Friday, May 6, 2011

Homosexuals in the Holocaust


I came across this video at this blog: Rebecca's Forces Blog - Here is the link: http://rebeccaforce.wordpress.com/2010/03/30/the-pink-triangle-love-at-all-angles/
Did you know?...Homosexual holocaust prisoners were not acknowledged as victims of Nazi persecution. Reparations and state pensions that were available to other groups were refused to gay men, who were still classified as criminals; The law wasn't repealed until 1994.
Martin Niemöller (1892-1984) was an ardent nationalist and prominent Protestant pastor who emerged as an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler and spent the last 7 years of Nazi rule in concentration camps.
Niemöller is perhaps best remembered for the quotation:
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me -- and there was no one left to speak for me.
The quotation stems from Niemöller's lectures during the early postwar period. Different versions of the quotation exist.
Here is my version:
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Black Man, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Black Man.
Then they came for the Atheists, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not an Atheist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Muslims and I did not speak out --
Because I was not Islamic.
And then they came after the Homosexuals, and still I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Homosexual.
When they next came after me...there was nobody left to save me.

1 comment:

  1. There is also a play based on this called "Bent" and here is a link: http://youtu.be/16TW69_ZjPc

    ReplyDelete

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