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women had more room to manoeuvre than men. Due to both the exclusionof women from positions of power in the Third Reich and the Nazis’ sexistperception of women, female homosexuality was seen as less dangerousfor society and as less threatening for Nazi population policy than malehomosexuality.We have too little documentary evidence to clearly establish the persecutioncriteria for lesbian women in the Third Reich. The majority were sparedthe fate of concentration camps – provided they were willing to conform andprovided they were not persecuted for other reasons. Even so, this lifestyleplaced them under tremendous emotional strain. The Nazis destroyed thecollective lesbian lifestyle and identity that had begun to emerge primarilyduring the Weimar Republic. The effects of their policies extended farbeyond the end of the Third Reich.Translated by: Adam Blauhut1 See the portrait of E. Zimmermann in my book „Zeit der Maskierung: Lebensgeschichtenlesbischer Frauen im ‚Dritten Reich’, Frankfurt /Main: 1998, p. 126ff. For the quote by the fashiondesigner, see p. 13f.2 Volksgemeinschaft, literaly ‘national community’: an attempt by the National Socialists toestablish a national community of unified mind, will and race. The translator.3 Jan-Henrik Peters, Verfolgt und vergessen: Homosexuelle in Mecklenburg und Vorpommernim Dritten Reich (Rostock: 2005).4 Franz Gürtner, ed., Das kommende deutsche Strafrecht: Besonderer Teil: Bericht überdie Arbeit der amtlichen Strafrechtskommission (Berlin: 1935), p. 126.5 Rudolf Klare, in Deutsches Recht, 8. Jg. 1938, p. 503-507.6 Concerning the situation in Austria, see my book Verbotene Verhältnisse: Frauenliebe1938-1945 (Berlin: 1999).7 Joseph Goebbels, Die Tagebücher, ed. Elke Fröhlich (Munich: 1987), p. 408.8 Brandenburgisches Landeshauptarchiv, Rep. 30 Bln. C Tit. 198 A, 5 Allg. No. 922.9 Gleichschaltung, literally ‘sychronising’ is a typical Nazi euphemism; the term describesthe process by which the National Socialists established a system of total control over the individual,and tight coordination over all aspects of society.The translator.10 Directive of the Prussian Ministry of the Interior, dated February 23, 1933, concerningthe closing of restaurants, printed in Homosexualität in der NS-Zeit: Dokumente einer Diskriminierungund Verfolgung, ed. Günter Grau (Frankfurt/Main: 1993), p.56 f.68