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MECHELEN | Kazerne Dossin presents exhibition ‘Homosexuals and Lesbians in Nazi Europe’ – 16 February to 10 December 2023


Kazerne Dossin in Mechelen provides the short-term exhibit ‘ Homosexuals and Lesbians in Nazi Europe‘, which will range from Thursday 16 February to Sunday 10 December 2023.

In 2023, for the very first time in Belgium, a museum will install a sequential and thematic exhibit on the persecution of homosexuals and lesbians under the Third Reich. The exhibit will consist of a large selection of files, the majority of which have actually never ever existed in Belgium prior to. This exhibit, developed by the Shoah Memorial in Paris and finished by Kazerne Dossin, was produced under the clinical instructions of the historian Florence Tamagne

Although it has actually been the focus of top-notch historic research study for about thirty years, the fate of homosexual males and females throughout this duration, long a taboo topic, is still unidentified to the public. After The Second World War, couple of homosexual males and females spoke out about their experiences under the Nazi routine. In Germany, paragraph 175 of the Penal Code criminalizing sex in between males stayed in force after 1945, rejecting them the status of victims.

It was just with the increase of the gay and lesbian freedom motion in the 1970s that this chapter in history came out of the shadows, raising numerous concerns. What was the nature of the persecution? The number of individuals were impacted? Were all homosexuals targeted? What was the fate of lesbians? What locations were impacted? What are the very best methods of honoring the victims’ memory?

Through a range of files, the majority of which have actually never ever existed in Belgium prior to, the exhibit intends to respond to these concerns while putting the persecution of homosexual males and females under the Nazi routine into a long timeframe and a large geographical context. The scenario in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and France will get the most attention.

The early 20th century saw the blossoming of homosexual subcultures in the significant European capitals like Berlin and Paris along with the introduction of the very first activist motions.

A criminal activity

Yet homophobic bias, attracted particularly by the spiritual and medical facilities, stayed deeply established. Numerous nations criminalized male– however more hardly ever female– homosexuality. Nazi ideology settled in this fertile ground prior to being executed in a progressively extreme and repressive system reaching into every corner of society.

The exhibit will set out the different actions and techniques associated with this procedure.

Homosexual males and lesbians consulted with various fates. Some picked exile; others led a double life. In Germany, around 50,000 of the almost 100,000 homosexual males in the routine’s files were founded guilty. In between 5,000 and 15,000 were sent out to prisoner-of-war camp, where the majority of them passed away, although their fate might differ extensively depending upon the camp and the date of internment. With the exception of a couple of locations, such as Austria, lesbians stayed outside the province of the law. Some were deported as ‘asocials’ or ‘communists’.

Paragraph 175 used just to Germans and individuals residing in annexed areas, such as Alsace-Lorraine The fate of homosexuals in nations allied with Germany, such as Italy, or under its profession, might vary substantially.

Life stories will clarify this dark chapter in all its intricacy, for it has numerous elements. Homosexual males and females might likewise be Jews, members of resistance motions, even Nazi sympathizers.

One area in the exhibit will chart the sluggish procedure of acknowledgment, from the celebratory memorials and plaques that started to appear in the 1980s to institutional procedures, which have actually set a procedure of rehab and settlement in movement.

” There is a task to bear in mind the fate of homosexuals and lesbians in Nazi Europe, which has actually long been made undetectable. With the assistance of many initial files, this exhibit concentrates on their predicament under the Nazi routine, from stigmatization to persecution, and the battle for acknowledgment that came later on”, states Florence Tamagne, clinical manager of the exhibit and speaker in modern history at the Université de Lille, specialising in the history of homosexuality, in journalism release.

” European history is a polyphonic history. With this exhibit we are when again highlighting a specific history that conserves us from the trap of unitary history. It likewise offers us the chance to check out the existing significance of this history of persecution of gays and lesbians”, states Tomas Baum, director of Kazerne Dossin.

This exhibit was developed and established by the Mémorial de la Shoah (the Holocaust Museum in Paris, France) under the clinical guidance of Florence Tamagne. It was very first provided in Paris in 2021. The material associating with Belgium and the Netherlands was established and included by Kazerne Dossin. To this end, Kazerne Dossin worked together with historians such as Judith Schuyf, Wannes Dupont, Bart Hellinck and Marc Verschooris

Practical info.


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