Paragraph 175

An aspect of the Reichstag Criminal Code, made in 1871, that made homosexuality a crime. Since the 1890's sexual reformers fought against the "disgraceful paragraph", and soon won the support of leading Social Democrats, some Liberals, and the Communist Party. In 1929, a Reichstag Committee voted to repeal Paragraph 175. However, the Nazi rise to power prevented its implementation.

In 1935, the Nazis exacerbated the law so that the police could pursue any homosexual act whatsoever (even an embrace or a kiss). Convictions multiplied by a number of ten to about 8,000 per annum. Even more, the Gestapo could carry off gay people into concentration camps without any legal justification at all (no matter if they had been acquitted or already served their sentence in jail). Thus, between 5,000 and 15,000 homosexual men were not (or not only) imprisoned, but (later also) forced into concentration camps, where they had to wear the pink triangle. The majority of them died there.

In 1945, when concentration camps were liberated, gays were not freed but made to serve out their sentence under Paragraph 175. In 1950, East Germany abolished Nazi amendments to Paragraph 175, whereas West Germany kept them and had them even confirmed by its supreme court. About 100,000 men were implicated in legal proceedings from 1945 to 1969, and about 50,000 were convicted (if they had not committed suicide before, as many did). But in 1969, Social Democrats eased Paragraph 175 to an age of consent of 21. It was lowered to 18 in 1973, and finally repealed in 1994. East Germany reformed its more lenient version of the paragraph already in 1968, and repealed it in 1988.