentration_camp_badges
Probably the most recognized concentration camp is Auschwitz. The word actually gives me chills.
People were tortured there. That’s the simplest way to say it. They died of beatings, starvation, executions by hangings or shootings, exhaustion, and the infamous gas chambers. It was an unimaginable hell.
Hundreds of people attempted to escape from Auschwitz, but most failed. The first escape I learned about was that of a couple named Mala Zibetbaum and Edek Galinski. Their escape was successful at first, but they were captured and sent back to be executed. Their resilience was inspirational. Edek was to be hung to death. He tried to hang himself before the verdict was read. However, the guards stopped him and made sure the execution was done properly. He shouted “Long Live Poland” before he was hung. Mala slit her arms in an attempt to kill herself, but accounts as to what exactly happened differ. She was likely severely beaten and was supposed to be taken to the crematorium, possibly to burn alive as her suicide attempt had failed. It’s unclear how she died. She may have bled to death, been given poison out of pity, or was burned alive. Thankfully, Edek’s and Mala’s memory still lives on.
I didn’t find as much information on the pink triangle prisoners as I would have liked. I did stumble upon a few things however. Because homosexuality was still against the law even after the liberation of the camps, the pink triangle prisoners were just re-imprisoned. For over 2 decades, homosexuality remained illegal. So it is really no surprise that so few accounts of the pink triangle prisoners are out there. I was happy to learn about a documentary called Paragraph 175 which tells the stories of several homosexuals who survived Nazi Germany. The title of the film refers to Paragraph 175 under German Penal code, dating back to 1871, which outlaws homosexuality. I’m hoping to watch this film soon.
I came across the story of Pierre Seel, a gay man and Holocaust survivor. His testimony is part of the film Paragraph 175. He was sent to the concentration camp of Schirmeck-Vorbruck. He was raped and tortured, and witnessed his lover being mauled to death by vicious dogs. He was released and drafted to the German army and sent to the Russian Front. He eventually returned to France and started a family, keeping painfully silent about the torment he faced. In the 1980s, when it was safer to talk about his experience as a gay man who endured the Holocaust, he shared his story. He later became known as the most outspoken activist for homosexual Holocaust survivors.
Source: http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=446
There is also a play/movie called Bent, which I also have not seen but I hope to watch it soon. IMDB gives this description of the movie:
“Max is gay and as such is sent to Dachau concentration camp under the Nazi regime. He tries to deny he is gay and gets a yellow label (the one for Jews) instead of pink (the one for gays). In camp he falls in love with his fellow prisoner Horst, who wears his pink label with pride. “
So I did find some info on homosexuals in the Holocaust, but of course I was hoping to find out how transsexuals faired in Nazi Germany. My assumptions were that if transsexualism was known about back then (which it was) and if homosexuals were sent to concentration camps, then there should be some record of transsexuals too, right? I came up with mostly nothing – except this one page on a Transgender Day of Remembrance website.
Here’s the link: http://tgdor.org/holocaust.shtml
It talks a lot about Dr. Magnus Hirschfield, a famous German Sexologist, gay man, advocate for homosexual rights, and one of the first to study transsexualism. He oversaw the first male-to-female sex reassignment surgery in modern history. Apparently, his institute did not sit well with the Nazis and was destroyed in 1933. Also according to that website, gender-nonconforming individuals were not distinguished from homosexuals.
In San Francisco, California, 15 triangular granite columns stand as the centerpiece of a small park. Pink Triangle Park is the first permanent, free-standing memorial in America  commemorating the LGBT individuals who suffered in Nazi Germany. The columns represent the estimated 15,000 LGBT people who were sent to Nazi death-camps. One column for every 1000 individuals.
Check out my source: http://pinktrianglepark.org/
In Israel, Yom HaShoah starts at sundown. For the ceremony, the national flag is lowered to half-staff. Speeches are delivered by the Prime Minister and the President, and the Chief Rabbis present prayers. Six torches are lit to symbolize the 6 million who were killed in the Holocaust. At 10 am, people stop what they are doing – even driving – and stand at attention as sirens blare throughout Israel for two minutes.
To commemorate Yom HaShoah, I will light 6 candles with my family and have a moment of silence. I also made my own pink triangle patch that I have sewn on to a shirt (the pink triangle has now become a pride symbol in the community anyway).
Whether you observe Yom HaShoah or not, one thing we can all do is acknowledge that the discrimination against any individual or group of people affects us all. And there is another appropriate response to the Holocaust…
Never forget.
~ James
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