Rudolf Brazda
(June 26, 1913 - August 3, 2011)
Rudolf Brazda is known as the last pink triangle concentration camp survivor. He was born on June 26, 1913, in Meuselwitz, Germany. At 29 years old, Rudolf was deported to Buchenwald for violation of Paragraph 175. He remained silent about his experience for most of his life after liberation. Rudolf broke his silence at the age of 95. He spent the rest of his life inspiring people with his story.
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The essay below tells the story of one person. Read this introductory essay for an overview of the history of the Nazis' persecution of LGBTQ+ people.
This essay was written by Sam Ellyson, the Pink Triangle Legacies Project’s 2025 Public History Intern in Partnership with the Reiff Center for Human Rights and Conflict Resolution at Christopher Newport University. It is based on the important research of Paul-François Sylvestre and the staff at the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust and Arolsen Archives and on feedback from Gerard Koskovich. Thank you for your work in preserving queer history.
Rudolf Brazda is recognized by historians today as the last known pink triangle concentration camp survivor. After liberation, he spent the vast majority of his life quietly in Alsace, France, with his boyfriend, Edouard Mayer. In 2008, Rudolf was inspired by the unveiling of a memorial in Berlin dedicated to the Nazis’ gay victims. At the urging of friends, he broke his silence and told his story. Rudolf spent the rest of his life inspiring generations young and old to stay informed and fight back against prejudice and hatred.
Rudolf was born on June 26, 1913, the youngest son of a family of Czech origin living in the German town of Meuselwitz. Both his parents, Emil and Anna Erneker Brazda, worked in the coal mining industry. Rudolf suffered tragedy early on in his life after his father died in a workplace accident. Rudolf was only seven years old.
Rudolf's family knew from early on that he was gay and always accepted him. He found a community among other gays and lesbians in Meuselwitz and nearby Atlenburg by frequenting local meeting houses and clubs. Despite the existence of Paragraph 175, Germany’s national anti-gay law, Rudolf recalled little discrimination in his home town and felt free to be himself. In 1933, the same year as Hitler’s rise to power, he met his first boyfriend, Werner. The two gave each other feminine nicknames in their relationship, Inge for Rudolf and Uschi for Werner. They moved into a small boarding house with a Jehovah’s Witness landlady who accepted their relationship. Shortly after getting settled in, Rudolf and Werner got married. Of course, their marriage was not legally recognized, but it was true and real to them. Rudolf's family even attended the ceremony as witnesses.
One of the first acts of Nazi violence that Rudolf experienced was at a popular gay meeting place in Leipzig, a coffee-shop called “New York.” Rudolf recalled, “The SA pulled us out, dragging us by our hair.” In 1937, he was arrested for violation of Paragraph 175 and sentenced to six months in prison, charged with “unnatural indecency between men.” The love letters Rudolf and Werner had written to each other were used as evidence against him. Werner, who had enlisted in the German military, was also soon arrested, and the two never heard from each other again.
After Rudolf was released from prison, he was deported to Czechoslovakia, a country unfamiliar to him. He soon moved to the German-speaking Sudetenland and found work as a roofer. After the Germans invaded the territory, Rudolf was arrested again under Paragraph 175 in 1941 and sentenced to fourteen more months in prison. While serving out his sentence, Rudolf was deported to Buchenwald Concentration Camp, where he was assigned the number 7952 and forced to bear the pink triangle. At twenty-nine years old, Rudolf was one of the youngest prisoners there. As soon as he was interned in the camp, he was subject to forced labor for a period that ultimately lasted 32 months.
Courtesy of Alexander Zinn.
Courtesy of Wolfgang Kumm.
Courtesy of Gérard Bohrer.
Courtesy of Alexander Zinn.
Rudolf recalled that throughout his internment at Buchenwald, guards violently beat him regularly. He witnessed the worst of humanity there. He once said, “Seeing people die became such an everyday thing, it left you feeling practically indifferent. Now, every time I think back on those terrible times, I cry. But back then, just like everyone in the camps, I had hardened myself so I could survive.”
Additionally, he formed communities within the camp. He said, “There are strong friendships, solidarity, mutual aid and humanity that prevail over barbarity.” Rudolf also expressed that he owed a lot of his survival to the assistance of kapos, prisoners with supervisory roles, in the camp. The kapo overseeing Rudolf’s roofer kommando, or detachment, fell in love with him and protected him from deportation to the dreaded Dora subcamp after Rudolf stood up for himself to an SS guard. Another kapo hid him next to a pigsty to prevent him from being subjected to a death march to another camp. He remained hidden until Buchenwald was liberated by American forces on April 11, 1945.
After liberation, Rudolf followed a friend to Alsace, France, where the German dialect of Alsatian was widely spoken. In the 1950s, he met his life partner, 18-year-old Edouard (Edi) Mayer, at a costume ball. Rudolf became a naturalized citizen of France in 1960 and lived out the majority of his life without talking about his experiences as a pink triangle prisoner. In 1965, Rudolf and Edi visited the Buchenwald memorial site, and although the visit brought back the worst memories of his life, he was able to confide in his partner. He is quoted as saying, “What does it matter now! We are together, and that is all that matters.” Rudolf and Edi stayed together for 30 years. After Edi was injured in a workplace accident, Rudolf took care of him until Edi died in 2003.
When Rudolf heard about the unveiling of a memorial to homosexual victims of the Nazi regime in 2008, he was inspired to tell the world that he, a pink triangle survivor, still lived. From then on out, he devoted his life to speaking out against intolerance and discrimination and encouraged others to do the same. Because of his advocacy, he was awarded the gold medals of the French cities of Toulouse, Nancy, and Puteaux. Additionally, he was appointed a Knight in the National Order of the Legion of Honor in France in 2011. His story led to the writing and publication of two biographies about his life—one in French and one in German.
On August 3, 2011, Rudolf died peacefully at 98 in Bantzenheim, France. He is remembered as someone who had great optimism and an innate ability to see only the good side of things. In his final years, he stated, “If I finally speak, it’s for people to know what we homosexuals had to endure in Hitler’s days…. It shouldn’t happen again.”
Sources & Further Reading
“Rudolf Brazda.” Holocaust Memorial Day Trust.
“Rudolf Brazda: ‘They didn't destroy me.’” Arolsen Archives. (July 5, 2021).
Sylvestre, Paul-François,“Témoignage du dernier survivant homosexuel de la déportation nazie.” l-express.ca. (July 20, 2010).
Hevesi, Dennis, “Rudolf Brazda, Who Survived Pink Triangle, Is Dead at 98.” The New York Times. (August 5, 2011).
For Citation
Sam Ellyson, "LGBTQ+ Stories from Nazi Germany: Rudolf Brazda." (2025) pinktrianglelegacies.org/brazda
(Updated August 2025)