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In her article “Forbidden Relationships”, Claudia Schoppmann summarises her archive research of the persecution of lesbians in Austria during the years of the “Anschluss”. While female homosexuality stayed legal in Germany even during the Nazi period, the total ban on female homosexuality remained in force in Austria between 1938 and 1945. Download PDF.
For more than a decade, Rainer Hoffschildt has been tracking down the fate of homosexual concentration camp prisoners. His article is dedicated to the pink triangle prisoners of the Mauthausen concentration camp. Altogether he knows today the names of 243 homosexual prisoners of the camp. Download PDF.
For almost 20 years, HOSI Wien has been advocating that those persecuted on the grounds of their sexual orientation be granted the same legal entitlements under the Austrian Federal Nazi Victims Compensation Act as other victim groups have. These attempts have failed until this very day due to the fierce resistance of the Christian-Democratic People’s Party (ÖVP) and the right-wing Freedom Party (FPÖ). Kurt Krickler tells the details of this very long chronicle of shame. Download PDF.
Background Articles
The special edition of LAMBDA-Nachrichten accompanying the exhibition sheds light on specific aspects of the Nazi persecution of lesbians and gays. The various articles can be downloaded here as PDF files (in German).
In her contribution “Lesbian and National Socialism”, Gudrun Hauer is examining blind spots in the theory discourse on fascism. A comprehensive bibliography on lesbians and National Socialism is included as an appendix. Download PDF.
Two other contributions likewise deal with the continuity of persecution even after the end of the Nazi regime. They describe the efforts of two men to receive compensation. One is the story of Josef K., the man on whose accounts the book of Heinz Heger, “The Men with the Pink Triangle”, is based (Download PDF). The other one is the story of Erwin Widschwenter who is one of two homosexual victims who at least have received some sort of compensation by the Republic of Austria under the law establishing the “National Fund for Victims of National Socialism” which was supposed to pay compensation to “forgotten” victims in financial need (Download PDF).
In 1984 the Austrian gay and lesbian movement mounted, in the former concentration camp of Mauthausen, the first memorial stone in the world to commemorate the homosexual victims of the Nazi regime. Commemorating and, in some instances, demonstrating for the recognition of this victim group have since become an integral part of HOSI Wien’s activities. A short survey of the highlights of this remembrance work is presented by Kurt Krickler in his article. Download PDF.
This special edition of LAMBDA-Nachrichten can be ordered at HOSI Wien for a small handling fee of € 4,-. It contains all these articles and the whole exhibition.