The Hidden Holocaust?: Gay and Lesbian Persecution in Germany 1933-45 [Hardcover]

Günter Grau (Editor), Claudia Shoppmann (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1995

The persecution of lesbians and gay men by the Nazis is a subject that has been constantly debated during the last decade, providing a theme for books, articles, and plays. Until recently the discussion has remained speculative: most of the relevant documents were stored in closed East German archives, and access was denied to scholars and researchers. As a result of the unification of East and West Germany, these archives are now open. Hidden Holocaust? , by the German scholars Gnnter Grau and Claudia Shoppmann of Humboldt University in Berlin, is a compilation (with commentary) of these formerly unseen/unpublished documents and is organized as a year-by-year record of the Nazi terror under which gay minorities were forced to live during 1933-1945 and thereafter: the anti-gay discrimination act under which the Nazis operated was not repealed until 1994, and the Bonn government refused to recognize lesbians and gay men as victims of the Holocaust until the late 1980s. Grau and Shoppmann demonstrate that the eradication of homosexuals was a declared goal of the Nazis even before they took power in 1933, and provide proof of systematic anti-gay campaigns, expose the methods used to justify discrimination, and detail the incarceration, mutilation, and murder of gay men and women in Nazi concentration camps. A chilling but ground-breaking work in gay and lesbian studies.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This book of documents traces the anti-homosexual policies of Germany from 1933 to 1945 and the consequences of these policies. Included are documents dealing with gay men in concentration camps. Grau (Humboldt Univ., Berlin) contributes a seven-page essay on the subject and historian Claudia Schoppmann writes an eight-page essay on "The Position of Lesbian Women in the Nazi Period." Grau notes that this book does not contain every important item on the subject, since some Gestapo and police files were either lost or destroyed near the end of the war. Grau provides some introductions to the documents, but, in the main, the records speak for themselves. This book would be useful in academic libraries with large Holocaust collections.?Dennis L. Noble, Sequim, Wash.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

This is an excellent text for the casual and serious reader interested in primary source material related to homosexuals in Nazi Germany and those concerned about Holocaust studies. Recommended.
–Academic Library Book Review

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; Ill edition (February 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 188496415X
• ISBN-13: 978-1884964152
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,288,796 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)