Second German Gay Rights Movement

The knowledge now widely accepted regarding the persecution of gay men under National Socialism was first addressed in the mid-1970s, initially within the gay rights movement and later among the general public. The first program of the theater group “Brühwarm” from 1976 included a scene that addressed this persecution. The authors Hans-Georg Stümke and Rudi Finkler, who were also active in the Hamburg gay rights movement, published the monograph Rosa Winkel, Rosa Listen. Homosexuals and “Healthy Public Sentiment” from Auschwitz to the Present. ...

In this interview, eyewitness Kai Reinecke recounts the confrontation between the police and demonstrators in Schanzenpark following the “Stonewall” demonstration on June 28, 1980. So, the demonstration ended in Schanzenpark; it was damp and cold. We were all wearing parkas because it was damp and cold, and back then parkas were in style, even in the gay scene, in weather like that. And we didn’t know how we were supposed to have a picnic on that wet grass in Schanzenpark, and we just stood there somehow—I don’t even know if there was anything to eat for a picnic. I have no idea. I never really noticed—it probably got lost in the rain or the chaos, since it wasn’t exactly cozy either. And a lot of people had already left. And then people must have spotted that VW bus again; it was parked less than 40—well, I can’t say exactly—I’d say less than 40 meters from where we were all standing, and [those people] had approached Corny. Who did they approach? Corny. I don’t even know if he was one of the organizers of the demonstration; that could very well be the case. In any case, they asked him if he could get the films handed over. So, to go over to the bus, because he’d been taking photos throughout the demonstration. Then he went over there—as far as I could tell. I think I just caught that in passing at the beginning. Then the two police officers in the bus immediately rolled up the windows. Because of the rain, they didn’t want to take photos through the raindrops on the windows. They kept taking photos, though. And then they rolled up the windows, and in response to Corny’s polite—or not-so-polite, since he isn’t always polite—question about whether he could have the film, they rolled up the windows, didn’t respond, and kept taking photos. ...

Section 175 of the German Criminal Code had criminalized sexual acts between men* since 1871 and was used to persecute homosexuals, particularly after it was tightened by the Nazis in 1935. After years of lobbying by the homophile movement, it was relaxed in the Federal Republic of Germany on September 1, 1969. A second reform followed in 1973. Since then, sexual acts with male minors under the age of 18 were punishable, whereas the age of consent for lesbian and heterosexual acts was 14. It was not until June 10, 1994, that §175 was completely removed from the German Criminal Code (StGB); the convictions handed down under this provision were not largely overturned until 2017. ...