Direct Answer
What happened to LGBTQ+ people under Nazi rule?
Direct answer
Under Nazi rule, gay men and gender-nonconforming people were surveilled, prosecuted, imprisoned and in many cases sent to concentration camps under intensified Paragraph 175 enforcement.
- Status
- reviewed
- Reviewed
- 2 June 2026
- Sources
- 7
- High trust
- 6
Explanation
Paragraph 175 already criminalised sex between men in Germany, but Nazi authorities intensified its enforcement and used policing, denunciation and imprisonment to attack gay men and gender-nonconforming people. The regime also destroyed Magnus Hirschfeld's Institute for Sexual Science, burning research and closing one of the world's most advanced centres for sexuality and gender study. The pink triangle later became a symbol of remembrance and resistance.
Timeline Evidence
Paragraph 175 — German Criminalisation of Homosexuality
The unification of Germany under Prussian leadership led to the adoption of Paragraph 175 in the new German Penal Code, criminalising sexual acts between men across the entire German Empire. The law would remain in force — with a brief relaxation during the Weimar Republic and a devastating tightening under the Nazis — until its final repeal in 1994.
Magnus Hirschfeld Founds the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee
German physician and sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld co-founded the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee) in Berlin, the world's first organisation dedicated to advocating for the rights of homosexual and transgender people. The committee launched a petition campaign to repeal Paragraph 175, gathering thousands of signatures from prominent figures including Albert Einstein, Hermann Hesse, and Thomas Mann.
Hirschfeld Opens the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft
Magnus Hirschfeld opened the Institute for Sexual Science (Institut für Sexualwissenschaft) in Berlin, the world's first centre dedicated to the study of human sexuality. The Institute provided medical consultations, performed some of the first gender-affirming surgeries, issued 'transvestite passes' allowing people to cross-dress legally, and housed an enormous library of research material. It was destroyed by the Nazis in May 1933 — its books publicly burned.
Nazi Persecution of LGBTQ+ People
The Nazi regime targeted LGBTQ+ people—especially gay men—under Paragraph 175, resulting in thousands of arrests and deportations to concentration camps where they wore pink triangles.
