Digital Essays & Articles

These articles written for general audiences provide an introduction to the history of queer people in Nazi Germany as well as in-depth studies of particular themes.

The Nazi Persecution of Queer People

This historical essay from the Pink Triangle Legacies Project provides an overview of how and why the Nazis targeted queer people in Germany. (January 2024)

Queer History and the Holocaust

This essay provides a concise historiographical overview of the key developments in the literature on queer Holocaust victims. By Dr. Anna Hájková. Notches: (Re)Marks on the History of Sexuality. (January 22, 2019)

Sexuality and the Holocaust

This essay demonstrates how studying gender and sexuality gives us tools to examine the dynamics of unequal relationships and the stabilizing and destabilizing effects of intimacy during the Holocaust. By Dr. Anna Hájková. Oxford University Press Blog (March 11, 2018)

Gay Men under the Nazi Regime

This essay from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum provides an introductory overview of the Nazis’ persecution of gay men. (May 2021)

Lesbians under the Nazi Regime

This essay from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum provides an introductory overview of the Nazis’ persecution of lesbians. (May 2021)

Paragraph 175 and the Nazi Campaign against Homosexuality

This essay from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum provides an introductory overview to Paragraph 175, Germany’s national anti-sodomy law that the Nazis used to prosecute queer men. (May 2021)

To suggest an essay to be added to this page, please email jake@pinktrianglelegacies.org.