Oral History Testimonies
These oral histories provide a first-person account of how the Nazis’ violent campaign against queer communities impacted individuals.
Kitty Fischer on a Gay Male Rescuer
Kitty Fischer recounts her time in Auschwitz-II Birkenau when as a young girl she encounters for the first time a gay male prisoner who will turn out to save her life. Copyright USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education.
(Runtime: 8 mins 30 secs)
Gay Survivor Stefan Kosinsi
After his arrest in September 1942, Stefan Kosinski was incarcerated while awaiting his trial. In this clip, he recounts the conditions in the jail and his memory of seeing his mother out the window of his jail cell keeping vigil. She is also present during his trial before the Nazi court, which sentences Stefan to five years hard labor. Copyright USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education.
(Runtime: 7 mins 45 secs)
Albrecht Becker on Queer Life
in 1934 Germany
Albrecht Becker recounts the atmosphere for gays in Nazi Germany while Röhm was still in charge of the SA and how the relative freedom he enjoyed during that time changed dramatically after Röhm’s assassination in June 1934. Copyright USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education.
(Runtime: 2 mins 45 secs)
Douglas Fox Rescued
by Gay Prisoner
Thanks to the quick response of a gay prisoner at the Oranienburg-Heinkelwerke labor camp (a sub-camp of Sachsenhausen), Douglas Fox escaped from a line of transferred prisoners who were unknowingly being given a lethal injection upon their arrival. Copyright USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education.
(Runtime: 1 min 20 secs)
Surviving Together: Queer Holocaust Survivor Margot Heumann
In this 1994 testimony, Margot Heuman talks often about her friendship with Dita when they were both teenagers in the Theresienstadt ghetto. In the 2010s, Margot told Holocaust historian Dr. Anna Hájková that Dita was, in fact, the love of her life. Watch Margot's 1994 interview here. USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education. View the Pink Triangle Legacies Project's profile kit on Margot Heuman.
(Runtime: 2 hrs 18 mins)
Curator's Corner:
Frieda Belinfante
Frieda Belinfante was born in Amsterdam in 1904. Her father was Jewish but her mother was not. Trained as a musician, Frieda was one of the first female conductors. During the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, Frieda joined a Dutch resistance group. She forged identity documents for people hiding from the Nazis and their collaborators and helped to plan an attack on Amsterdam’s population registry. The US Holocaust Memorial Museum interviewed Frieda when she was 90 years old. This clip provides an overview of Frieda's story. Her full testimony can be viewed here. View the Pink Triangle Legacies Project's profile kit on Frieda Belinfante.
(Runtime: 3 mins 45 secs)
To suggest a resource to be added to this page, please email jake@pinktrianglelegacies.org.