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y an NCO (non-commissioned officer) who didn’t particularly like me. Hereported us immediately. The next day I was arrested and taken to court forviolating Section 175. It was no secret that the Nazis had broadened thelaw so that you could be punished for even attempting to violate it. It didn’tmatter whether you’d done anything or not. And we hadn’t. Our unit’s CourtOfficer interrogated me during the night. He adopted the usual tactics: shininga lamp in my face and all that. I was only twenty-two at the time andobviously not prepared for anything like that. I collapsed – to put it mildly –and signed a confession saying that I had homosexual desires.A few days later, before December 30, 1942, I was summonsed beforethe Air force Court, which was in Meinekestraße, Berlin. I had no legal representative,nothing! After all, I had already admitted that I was guilty. I wasdemoted and assigned to a penal unit that was clearing mines. While I waswaiting to be sent off to prison I was detained at the air force, or militaryprison, in Tegel. My mother was allowed to visit me. That was incrediblyimportant to me. My mum stood by me and said: ‘You’re my son, no matterwhat’s happened.’ With those words she gave me back my will to live,because I’d seriously thought of doing myself in.They weren’t exactly lenient with us at Torgau Prison, which was built as afortress. They punished us by making us do exercises for hours on end,and gave us very little to eat: bread and water, you might say. When thethree months were up I was ripe for hospital. During those three months,my mum had been very busy doing everything she could to have the secondpart of my sentence, the transfer to the penal commando, commuted. Avery good old teenage friend of hers was married to General Olbricht, whowas later shot as one of the main conspirators of July 20th . He lent me hissupport, and my case was re-opened. I was sent to a psychiatrist who submitteda report that my declaration about having homosexual feelings wasdue to me being confused about my feelings. And so the sentence wascommuted to serving in a fighting unit on the front, where I had to provemyself.’Albrecht BeckerAlbrecht Becker was born in Thale am Harz in1906. He was trained as a textiles merchant inQuedlinburg. In 1924, his partner used his connectionsto get him a job as a window dresser inWürzberg. Albrecht Becker was a passionatephotographer, as his countless photographs ofmale nudes and numerous self-portraits testify.In 1935 he was arrested for violating Section175 and sentenced to three months’ imprisonment.Albrecht Becker’s recollections of this timeare substantiated by the interrogation protocol,which also fills in the gaps in his memory.In 1944, he became acquainted with HerbertKirchhoff, his second partner. It was throughAlbrecht Becker Selbstporträt (Würzburg um 1930)Berlin, Schwules Museum, Sammlung Albrecht Becker160