The Nazi regime cracked down on LGBT+ individuals after taking power in 1933. They banned gay organizations and clubs. Many LGBT+ individuals fled Germany or went underground. Gay men were spied on and arrested by the Gestapo and sent to concentration camps. In the camps, LGBT+ prisoners faced brutal treatment, sexual assault, experiments, and were often killed. The Nazis viewed LGBT+ people as a threat to the German "master race" and their policies were driven by Heinrich Himmler's extreme hatred and persecution of homosexuality.

1. National 5 History: Hitler & Nazi
Germany
Treatment of LGBT+ Individuals in Nazi
Germany

2. Today’s lesson – Treatment of LGBT+ Individuals in
Nazi Germany
We are developing our knowledge and understanding of
the treatment of LGBT+ Individuals in Nazi Germany
By the end of today’s lesson I should be able to:
1) Describe the treatment of LGBT+ Individuals in Nazi Germany
Today’s lesson involves:
Note taking
National 5 question

3. Nazi Treatment of minorities
Hitler believed that Germans were part
of a ‘pure’ master race – meaning that
the Nazis wanted to remove from
Germany anyone they deemed impure.
In order to maintain the ‘master race’ the
Nazis tried to remove from society
minority groups including:
- Jews
- Disabled people
- Roma
- LGBT+ Individuals

4. LGBT+ Rights in Weimar Germany
In the 1920’s LGBT+ Culture had flourished in
Germany, in particular Berlin which was known as
the homosexual capital of Europe with around 40
LGBT+ clubs.
Many used the acceptance of LGBT+ individuals in
Germany was an example of the ‘depravity’ and ‘un-
German.’
Tolerance towards LGBT+ Individuals ended in 1932
with changes in Government. By 1933 and Hitler
being in power – LGBT+ Society went fully
underground.
However despite this flourishing of gay culture it
was still technically illegal to be LGBT+ in most of
Germany.

5. Mind-Map Task
Take a new double page in your jotter with the following mind-map in
the middle of the page:
Treatment of
LGBT+ Individuals
in Nazi Germany

6. Crackdown on homosexuals
When the Nazis took power in 1933 they began a crackdown
on LGBT+ Individuals across Germany.
In February 1933, the Nazi party launched its purge of
homosexual clubs in Berlin and banned organized gay groups.
Many LGBT+ Individuals fled Germany as a result.
The most prominent LGBT+ Individual was the Nazi General
Ernst Rohm who was killed during the Night of Long Knives.
Gay men who did not successfully emigrate to safety
attempted to conceal their gay identities, with some engaging
in heterosexual relationships and marriages with women.

7. Crackdown on homosexuals
The Gestapo were used to spy on suspected gay
men and bring them in for questioning. They
also kept lists of Gay men,
In March 1933, prominent LGBT+ Activist Kurt
Hiller was sent to a concentration camp. The
Hitler Youth later burned down his Institute of
Sex Research on the May 6th – burning around
20,000 books.
Many of the anti-LGBT+ Laws continued in
Germany until the 1970’s.

8. The SS
Heinrich Himmler, the leader of the SS was particularly
concerned about homosexuality.
Many gay members of the SS were put on trial where
some of them could be shot.
Himmler gave a speech in March 1937 about LGBT+
Individuals in Nazi Germany. He estimated the number of
homosexuals from one to two million people, or 7 to 10%
of men in Germany, declaring that "If this remains the
case, it means that our nation will be destroyed by this
plague.”
He believed this could led to the mass depopulation of
Germany.
In the camps, the SS used gay men as target practice.

9. Concentration camps
While not all homosexual men in Germany were sent to
concentration camps, for those who were, the experience was
particularly brutal and often fatal.
In these camps they had to wear a uniform with a Pink Triangle.
Homosexuals were considered to be the lowest of the low in the
concentration camp hierarchy.
Estimates vary widely as to the number of gay men imprisoned in
concentration camps during the Holocaust, ranging from 5,000 to
15,000, many of whom died. This was around 60% of all LGBT+
Prisoners.
Many men were victims of sexual assault in the camps.

11. Experiments
The Nazi policies on homosexuals were largely driven by
Himmler's disdain for homosexuality, which he believed
was a menace to the German national reproductive
capacities.
The camps of Dachua and Buchenwald were the principal
centres of human experimentation on homosexuals.
These experiments were used to try to chemically change
their sexuality, but also they were used as test subjects for
highly unstable Typhus treatments. They were also victims
of castration.

12. National 5 level question
1) Describe the treatment of LGBT+ Individuals in Nazi
Germany – 5 marks.