Source Record
Paragraph 175 and the Nazi Campaign against Homosexuality
Why this source is used
USHMM Holocaust Encyclopedia article on Paragraph 175 and Nazi persecution of gay men and gender nonconforming people.
Start with the answer
Start with the answer What happened to LGBTQ+ people under Nazi rule? 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. Read the topic guide Early Sexology and Nazi Persecution Early sexology and organised homosexual-rights advocacy in Germany were violently interrupted by Nazi persecution under Paragraph 175.
Source Status
- Publisher
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Type
- archive
- Reliability
- high
- Cited by
- 4 pages
Source Links
Open original source https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/paragraph-175-and-the-nazi-campaign-against-homosexuality Accessed 2 June 2026 Open archived copy https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/paragraph-175-and-the-nazi-campaign-against-homosexuality
Used by Topics
Used by Questions
Used by Timeline Events
1871 LegalDiscrimination
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.
1933-1945 DiscriminationInternational
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.
