Queer & Trans Resistance in Nazi Germany
LGBTQ+ heroes, from left to right:
Willem Arondeus, Frieda Belinfante, and Gad Beck
Note on Terminology
People have long used a variety of terms to describe their gender expression and their sexual desires, activities, and identities. The Pink Triangle Legacies Project aims to be intentional in the language we use to describe LGBTQ+ people in the past and present. Throughout our resources, we use the terminology individuals used for themselves whenever possible. When that information is not available, we describe their actions. When referring collectively to LGBTQ+ people, we use the phrase queer and trans. While some use “queer” as an umbrella term that includes gender identity, we choose to name trans, nonbinary, and gender-expansive people explicitly—especially at a moment when their histories and lives are being targeted and erased. We recognize that some LGBTQ+ people find the term queer offensive because of its use as a slur, and they may never identify as queer. We respect that. In the spirit of transforming the pink triangle from a badge of imprisonment into a symbol of liberation, we join those who have reclaimed the term queer to destigmatize it, take away its power from those who use it as an insult, and fill it instead with respect, affirmation, and self-empowerment. We employ it as an inclusive and expansive term that encompasses gay, lesbian, bi, asexual, pansexual, and additional sexual identities, as well as people whose identities shift over time or who reject fixed categories altogether. If you are uncomfortable using the term queer, we invite you to use LGBTQ+ instead. Above all, we ask that we treat one another’s identities with respect.
In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the Nazi Party ran on a campaign to restore Germany to its former glory by building a “racially pure” National Community. This national community would only consist of strong, able-bodied men and women of the so-called Germanic Aryan race. The Nazis identified several groups of people who would not be allowed to stay in the German National Community.
First and foremost, the Nazis viewed Jews as their primary enemy. They did not view Jews as people with a different religion or culture. They believed that Jews were a different and inferior race. Ultimately, the Nazis’ antisemitic policies culminated in the genocide of 6 million Jews across Europe. Nazi leadership also argued that other groups posed a deep, racial threat to the German people. These included the Roma and Sinti, as well as people with disabilities. Once in power, the Nazis initiated the mass murder and genocide of 500,000 Roma and 300,000 Germans with disabilities.
The Nazis targeted other groups for their beliefs or actions. This included Soviet prisoners of war, political opponents, trade unionists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and others. According to Nazi ideology, these groups could be brutally punished and forced to change their behaviors so they could be reintegrated into the National Community. Others still, like Black people, were forced out of Germany, forcibly sterilized, and murdered.
The Nazi regime also made it clear that there would be no place for queer and trans people in the new National Community. They initiated the most violent attack on LGBTQ+ people in recorded history.
There were three primary reasons that the Nazis viewed queer and trans people as threats to the National Community: (1) They claimed that LGBTQ+ people didn’t do their “duty” of having children. In other words, they viewed homosexuality as a threat to the German birthrate. (2) They believed that “the homosexual lifestyle” reversed the “natural” gender roles by turning men feminine and women masculine. (3) They argued that queer and trans people would only be loyal to each other, not to the government.
Nazi leaders did not believe that people were born queer or trans. They believed that engaging in the “homosexual lifestyle” was a choice. Their policies against LGBTQ+ people, therefore, were officially aimed at “curing,” “converting,” or “reeducating” them, not killing them. But, as this essay demonstrates, the Nazis' anti-LGBTQ+ policies were violent and ultimately killed thousands of queer and trans people.
Out of everyone in the LGBTQ+ community, the Nazis viewed queer men to be the most dangerous. This was because men had access to positions of leadership in national politics, the economy, and the military. So, a queer man could “infiltrate” Nazi organizations and do damage in a way that a lesbian woman could not, because those leadership roles were not open to women. As a result, the Nazi regime focused most of its resources and efforts on hunting down and finding queer men. Evidence shows, though, that the Nazis also harassed, tortured, and arrested queer women and gender nonconforming people when they learned about their existence.
This essay focuses on the ways queer and trans people resisted the Nazi regime. Explore our additional thematic essays to learn how the Nazis treated other members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Queer and trans people in Germany didn’t just accept everything the Nazi regime did to them without fighting back. Resistance took many forms. Some entered into marriages of convenience (a gay man marrying a lesbian woman, for example) to try to blend in and escape scrutiny from neighbors and the government. Some chose to withdraw from public life or emigrate to other cities or countries. Others found creative ways to hide. For instance, one group of lesbian friends in Berlin established a fake rowing club to give themselves an alibi for why they continued to meet.
Gad Beck was gay and considered by the Nazis to be a “half-Jew.” He was 19 when he decided to actively resist the Nazis. He joined Chug Chaluzi, a Jewish resistance group in his hometown of Berlin that provided rations and helped hide and smuggle Jews to safety. Gad believed being gay assisted his resistance activities: “As a homosexual, I was able to turn to my trusted non-Jewish, homosexual acquaintances to help supply food and hiding places.”
Others resisted in more forceful ways. Frieda Belinfante was a musician in the Netherlands who also lived semi-openly as a lesbian. She joined an underground resistance movement that was led by a gay artist named Willem Arondeus. Together, their group forged tens of thousands of IDs to help hide Jews from the Nazis. They even bombed the Amsterdam Population Registry Office in March 1943 so that the Nazis couldn’t compare the forged IDs against the originals in the office.
Frieda escaped and survived, but Willem was caught and executed. His final words to his lawyer were: “Please let the world know that homosexuals are not cowards.”
For a full overview of the Nazi persecution of queer and trans people, read our introductory essay.
SOURCES
For a list of English-language, peer-reviewed sources used for this essay, visit the Pink Triangle Legacies Project's bibliography. For works in additional languages, visit the Bibliography on Lesbian and Trans Women in Nazi Germany (maintained by Dr. Anna Hájková)
Featured Profile
The following profile from our LGBTQ+ Stories from Nazi Germany initiative tells the true story of a lesbian musician who resisted the Nazi regime.
