Gay Rights During The Holocaust Essay

When discussing the Holocaust, more often than not, people only understand the struggles of the Jewish population. While it is obviously necessary and important to be knowledgeable on the horrors inflicted upon them, it is also crucial to grasp the plight of the Gay community during the Holocaust. Not only were they the prisoners subjected to some of the most cruel and inhumane treatment, but more often than not the community’s history is completely ignored by the education system. Due to this, it is critical that one is made aware of their dilemma. Prior to Hitler’s reign, the Gay rights movement was gaining remarkable traction in a fairly liberal German society. All of this was subject to change, however, when he came to power. Hitler convinced

While social methods of conversion therapy were tried, when they failed, soldiers turned to medical experiments. Multiple different medical experiments were used on homosexual inmates, including chemical castration, and hormone therapies. Castration was offered to inmates as a trade for their imprisonment. Criminal Justice Offices viewed castration as a “cure” for “sexual deviance,” and would allow prisoners their freedom if they agreed to the procedure. Chemical castration, however, had the potential to develop dangerous ailments for the men, often times resulting in their deaths (Persecution of Homosexuals in the Third Reich, 1). Hormone therapy was equally as dangerous. At the time, Nazi scientists had the belief that homosexuality was a result of a deficiency of testosterone, or an excess in estrogen. A Danish SS doctor named Vaernet claimed he had developed a hormonal implant capable of curing homosexuality, and was given the proper funds and laboratory space to test his research. His results showed that the hormones had no impact on the test subjects sexual orientation, but instead led the inmates to develop a variety of dangerous ailments (Austin, 1). Gay inmates faced specially tailored scientific experiments, which often resulted in the harm of those