In 2005, the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 60/7, establishing January 27th as International Holocaust Remembrance Day to commemorate the millions who suffered at the hands of the Nazi regime during WWII. This resolution also promoted the forming of educational programs to prevent further genocide and reaffirmed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, stating that “everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.”

Now, every year on January 27th, we remember the victims of Nazism, the impact music had on those suffering in the Holocaust, and the thousands of victims left out of history books.

The Nazi regime killed over 6 million Jewish people, but that was not the total extent of their reach. They also hunted down minority groups that had been facing persecution for years, including members of the LGBTQ+ community, Romani people, and others deemed  “socially abhorrent” by the Nazi party. 

Upon liberation from the Nazi concentration camps, many of these “socially abhorrent” victims did not get the recognition they deserved. Instead, they continued to be hunted and ostracized from society until many years later, leading them to be written out of history books and nearly forgotten.

Persecution of Gay (LGBTQ+) People in Nazi Germany

Even before WWII, Germany had outlawed sexual contact between men, deeming it “immoral.” Paragraph 175 of the German Criminal Code was established in 1871 to prohibit homosexual contact, but each governing body after that enforced it with a different level of severity. In fact, during the Weimar Republic (1918-1933), the LGBTQ+ community experienced a sense of liberty as German politicians questioned whether the criminalization of homosexual individuals was necessary at all. 

However, there were many who opposed homosexuality, including the radical Nazi party, who claimed that sexual relations between men would “lead to the disintegration of the German people.”

Thus, a couple of years after Hitler’s rise to power, he expanded Paragraph 175 to ban a broad range of “lewd and lascivious” behavior between men, making such acts punishable by imprisonment. Homosexuality among women was not punished with the same level of severity because the Nazi regime decided lesbian women could be convinced or forced to help grow the “pure” German race. Hitler’s changes to Paragraph 175 put a stop to the humanitarian advancements that were just beginning to take root in German society.

With the new adaptation of Paragraph 175, Hitler was able to purge the flourishing LGBTQ+ subculture and send thousands of gay men to concentration camps. Upon arriving at the camps, these men were forced to wear pink triangles (or ‘die Rosa-Winkel’) as a part of the prisoner marking system and were therefore easily targeted. 

Along with another group, called “asocials” (a portion of prisoners made up of Roma, nonconformists, and other sub-groups), the gay men were not only tortured by the guards, but also outcasted by other inmates due to widespread prejudice. At that point in history, gay men were not only victims of the Holocaust, but they were also cast out from society by nearly everyone

Mass Killings of LGBTQ+ People

Out of the estimated 100,000 men that were arrested and tried for homosexuality during World War II, about 50% were sent to prison or extermination camps. But because these men were considered criminals, even after their liberation from the Nazis, they were often sent back to prison and their stories were discarded by still-prejudice people. 

They were condemned by society and not acknowledged as true victims of the Holocaust for years, despite their staggering death tolls and long term physical and emotional damage. Gay men in concentration camps were often handpicked for the most brutal hard labor tasks, selected for horrific experiments, sexually assaulted by guards, degraded, sterilized, and castrated.

Instead of sending them to the gas chambers, Nazi guards were ordered to drag out their suffering and as such, they often killed them by way of hard labor. No one knows how many gay men were killed during the Holocaust, but experts estimate around 65% died. Whether by suicide or the Nazi soldiers.

It wasn’t until about 50 years after the end of WWII, on June 11, 1994, that Paragraph 175 was finally cast out from the statute book, officially reinstating homosexual rights in Germany. After over a century of persecution and social injustice, people of the LGBTQ+ community could openly love whomever they chose without fear.

What Role Did Music Play in the Holocaust?

Researchers have found historical documentation of musicians and LGBTQ+ composers who brought music to ghetto camps and concentration camps during WWII. This music brought hope and joy to those suffering from some of the worst war crimes in human history. 

One such musician was Yankele Hershkowitz, who, upon being deported to the Łódź ghetto, soon became a crowd favorite. He would sing in the streets, courtyards, and even factories for food and his neighbors would happily oblige him. 

Eventually, he was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and then various other labor camps, where he continued composing songs until he was liberated in 1945. He then returned to Łódź, where he lived out the rest of his life until he died in 1972. To this day, his many published songs continue to inspire Holocaust survivors and everyone else who listens.

Singing Took Place on Several Occasions

Music came in many forms to concentration camps; some were less pleasant than others. A few of those included:

• Singing on command. Knowing that many of the prisoners valued music, Nazi guards often used it as a tool to mock them. They forced inmates to sing during marches, after long work days when they were barely conscious, or whenever they wanted entertainment.

• Official camp orchestras. It became popular among concentration camps to gather prisoners who were amateur musicians or singers to form an official orchestra commanded by the guards. These ensembles performed a greater variety of music than the on-command singing and the musicians were generally treated better than other inmates. However, they were forced to play for not only German holidays and daily announcements, but also for public executions, for the “selection process” so that newly-arrived prisoners did not expect they were about to go directly to their death, and sometimes, they were forced to play near the crematorium as prisoners were being marched inside.

• Spontaneous music. When music was initiated by inmates, it took on a more positive connotation. Performing music for themselves or for other inmates gave them a sense of confidence and reminded them of what their lives were once like while providing them with a diversion from their daily lives.

• Block performances. After the guards had pulled away from the camps for the night, prisoners were often able to gather together in barracks to perform music and skits. This also gave them opportunities to secretly gather for political meetings, though someone always stayed on watch.

Though the Nazi guards tried to ruin a greatly cherished art form for the prisoners, they did not succeed. Instead, inmates found great solace in songs and performances, choosing to let its promise of better days push them through a seemingly hopeless time.

Takeaways

International Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27th, marks the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, which was once the largest Nazi concentration camp. This day is now a reminder to the world of how dangerous hatred, racism, bigotry, and prejudice are to mankind.

Additionally, it has empowered minority groups who faced Nazi persecution to stand up for their right to live freely. When the AIDS crisis struck and gay men were once again being targeted and persecuted unfairly, the ACT-UP organization used the upside-down pink triangle and turned it right side up to remind people of what could happen again. In their manifesto, they declared that “silence about the oppression and annihilation of gay people, then and now, must be broken as a matter of our survival.” 

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