Honors College Thesis
 

The Politics of Homophobia: Examining the Intersection of Political Expediency and Nazi Ideology

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https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/honors_college_theses/6969z815s

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  • Homosexual men in Nazi Germany experienced legal and social oppression that was rooted in both the cultural homophobia of Twentieth Century Germany and the existential homophobia of high-ranking Nazi officials. However, the Nazi Regime’s enforcement of homonegative policy was not unilateral, often ignoring the actions of members of Nazi-affiliated groups. This inconcsistency often resulted in leniency for party insiders, and brutality for gay men in occupied territory, and Nazi-era policy, reinforced by cultural homophobia, left a lasting effect on the legal treatment of gay men in West Germany. By using public comments and private correspondence, this paper explores the existential homophobia of Himmler, his influence on Hitler and the Nazi carceral system, and the inconsistencies of the Regime’s criminal enforcement of homonegative policies. Furthermore, by utilizing the memoirs of gay men, this paper explores the impact of homonegative policy on homosexual men that lacked proximity to power. Lastly, this paper utilizes court records and firsthand accounts to explore the post-war treatment of gay men in West Germany. This paper seeks to not only explain the origins and outcomes of Nazi homonegative policy, but also to understand patterns of homonegative rhetoric in order to combat queerphobic policies in our own society.
  • Keywords: Nazi Germany, Holocaust, fascism, genocide, homosexuality, homonegativity, queer history, LGBTQ history, West Germany, World War II
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