'The
Nameless Love'
Because still on the youthful wing
The scent of innocent beauty lies
That touched by a stranger scatters & dies -
This love must I tenderly sing.
Yet since you think it a dirty thing
Have dragged it through fear & infamy
And kept it under lock and key -
This love will I freely sing.
To love's persecuted my sing I bring
And to the outcasts of our time
Since happy or not this love is mine -
This love dare I loudly sing
by John Henry Mackay
1924 'Der Eigene'
Identity photos
of men imprisoned for violating paragraph 175- credit: Auschwitz museum
' There is a time for everything, and a season
for every activity under heaven:
a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to tear down and a time
to build,
a time to search and a time to give up, a time to be silent and
a time to speak.' Ecclesiastes 3:1-2
During the
Nazi period up to 100,000 gay men & women were persecuted &
imprisoned for their sexuality under Paragraph 175 of the German Penal
code. The Third Reich had no place for such 'deviants' & set out
a systematic strategy to rid itself of this 'poison'. About 15,000
were sent to concentration camps where, forced to wear the 'pink triangle',
as many as 60% lost their lives.
Those that did survive were subject to ongoing persecution in post-war
society & struggled hard to be recognized as victims of the Holocaust.
In 2005 very few of these witnesses are left to speak of their experiences
& in a few years there may be no survivors left. Their voices
call now to future generations to listen & learn ensuring their
plight does not slip quietly in to the realms of history alone.
While the contents of this site do not constitute easy reading, the
message remains simple: NEVER AGAIN.
Listen closely to these voices because they are calling to you…
