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“At one and the same time a number of arrests of homosexuals were carried out in our town. One of the first to be arrested was my friend, whom I had had a relationship with since I was 23. One day the Gestapo came to his house and took him away. There was no point in reporting him missing. If anyone did, they risked being arrested too. It was enough to know them to be a suspect too. After my friend had been arrested, the Gestapo ransacked his house (…). The worst thing was the address books. Everyone mentioned in the books or who was connected with them was arrested. Me too. (…) We had to be extremely careful with all contacts and I had to break with all my friends. We passed by each other in the road just so as not to put ourselves in danger. There were no longer any places where homosexuals could meet.” TESTIMONY FROM A GERMAN HOMOSEXUAL MAN Homosexuals As soon as the Nazis seized power, they began persecuting homosexuals living in Germany. Nazi leaders thought that homosexuals would endanger the birth rate of the German people as well as the physical and spiritual health of the “national body”. SA groups raided places where homosexuals were known to meet, such as taverns and even private homes, and the police did whatever they could to harass them. This persecution brought an end to what had been a trend towards more liberal treatment of homosexuals.The Nazis reinforced an already existing law against homosexual activity and during the 1930s, homosexuals were arrested and persecuted with increasing intensity. SS leader Heinrich Himmler set up an office for the purpose of registering and harassing homosexuals, and many Party members demanded that the death penalty be introduced for men who had been convicted of homosexual “indecency”. Between 1937 and 1939, the number of legal cases against homosexuals peaked. Of an estimated 1.5 million homosexuals, approximately 100,000 German and Austrian men were arrested, mainly the result of voluntary denunciations.After serving their prison sentences, between 5,000 and 15,000 homosexuals were sent to concentration camps, and forced to wear a pink triangle. Particularly brutal treatment from SS guards and other prisoners killed many. It is unknown how many homosexuals died in the camps, but estimates say up to 60 per cent. Nazi treatment of homosexuals combined racial ideology with pseudo-science. Many were subjected to “experiments” which tried to change their sexual behaviour. 18
The handicapped and “asocials” In the 1920s, some German scientists began advocating the killing of people they referred to as “useless entities”. By this, they meant certain groups of handicapped and mentally disabled citizens. The expression “life unworthy of life” was coined. Such ideas were quickly absorbed by the Nazis, whose ideology called for society to aid the “healthy” and eliminate the “sick” and “inferior”. Jews and “Gypsies” were regarded as external threats to the German “national body”, while the mentally and physically handicapped, along with others who did not fit in the “people’s community”, also to be contained and combatted. Classed as economically “unproductive”, they were considered a too “heavy burden” for “healthy” and “productive” members of society to bear. From a racial-biological point of view, they were considered “inferior”. Their “negative” qualities were believed to be hereditary, thereby constituting a mounting danger to the well-being of the “national body”. In their enthusiasm to “cleanse” both German society and the “Aryan race”, the Nazis persecuted and imprisoned thousands of citizens from a group of people arbitrarily labelled “asocials”. This group even included prostitutes and those who refused a job offer. The Nazi ideology simply punished those whose way of life was regarded as offensive. This included petty criminals, who, according to the science of “criminal biology” prevalent in Germany at the time, were considered to be biologically “inferior”. Individuals who fell into this category were forcibly sterilised or castrated. In the concentration camps they wore a black triangle and were very low down in the camp hierarchy, with slight chances of survival. Taken in the Buchenwald concentration camp sometime between 1938 and 1940, the propaganda picture above shows a group of handicapped Jewish men. Handicapped people were considered “useless” and only fit to serve as “objects” for pseudo-medical research. These men are unlikely to have remained alive for long after this picture was taken. 19
Page 2 and 3: In 1997, the former Swedish Prime M
Page 5 and 6: STéPHANE BRuCHfELD AND PAuL A. LEV
Page 7 and 8: Table of contents 6 foreword 7 Chil
Page 9 and 10: Children as guinea pigs
Page 11 and 12: “I intend to deal with the Jewish
Page 13 and 14: ment were realised in Europe and th
Page 15 and 16: 1919 1933 16 Sept. Adolf Hitler joi
Page 17 and 18: Anne frank Anne Frank was born in F
Page 19: In 1926, the state of Bavaria passe
Page 23 and 24: Persecution Although German Jews nu
Page 25 and 26: International reactions When Hitler
Page 27 and 28: The November pogrom On the morning
Page 29 and 30: The ghettos are formed During the M
Page 31 and 32: Life in the ghetto The first ghetto
Page 33 and 34: to the toilet. (…) They die durin
Page 35 and 36: Death in the streets Death was ever
Page 37 and 38: 1940 Jan. First trials to gas
Page 39 and 40: The deportation “to the East”,
Page 41 and 42: At the Umschlagplatz, people someti
Page 43 and 44: Separations On 12 July 1942, Hertha
Page 45 and 46: An expert on “the Gypsy nui
Page 47 and 48: 1943 18 Jan. The first rebellion in
Page 49 and 50: “Buses arrive in Hadamar several
Page 51 and 52: The Einsatzgruppen “Operation Bar
Page 53 and 54: Sweden and the Holocaust At the beg
Page 55 and 56: “Fundamentally, our ability and o
Page 57 and 58: The “new Germany” as seen from
Page 59 and 60: Reactions to the November pogrom Th
Page 61 and 62: “Business as usual” - everyday
Page 63 and 64: “Do we not even now remain silent
Page 65 and 66: “One day, these heinous crimes wi
Page 67 and 68: Sweden’s Foreign Office fights g
Page 69 and 70: The White Buses and other res
Page 71 and 72:
What does the Holocaust mean for Sw
Page 73 and 74:
from bullets to gas After Germany
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Sign at Treblinka: “Attention War
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Franz Stangl Discussions about the
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Pictures from Birkenau in this book
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Women and children “of no further
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Working in hell The so-called Sonde
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“Most of you will know what it me
Page 87 and 88:
Annihilation through work The Germa
Page 89 and 90:
Resistance and rescue One of the mo
Page 91 and 92:
The Warsaw ghetto revolt After more
Page 93 and 94:
The death camp revolts Of all the a
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swear an oath of allegiance to Hitl
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The democracies close their doors N
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Witnesses to genocide From the day
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“These past few days the Jews fro
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The Holocaust - lessons to be learn
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O you who know did you know that hu
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“My past is always at my side, bu
Page 109 and 110:
Lindberg, H., Svensk flyktingpoliti
Page 111:
p. 101 Levi, P., p. 37. p. 101 Delb
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