Paragraph 175 (2000)

Paragraph 175 is a documentary film about the persecution of homosexual men and lesbian women in Nazi Germany during the time 1933-1945. Here is some basic information about this film which premiered in the year 2000:

** Producers and directors: Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman

** Writer: Sharon Wood

** Narrator: Rupert Everett

** Languages: English, French, German (see more below)

** Run time: 74 minutes

Seven survivors – six men and one woman - are interviewed by Klaus Müller, a German historian who was born in 1959. Here are their names in alphabetical order:

** Annette Eick, 1909-2010

** Gad Beck, 1923-2012

** Albrecht Becker, 1906-2002

** Heinz Dörmer, 1912-2001

** Heinz F., born 1905

** Karl Gorath, 1912-2003

** Pierre Seel, 1923-2005

The narrator Rupert Everett speaks English. One of the survivors (Annette Eick) speaks English, because she escaped to England before the outbreak of World War Two. And Pierre Seel speaks a bit of French, because he is from Alsace-Lorraine (Elsass-Lothringen). But most of the conversation is in German. It seems the DVD offered by Amazon UK is a German product with German subtitles.

Producers and directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman are English. It is a shame they did not make sure that a DVD with English subtitles was released.

Paragraph 175 is a reference to a German law which makes homosexual activity between men a crime. The law does not say anything about lesbian activity between women.

The law was inherited from Prussia and introduced in 1871 by the newly-created German Empire. In 1935 it was revised and expanded by the Nazi government. In 1949, shortly after World War Two ended, two German states were established. What happened with regard to paragraph 175?

** In East Germany, it was in use until 1968

** In West Germany, it was in use until 1969

The two states were united in 1990. Four years later, in 1994, paragraph 175 was finally completely eliminated from the penal code.

In 2017, the German state adopted two laws which offered rehabilitation and compensation to victims of paragraph 175. At that time, of course, most victims of the odious paragraph were already dead.

In this film, the focus is on the time 1933-1945 when Hitler and the Nazi Party were in power. But the film also offers some information about what happened during the time 1871-1933.

When we look at the period before Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power, one name stands out: the German doctor Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935). The Nazis in Germany had three reasons to dislike this man: (1) he was a socialist; (2) he was a Jew; and (3) he was a homosexual.

[Google his name to find more information about him. Some of this information is in English.]

While Hitler and the Nazi Party were in power, all the groups they disliked were divided into different categories. The “enemies of the German state” were forced to carry a symbol on their clothes to show the category to which they belonged. Homosexuals were identified by a pink triangle.

What do reviewers say about this film? Here are the results of three review aggregators:

** 79 per cent = IMDb

** 78 per cent = Meta (the audience)

** 85 per cent = Meta (the critics)

** 83 per cent = Rotten Tomatoes (the audience)

** 94 per cent = Rotten Tomatoes (the critics)

On the US version of Amazon there are more than 30 reviews of this product. The average rating is 3.9 stars.

As you can see, the ratings are quite good. When you look at Meta and Rotten Tomatoes, you can see that there is a clear difference between the general audience and the professional critics. The critics think this film is better than the audience, although both groups are positive.

In this case, I have to side with the critics. This film covers an important topic that was ignored and overlooked for a long time. And the topic is covered very well.

All survivors were quite old when they were interviewed for this film, and they have since passed away. It was really the last chance. The interviews were done in the eleventh hour.

I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars.

PS # 1. The following article about the film is available online: Peter Tatchell, “Survivors of a forgotten holocaust,” The Independent, 12 June 2001.

PS # 2. For more information, see the following books:

** The Men with the Pink Triangle by Heinz Heger (first published in German in 1972; first published in English in 1980). Heinz Heger is perhaps a pen name for Josef Kohaut (1915-1994)

** The Pink Triangle: The Nazi War against Homosexuals by Robert Plant (1986, 1988)

** Branded by the Pink Triangle by Ken Setterington (2013)

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