Paragraph 175 Summary

Paragraph 175 draws upon the testimony of five homosexuals who survived the Holocaust. Gad Beck, Annette Eick, Heinz Dormer, and Pierre Seel are some of the all-but-vanished homosexual survivors who speak of the horror of the Nazi purge of homosexuals. Narrated by Rupert Everett, Paragraph 175 highlights the experiences of those homosexuals who were persecuted during the Holocaust. Paragraph 175 takes its title from a portion of the German penal code enacted in 1871: ''An unnatural sex act committed between persons of male sex or by humans with animals is punishable by imprisonment; the loss of civil rights may also be imposed.'' Using new and archival film, family photographs and narration, and interviews of those homosexuals who experienced

In 1933, Hitler became chancellor and by 1945, the war had ended. Klaus Muller expresses that about 100,000 men were arrested for homosexuality between 1933 and 1945, about half were sentenced to prison, 10,000 to 15,000 were sent to concentration camps, and by 1945 only about 4,000 of those in the camps had survived. Of the eight known to be alive, six appear in Paragraph 175. One of the first encounters seen in Paragraph 175 was of Pierre Seel. Seel was reluctant to do the interview with Muller since he had sworn that he would never shake hands with a German. However, because he campaigned for the recognition of homosexual victims of the Holocaust, his attitude changed. It was difficult for Seel to speak of his experiences during the Holocaust because they were traumatizing. From watching his camp friend get eaten by German Shephard dogs, to having wood shoved in him, one could see why he would not want to recall those memories. 'I am ashamed for humanity,'' says Pierre Seel as he looks solemnly at Muller. These sources are important to Paragraph 175 becomes it brings to light a hidden truth of the Holocaust through the experiences of a homosexual Holocaust survivor and a German

Despite his attempts, Manfred relinquished his freedom in order to be with the only people he had left. Beck spoke of when he was just 10 when the Nazis came to power, and quickly became the target of anti-Semitic comments: "Can I sit somewhere else, not next to Gad? He has such stinking Jewish feet." This source provides insight on how quickly people were influenced by Hitler’s regime. Despite Beck’s age and the age of his classmates, they were exposed to racism and discrimination. This is an important detail in Paragraph 175, for it reveals how merciless people were to all who were perceived to be inferior. In fact, according to Geoffrey J. Giles, “The Persecution of Gay Men and Lesbians during the Third Reich”, Dr Magnus Hirschfeld was a Jewish sexologist who spoke of awareness, especially of suicide, however, was accused of a homosexual who was destroying the German youth. This kind of propaganda was used against those who were perceived of as a homosexual, which led to the discrimination of anyone who can