The Men with the Pink Triangle: The True, Life-And-Death Story of Homosexuals in the Nazi Death Camps

by Heinz Heger

Book Overview

Finally back in print, the classic, powerful first-hand account of Nazi persecution of gay people.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1642598461
• ISBN13: 9781642598469
• Release Date: March 2023
• Publisher: Haymarket Books
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

A must-read book about the persecution of homosexuals during the Nazi years

I have to admit that though I have been well-acquianted with the Holocaust, I have not really delved into the persecution of gays by the Nazis. When I came across this book in my local library, I knew it was time to educate myself about the plight of this minority group that also suffered greatly under Hitler's Third Reich. "The Men with the Pink Triangle" is the true life account of a gay inmate of a German concentration camp who survived six years in Sachsenhausen and Flossenburg, from 1939-1945. However, he chose to remain anonymous due to the ongoing persecution of gays in his native Austria at the time the story was told, circa 1971-72. Though this is a thin volume, the horrors inflicted upon this victim and his fellow concentration camp inmates is truly horrific - the Nazis were intent on dehumanising these people - inflicting all sorts of torture, from heavy manual labor that was meaningless [shovelling snow with bare hands and moving it from one pile to the other with no purpose], the sadistic beatings inflicted on inmates [even a priest was not immune from this], and other atrocities. The book is also immensely valuable as it portrays the inner workings of the political hierarchy in these camps and how inmates stood a better chance of surviving if they played the 'game' correctly. For example, the narrator tells the story of the Polish 'dolly-boys' who allowed themselves to be used by high-ranking camp dignitaries in order to get more rations and better work conditions. The narrator himself admits to forming such 'attachments' in order to survive. The narrator plays the game so well, he even gets the promoted to the coveted position of Capo [sort of like a supervisor/foreman]. There is even an account of the SS trying to 'cure' homosexuals by forcing them to go on mandatory brothel visits, an experience that so put off the narrator that he desisted from ever having intercourse with a female. The memoir ends with liberation and the reunion between the narrator and his beloved mother. But he finds that prejudice against homosexuals is still prevalent in his native Austria and at the time the book was written, we are told that homosexuality was legalised in Austria in 1971. A well-written account of life as experienced by homosexuals in Nazi concentration camps.

A Moving and Powerful True Account of Survival

A sodomy law had been on the German law books since 1871, a law known simply as Paragraph 175. Only a few people were ever sentenced under this obscure law until June of 1935 when, after the rise of Hitler and Nazism, the Nuremberg laws were enacted and the consequences of Paragraph 175 strengthened. Where once before, you had to be caught in the act of same sex relations, now simply receiving a letter or the spreading of idle gossip would have you sent to a concentration camp."The Men with the Pink Triangle" is one anonymous man's account of the harshness and cruelty faced by gay men at the hands of the SS and the ruling Nazi party, as well as by the other prisoners -- criminals, politicals, emigrants -- who viewed "filthy queers" as lower than the rest of them. They were distinguished by the large, pink triangles sown onto their prison outfits, making them easy targets for taunts and punishments. Also, homosexuals labored through the worst of the work details and "volunteered" for medical experimentation, which usually resulted in their deaths.Some advantages also appeared for gay men. The "Capos" who were in charge of the prisoner barracks, often made lovers of some of the prisoners, giving them some protection and better rations and clothing. As is says in the book: "Homosexual behavior between two 'normal' men is considered an emergency outlet, while the same thing between two gay men, who both feel deeply for one another, is something 'filthy' and repulsive." The anonymous man used this to his advantage and survived the camps and the threat of being sent to the front lines.Ths is a moving and powerful story about survival and about the right to be who you are, during one of the darkest times in world history. Highly recommended.

A story that needs told more

I figure we teach school kids about the Jews suffering in the Holocaust, and the blacks struggle for Civil Rights. It would make sense that kids learn the dangers of homophobic bigotry, by reading this book. It will open your eyes! The same anti-gay stereotypes then, are the same ones now. This book is about a gay man who survived the Pink Triangle, and took him over 25 years to tell his story, as their were still many anti-gay laws on the books there. This man never wanted any public or economic gains from telling his story. In fact the Nazis had more contempt for the gays than they did the 'inferior racial groups' they persecuted.

A Poignant Reminder of a Forgotten Minority's Holocaust

Heinz Hegel's thin volume brims with the haunting facts surrounding the persecution of gays under Nazi Germany's Section 175 ruling against homosexuality. Hegel provides the shocking historical context which few of us were taught in school, that people even suspected of same gender love relationships were tortured and killed by the Nazi regime in concentration camps in the 1930s and 40s.This is a stirring testament of survival against all odds, peppered with humor, not overbearing in tone or content. It is also a fascinating quick read.While the reader can celebrate the fact that Hegel survived imprisonment in Nazi camps from '39-45, he closes the book by reminding us that "the progress of humanity" has passed by the minority to which he belonged. As of 1970, when Hegel's book was written, it was still illegal for people of the same gender to form love relationships in his native Austria. Furthermore, gays remain the only minority persecuted in Nazi camps omitted from remuneration by the German government. Even more shocking is the fact that the Nazis' desire to "cure" homosexuality, now balked at and dismissed by any credible mental health professional, is advocated in this day and age in the personage of the "shock jock," physiologist Laura Schlessinger (aka "Dr. Laura"). You would think that Ms. Schlessinger, an orthodox Jew, would learn from history.Perhaps others will through Hegel's masterpiece.

A classic holocaust biography.

Heinz Heger's book has become the definitive story of life as a 'pink triangle' in a concentration camp. Sadly this is partly because the Nazi's deliberate policy of murder of this group ensured few survived and also due to the understandable fear of those who did survive to tell their story. If you have read Primo Levi you should read this. It is more immediate than Levi's writings, and there is less analysis, making it all the more horrifying. He simply tells what happened, mentioning only his amazement at the hypocrisy and cruelty exhibited by his German captors. The only other book that comes near to it is 'Liberation Was For Others', by Pierre Seel, an autobiographical tale of life in Schirmeck-Vorbruch. Seel continues his story to the post-war period, pointing out that for homosexuals suffering did not end in 1945.