Post World War I: Homosexuality In Nazi Germany

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Post First World War Germany was a country in a state of desperation. It was in need of a way to handle the social disorder in the aftermath of their wartime defeat. The Nazi party stepped forward with a new way of life, and the practice of teaching eugenic values began. Laws cropped up requiring the registration of psychological defects. An attack began on sick bodies, disabled limbs and individual lifestyles that ran counter to ideals of the eugenics movement. Included in this, were homosexuals.
The homosexuals were targeted as Germany wanted to increase their population for the next war. Germany’s attempts to reproduce in order to build a healthy, strong army, meant that homosexuality was considered a political crime. The founder of the Gestapo, Rudolf Diels, in 1934 lectured his colleagues on how homosexuals were the downfall of ancient Greece. Homosexuality …show more content…
The Reichsfuhrer believed that homosexuality existed not in genes, but as the result of young boys being seduced by older men. A solution to this was to put them in concentration camps. He believed this would soon cure most homosexuals of their aberrations. Some senior Nazi leaders believed that homosexuality was contagious and could undermine the Third Reich.
It was on May 14, 1928, that the Nazi party issued their official view on homosexuals. “It is not necessary that you and I live, but it is necessary that the German people live. And it can live if it can fight, for life means fighting. And it can only fight if it maintains its masculinity. It can only maintain its masculinity if it exercises discipline, especially in matters of love. Free love and deviance are undisciplined. Therefore, we reject you, as we reject anything which hurts our people. Anyone who even thinks of homosexual love is our enemy.”
From then onwards, nearly everyone in a position of power opposed homosexuality whilst supporting
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