ju s t o u t ▼ J a n u a ry 2 1 , 1 9 0 4 T 5
Gay Holocaust
survivors remember
It is important to finally have the human faces testifying
breathing life into our history before it is lost forever
—
V
by Bob Roehr
T
hey were the first to wear the pink
triangle, these old men, physically
frail, as you would expect of men in
their eighties and nineties. They are
survivors of Nazi death camps, per
secuted because they were gay.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Mu
seum presented the first of its adult education
programs on gay men and lesbians and the Holo
caust on Dec. 12. Its core was a documentary
program which first aired on German regional
television in 1991, We were marked with a big
'A,’ featuring interviews with three gay survi
vors. The title came from the ‘A’ for arschficker
(ass-fucker) which was the identifying mark
used in the camps before the colored triangle
system was developed.
Friedrich-Paul von Groszheim, one of those
in the documentary, was asked to participate in
person but he declined, saying that at 88 he didn’t
want to travel in December without his lover,
who couldn’t get time off from work.
The documentary itself is no technical won
der, its shoestring bud
get is apparent in clunky
production values. But
it is amazing that it was
done at all. It is impor
tant that we finally have
at least bits of human
faces testifying—
breathing life into gay
stories of the Holocaust
before they too die and
these stories are lost.
There is a strength
of character in their
voices that shines
through the aging flesh,
transcending the barri
ers of language. They
are survivors of both the death camps and of a
post-war persecution only slightly less
lethal.Their stories are of duplicity and
arrest.They were witness to humiliation, beating
and death. They survived in work camps in
coastal swamps and north of the Arctic Circle in
Norway building roads, shoveling snow in paper
shoes which disintegrated within hours. Some
survived castration.
They are a window to what Hannah Arcndt
called “the banality of evil” that men can do. A
chilling glimpse of how tenuous our grasp is on
“civilization.” But most of all, they arc examples
of the triumph of the human spirit. One stands in
awe of their sheer humanity.
The tone for this remarkable documentary
was set by the speakers who preceded. “Most
museums are celebratory, most museums are
monuments to humanity’s achievements,” said
Congressman Barney Frank. “This [museum] is
a reminder of inhumanity at its worst. Put up
because there was a national consensus that it
was important to have a continuing reminder of
what depths men and women can fall to, in an
effort to prevent any kind of recurrence.”
“To the bigots, we all look the same,” said
Frank. He stressed the importance of making
common cause between all groups with a history
of oppression. And he pledged to work to re
move the vestiges of anti-gay discrimination that
remain codified into law.
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“In 1945, when the world focused with sym
pathy on the victims and survivors, the gay and
lesbian victims returned to the closet as a means
of self-protection,” said museum deputy director
Elaine Heumann Gurian. “They were denied
even the beneficial healing associated with the
telling of their story.
“So it is no wonder that when we, the U. S.
Holocaust Memorial Museum, set out to find
tangible proof about homosexuals and the Holo
caust, it was simply not available—both because
it was destroyed and/or because it was hidden
and known only to a few.”
Gurian went on to tell how they came into
contact with Dr. Klaus Muller, their consultant/
curator on gays and the Holocaust, and how the
museum has come to include gays into the con
text of its exhibition, research and education
programs.
“Part of our purpose is that there should be a
relationship between historical events and con
temporary issues in life,” said Raye Farr, direc
tor of the film and video department and archive
at the museum. She and
others noted that the
auditorium was full,
the first time that a
museum adult educa
tion program had been
oversubscribed in ad
vance. The next scries
of education programs
on gays and the Holo
caust is scheduled for
mid-May.
Muller came last.
He spoke of the Nazi
persecution of gay
men. He said much of
it continued in post
war Germany through
1969 because it was still illegal to be gay. But
mainly he spoke of his experience working with
the survivors, befriending them and slowly, over
time, seeing them open up and tell more of the
stories that were painful to live through and had
largely been suppressed for decades. There was
a great warmth and fondness in his voice as he
spoke of the men.
He closed by dedicating the program to a
survivor, Karl Gorath, who turned 81 that day. In
1939, when Gorath was 26, his jealous lover
denounced him and turned him in to the Gestapo.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Mu
seum is located at 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place,
SW, Washington, DC 20024-2150, a few blocks
south of the Smithsonian Institution museums
on the Mall. Access is limited to control crowds.
Advance tickets are strongly recommended. They
can be ordered through TickclMastcr (800) 551 -
7328 for a small service fee.
Use of the documentary We were marked
with a big 'A' is currently restricted. The mu
seum is working to resolve those legal matters
and hopes that shortly it will be available for
wider use.
Research and program activity on gay men
and lesbians and the Holocaust arc supported by
private contributions. To identify your gift as
coming from the gay and lesbian community,
write the code 8014 on your check and send it to
the attentibh 6f Brdhtid Fraser.
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