I dag är det Förintelsens minnesdag.

Då ska vi minnas alla som blev dödade i nazisternas läger under andravärldskriget.

Flera miljoner judar blev dödade. Nazisterna dödade också romer,  homosexuella och människor med funktionsnedsättningar.

Den 27 januari år 1945 kom ryska soldater till lägret Auschwitz i Polen. Människorna i lägret blev fria denna dag. Därför är den 27 januari Förintelsens minnesdag. Då ska vi minnas och hedra alla som dog.

Idag minns vi de miljoner av oskyldiga människor som förlorade sina liv i Förintelsen, ett av de värsta folkmorden i historien. Deras brott, inget mer än hur de föddes.

Från koncentrationsläger till fängelse

Under nazisternas styre arresterades minst 100 000 homosexuella människor,många av dem sattes i koncentrationsläger och fick en rosa triangel på ärmen, https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/persecution-of-homosexuals-in-the-third-reich. Rapporter talar för att nazisterna utförde hemska

experiment på dem i jakt på ett botemedel för homosexualitet. Lagföringenav homosexuella skedde enligt den ökända § 175 som förstärktes av nazisternamed straffbarhet även för homosexuella tankar, https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/paragraph-175.

När Hitler föll och de Allierade öppnade koncentrationslägren blev det tyvärr inte mycket bättre för dem med rosa triangel, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySlMFFJQcO0&feature=emb_title.  Istället förflyttades de till fängelser. I Östtyskland upphävdes den nazistiska lagstiftningen mot homosexuella, 175 §, på1950-talet medan Västtyskland behöll lagstiftningen till 1994. Först 2002 bad Tyskland officiellt om ursäkt för nazisternas brott mot de homosexuella och upphävde alla domar meddelade enligt bestämmelsen. Först 2017 erkändes homosexuellas rätt till ersättning ör rättsövergreppen enligt § 175 https://edition.cnn.com/2017/06/24/europe/germany-anti-gay-law/index.html.

Bibliografi: https://www.ushmm.org/collections/bibliography/gays-and-lesbians

Den gripande dagboken av Manfred Lewin, som han gav till sin judiska vän ochgay partner, Gad Beck  https://www.ushmm.org/collections/the-museums-collections/collections-highlights/do-you-remember-when/cover

Do YouRemember, When

What was it like to live as a young Jew in Berlin during the Nazi deportations? This exhibition details the life of Manfred Lewin, a young Jew who was active in oneof Berlin’s Zionist youth groups until his deportation to and murder inAuschwitz-Birkenau. Manfred recorded these turbulent times in a small,hand-made book that he gave to his Jewish friend and gay companion, Gad Beck. Beck, a Holocaust survivor who again lives in Berlin, donated the booklet to the Museum in December 1999. The exhibition centers around the 17-page artifact, which illustrates the daily life of the two friends, their youth group, and the culture in which they lived.

To understand why Manfred Lewin, a young Jew in Nazi Berlin, wrote this book in1941 for his friend Gad Beck—to understand why Gad, 19 and Jewish, risked his life attempting to save Manfred from deportation—read these words from the play that brought them together. German writer Friedrich von Schiller’s DonCarlos: No Matter what you plan on doing, will you promise to undertakeno act without your friend? Will you make me this promise? Friendship, valor, and the fight for freedom were the ideals of this 18th-century German drama. In 1941, Gad and Manfred played the starring roles in their Jewish youthgroup’s reading of the play.

Manfred was born on September 8, 1922, in Berlin where he lived with his parents and four siblings in the predominantly Jewish section of the city. The family lived inpoverty in three little rooms not far from the Beck house at Dragoner Strasse43. Manfred’s father was a barber and his mother Jenny, a former secretary,took care of the family. She often had to find other sources of food to supplement the family’s insufficient Jewish food ration cards.

Before the Nazis came to power, Berlin was home to a vibrant gay community. Within weeks of their rise in March 1933, the Nazis drove this population underground and waged a violent campaign against homosexuality. Over the next 12 years, more than 100,000 men were arrested for violating Germany'slaw against "unnatural indecency among men.” During this time, proof was often not required to convict an individual. Some were sent to concentrationcamps and subjected to hard labor, cruelty, and even medical experiments aimedat “curing” them. Join Museum experts for a Pride Month Facebook Live as they give voice to a community silenced during the Holocaust. Speaker Dr. JakeNewsome, Historian, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Moderator Dr. EdnaFriedberg, Historian, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hiOz14jh7k&feature=emb_rel_end

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-1uFsOXWhQ

Documenting Nazi Persecution of Gays: Josef Kohout/Wilhelm Kroepfl Collection (Curators Corner #13) United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

In 1994, the Museum acquired the unique collection of Josef Kohout. More widely known as Heinz Heger, Kohout recorded his experiences in The Men with the Pink Triangle, the first published account of a gay survivor of the Nazi camps. Dr. Klaus Müller, the Museum'sRepresentative for Europe, shares his story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kj-wGkcyTL8

Persecution of Homosexuals in Germany: During and After the Holocaust -Geoffrey Giles Claremont McKenna College

September 28, 2016 GeoffreyGiles, a scholar of groundbreaking research and writings on the Allied occupation of Germany, speaks about the persecution of homosexuals in NaziGermany and in post-war, occupied Germany. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_ccauXODDc

The Nazi Policy Against Homosexuals. Lecture by Professor Jennifer V.Evans.                                                                                                                           U of MN Center forHolocaust & Genocide Studies   "The Nazi Policy Against Homosexuals: Policing Behaviour in the People's Community (Volksgemeinschaft)" lecture by Professor JENNIFER V. EVANS, History, Carleton University, Ontario. Presented by the Center for Austrian Studies and CHGS, cosponsored by Metropolitan StateUniversity and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAg2e3DUZeE