There have been so many inquiries about the Life of Magnus Hirschfeld, that I included various links to sites about his life and gay/lesbian history. For more information, click below (and use your "BACK" button to return to this site).
SIDEWALK AND PART OF A RIVER RIVER TO BE NAMED FOR HIRSCHFELD IN BERLIN
From: Rex Wockner
>Subject: WOCKNER/INT'L NEWS #229
A planned sidewalk at the future chancellor's office in Berlin
will be named after sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld, believed by
many to be the world's first gay activist.
In 1897, Hirschfeld founded Berlin's Scientific-Humanitarian
Committee. According to historian David Bianco, the group lobbied
legislators, published journals and magazines, and counseled gays
and lesbians dealing with issues of discrimination and coming
out. The committee was smashed by the Nazis when they came to
power and Hirschfeld's 35 years of work was burned.
To mark the 75th Anniversary of the May 10, 1933 destruction of Dr. Hirschfeld's Institute, Berlin named a section of the Spree River after him.
Allen Schindler, the gay
sailor murdered in a men's room by his shipmates
Matthew Shepard - (age 21) 1998 Wyoming, was beaten to death.
Harvey Milk - San Francisco, 1979, was shot at City Hall.
Brandon Teena
Alan Turing - comitted suicide after being exposed as being gay. He was considered an early pioneer in the computer field.
Josh Belluardo (age 13)who was called a faggot by his murderer who also said, "gay people deserve to die" when he beat Josh to death (Canton Georgia 1998).
"Marsha P. Johnson" whose body in 1992 was found near the Christopher Street pier in NYC.
Donald Scott Fuller (a/k/a Lauryn Page)was stabbed to death in Austin Texas on January 8, 1999. He was 18 years old and often wore make-up and dressed as a woman. The police have not yet decided if this was a hate crime.
Billy Jack Gaither who was beaten to death and then set on fire on February 19, 1999 in Coosa County, Alabama.
WORLD-WIDE MEMORIALS AND MONUMENTS FOR HOMOSEXUALS WHO WERE KILLED DURING THE NAZI ERA
Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn New York.
[July 25, 2012] AFTER A 16 YEAR ENDEAVOR, NEW YORK CITY HAS 5 STONE MARKERS IN THE SHEEPSHEAD BAY HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL PARK TO TELL THE STORY OF WHAT HAPPENED TO THE HOMOSEXUAL COMMUNITY (AND OTHER VICTIMS) DURING THE NAZI ERA. READ ABOUT THE STORY BY CLICKING ON THE BOX BELOW.
New York City, Congregation Beth Simchat Torah [CBST], the world's largest gay and lesbian synagogue, has chosen a work of art by the artist Noreen Dean Dresser. Unveiling of memorial was in May 1999. A picture of this memorial is shown earlier on this webpage.
Bolgnia
Anchorage, Alaska: (It is not necessarily just for gays killed during the Holocaust... but I thought it of interest to include)There is a gay memorial monument in the US. It is located in the Municipal Cemetery (corner of E. 6th Avenue & Fairbanks Street) in Anchorage, Alaska > and was dedicated on May 23, 1999. The monument is made of gray granite with a pink granite triangle inset into the upper-left corner. The inscription reads: "Your Spirit Lives on, in Love, Peace and Pride". The monument was given to the Anchorage gay community through the love and generosity of Dan Cook AKA Empress XVIII Cherresse, H.I.M. Peggy Murphy, and Emperor VII.
Tel Aviv, Israel. In addition to an exhibit at Yad V'Shem in Jerusalem, a monument honoring the homosexual men and women who were persecuted due to their sexual orientation and perished during the Holocaust is to be established in Meir Garden in Tel Aviv, according to Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai.
Los Angeles Times, Page 1 Column One: January 19, 1999 Article
The LA Times covered a story about how the Disabled Rights Advocates are also trying to have the story of what happened to the disabled community included in Holocaust Memorials and Museums. The person got the idea from hearing a NPR radio show over the controversy of including what happened to the homosexual community during the Nazi Era in the "Museum of Jewish Heritage - A living Tribute to the Holocaust" in Battery Park City, New York, NY. The article specifically mentions our Association and our endeavors to tell the entire history of the Holocaust.
There are also several museums that contain exhibits that mention what happened to the homosexual community during the Naz Era. This list is also in formation:
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum - Washington D.C.
Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Tribute to the Holocaust - New York City
Schwules Museum - Germany
Sachenhausen
Museum of Tolerance - Los Angeles
Yad V'shem in Jerusalem, Israel
Jewish Museum - Holland (has a gay exhibit)
Imperial War Museum - planned for 2000
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 This is taken from www.cnn.com
Gay Holocaust Victims to Be Honored in First Official Ceremony
BERLIN (AP) -- Holocaust memorial day services at the former Sachsenhausen concentration camp will remember homosexual victims of the Nazis, the first official commemoration of the estimated 10,000 gays persecuted during World War II.
Wednesday's program, which includes a wreath-laying ceremony and lectures, is designed to honor a group organizers say has long been overlooked because of prejudice against homosexuals.
"There were different groups of victims, but all were victims and all should be commemorated in the same way. There should be no discrimination between groups of Nazi victims," said Horst Seferens, spokesman for the memorial at the former Sachsenhausen camp.
Sachsenhausen had about 1,000 homosexual inmates, more than other concentration camps because of its proximity to Berlin, which had a thriving gay culture in the 1920s, Seferens said. By the 1930s, the slightest glance or kiss between men was enough to warrant incarceration in a Nazi camp.
Identified by pink triangles on their uniforms, gay prisoners were isolated in separate housing and subjected to particularly hard labor. Many were forced to toil in the Nazi's brick making factory at the camp under the slogan "hard work will make you masculine."
Occasionally, Nazi camp officials allowed gay musicians to perform for other prisoners, Seferens said, one reason that Thursday's ceremonies will include a concert by a Berlin gay men's choir.
Less is known about gays than other Nazi victims, in part because the continuing stigma against homosexuals makes gay concentration camp survivors reluctant to speak publicly about their experiences, said Seferens. "They don't attend these memorials, and I doubt they ever will," he said. The harsh Nazi law criminalizing homosexuality remained on the books in Germany long after the war.
Since the institution of Holocaust Memorial day three years ago, Sachsenhausen has planned programs honoring the so-called "forgotten" victims of the Nazis. Last year's theme was Jehovah's Witnesses.
Members of Berlin's gay community welcomed the program as a first step toward homosexuals receiving the same acknowledgment as other victims -- including financial compensation given to Jews and others.
Under pressure to compensate World War II slave laborers, Germany's new center-left government vowed in October also to set up a fund for the "forgotten victims" -- including gays.
MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS OF THE PINK TRIANGLE COALITION:
Agudah (Association of Gay Men, Lesbians, and Bisexuals in Israel)
European Region of the International Lesbian and Gay Association
Homosexuelle Initiative Vienna
International Association of Lesbian and Gay Children of Holocaust Survivors
International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission
Lesben- und Schwulenverband Deutschland
Magnus Hirschfeld Gesellschaft
Mémorial de la Déportation Homosexuelle
Pink Cross, Switzerland
World Congress of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Jews
Historical Reference From ILGA EuroLetter 59:
ILGA-EUROPE JOINS THE PINK TRIANGLE COALITION
By Kurt Krickler
At a two-day meeting held in Berlin, 21-22 February 1998, the
"Pink Triangle Coalition - An International Coalition for
Co-ordinating Affairs Related to the Nazi Persecution of Gay Men
and Lesbians" was informally established by representatives of
the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission
(IGLHRC), the World Congress of Gay and Lesbian Jewish
Organisations (WCGLJO), ILGA-Europe, Pink Cross (Switzerland),
and Homosexuelle Initiative (HOSI) Wien (Austria). Several
German scientists and researchers also attended the meeting but
no representative from "Schwulenverband in Deutschland", the
national German gay organisation, which will also be invited to
join the Coalition, as will be the International Organisation of
Lesbian/Gay Children of Survivors. There are no plans for the
time being, however, to make the Coalition into a formal
organisation.
The main purpose of the Coalition is to represent the gay and
lesbian interests and concerns vis-Ö-vis the two recently
established funds, e.g., the "Swiss Fund for Needy Victims of
the Holocaust/Shoah" and the "International Fund for Needy
Victims of Nazi Persecution" set up in the context of the London
Conference on Nazi Gold in December 1997 by the British
Government and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. While the
Swiss Fund is fed by monies (275 million CHF) provided by the
Swiss Government and Swiss banks (not to confuse with the funds
in "ownerless accounts" in Swiss banks), the International Fund
will be fed by money given by donor countries which can also
have a say how to use their donations.
ILGA-Europe member Pink Cross is represented in the respective
body of the Swiss Fund, established in February 1997. Pink Cross
is also dealing with applications from gay men (and hopefully
lesbians) because individual claims cannot be made directly to
the Fund but only through one of the organisations representing
victim groups. Until today, five gay men persecuted by the Nazis
have filed applications to the Swiss Fund via Pink Cross. All
five have been granted financial assistance, e.g., 2,000 CHF
each, which is not really a huge sum.
It was, however, not so easy to establish a gay/lesbian
representation at the "International Fund". Therefore, there
have already been contacts between WCGLJO, IGLHRC, ILGA-Europe
and Pink Cross in late summer 1997 in order to establish an
international coalition, and this "Coalition", which had no name
yet at that time, approached the London Conference on Nazi Gold
in the beginning of December 1997. WCGLJO and "Coalition"
representative Jack Gilbert, however, was refused to attend the
London Conference. Therefore, the persecution of gays and
lesbians in the Nazi era was completely ignored by the
conference. That's why the Coalition has prepared a Paper -
titled "Nazi Persecution of Gay Men and Lesbians" - to be
included in the Final Report of the London Conference on Nazi
Gold. In order to have it included, this Paper had to be
submitted by another NGO that attended the meeting. This was
done by the European Jewish Congress.
Another issue with the International Fund is to get the Pink
Triangle Coalition on the Annex B List of Recognised NGOs for
the purposes of the fund as established in London. The purpose
is twofold: 1. to support "needy" victims individually, and 2.
to support education about the Holocaust/Shoah. Each donor
country will designate how they wish their contribution to be
distributed but only to the NGOs on this list. The Coalition
will now have to convince at least one donor country to request
the Coalition to be added to this Annex B List. And for that,
the Coalition must convince this country that it is in a
position to distribute monies under those two criteria. To
complicate things, Pink Cross is already on this list but, of
course, the Coalition is striving to get on the list as such.
In this context, ILGA-Europe is looking for needy victims of the
Nazi regime, "needy" meaning that they leave below or just at
poverty line in their country. There are great chances that
their applications will be accepted at both Funds. Additionally,
we invite ILGA-Europe members to come forward with proposals for
educational projects on the Holocaust/Shoah (exhibitions,
seminars, lectures, commemorative sites, etc.) which could be
submitted especially to the International Fund.
More information is available from Kurt Krickler, HOSI Wien,
Novaragasse 40, A-1020 Vienna; Tel./Fax: +43-1-5451310; e-mail:
hosiwien@via.at
>=====================================================
Sydney Levy
Research and Advocacy Director
International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission
1360 Mission St, Ste 200
San Francisco, CA 94103
USA
Phone: +1-415-255-8680
Fax: +1-415-255-8662
Email: sydney@iglhrc.org
Check out our website at http://www.iglhrc.org/
*The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission* is a non-profit
humanitarian organization that monitors, documents, and mobilizes urgent
responses to human rights violations against lesbians, gay men, bisexuals,
the transgendered, and people with HIV and AIDS worldwide.
Julie Dorf
Executive Director
International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission
1360 Mission Street, Suite 200
San Francisco, CA 94103 USA
Tel. +1-415-255-8680
Fax +1-415-255-8662
email: Julie@iglhrc.org
Check out our website at http://www.iglhrc.org/
The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) is a
US-based, non-profit, non-governmental organization that protects and
advances the fundamental human rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals,
transgendered people, people living with HIV or AIDS, and other sexual
minorities throughout the world. Established in 1990, IGLHRC responds to
human rights violations on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity
and HIV sero-status through documentation, advocacy, coalition building,
public education, technical assistance and internal development.
DR. MAGNUS HIRSCHFELD
Tel Aviv, Israel. In addition to an exhibit at Yad V'Shem in Jerusalem, a monument honoring the homosexual men and women who were persecuted due to their sexual orientation and perished during the Holocaust is to be established in Meir Garden in Tel Aviv, according to Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai.