Verbotene Liebe – Queere Opfer der NS-Diktatur (2024)

 

 

 

 

 

Verbotene Liebe – Queere Opfer der NS-Diktatur is a documentary film which premiered on German television (ZDF) in 2024.

 

The topic of this film is the LGBT community in Germany during the time when Hitler and the Nazi Party were in power (1933-1945).

 

Here is some basic information about it:

 

** Writer and director: Sebastian Scherrer

** Narrator: Jan-Philipp Jarke

** Language: German

** Subtitles: German

** Run time: 45 minutes

 

The story of the LGBT community in Germany during the time of the Third Reich is told by focusing on three persons whose lives and experiences can be documented to a certain degree.

 

# 1. Rudolf Brazda (1913-2011)

A homosexual man

 

# 2. Liddy Bacroff (1908-1943)

A trans person

 

# 3. Elli Smula (1914-1943)

A lesbian woman

 

The cast includes the following:

 

The first group

Investigators

 

** Jannik Schümann – an actor

Searching for information about and traces of 

Rudolf Brazda

** Julia Monroe – a trans activist

Searching for information about and traces of 

Liddy Bacroff

** Kerstin Thost – an LGBT activist

Searching for information about and traces of 

Elli Smula

 

The second group

Interviews with historical experts

 

** Bodie Ashton – a historian – University of Erfurt

** Christian Dirks – a historian

** Anna Hajkova – a historian – Warwick University

** Philipp Osten – a historian

** Ricarda Rogalla – a visitor guide, Ravensbrück Concentration Camp

** Alexander Zinn – a historian

 

Archive footage is used between the talking heads. Archive footage is used to illustrate and support the statements made by the talking heads. Old photographs are also used in many cases.

 

The first case

Rudolf Brazda (born 1913) is the only one of the three persons whose story is told here who survived the war. 

 

His life is quite well-documented, not only by contemporary documents, but also with some interviews he made after the war (recorded on video).

 

He lived in a small town in the province where he and his friends were known and tolerated for several years even after the Nazi take over in 1933.

 

But in 1937, the central government told the local administration that homosexual activity was a violation of the law (paragraph 175) and the law had to be enforced.

 

Rudolf was arrested and charged with a crime. He was sent to prison. Having served six months in prison, he was deported to Czechoslovakia, because he was a citizen of this country.

 

He lived in Karlsbad in Sudetenland where he was accepted for a while. But when the Nazis took control of Sudetenland, he was in trouble again.

 

At first, he was arrested and sent to prison. In 1942, he was sent to Buchenwald Concentration Camp. He managed to survive the hard life in the camp.

 

After the war, he moved to France where homosexuality was not regarded as a crime. In 2008, when he was an old man, he returned to Germany.

 

He travelled to Berlin where he visited the memorial to homosexuals persecuted under Nazism which had been dedicated one month before.

 

He died in August 2011, at the age of 98.

 

The second case

Liddy Bacroff (born 1908) lived in Hamburg in the district of St. Pauli where she was a performer and a sex-worker. 

 

Born as a boy, she felt she was a woman and assumed the name Liddy Bacroff.

 

In 1936, she was arrested and charged with a violation of the law. A trans person (a man who dressed as a woman) was regarded as a homosexual.

 

In 1938, she was released from prison, but before long she was arrested again. Voluntary castration was perhaps a way to avoid another round of prison time.

 

She applied. But the application was denied. She was sent to prison and later to Mauthausen Concentration Camp where she was killed in 1943.

 

The third case

Elli Smula (born 1914) lived in Berlin where she worked as a tram conductor. She faced two charges: she was late for work and she was regarded as a lesbian.

 

She could not be charged for being a lesbian, because the relevant law (paragraph 175) did not say anything about lesbian activity.

 

The Nazis had to find another reason to arrest her. This is why she was charged with being late for work. This was regarded as a crime.

 

Information about her life and her case is limited. We do not even have a photo of her.

 

We know she was interrogated and sent to Ravensbrück Concentration Camp which was established for female prisoners. It seems she died in this camp in 1943.

 

After the war

What happened to survivors when World War II ended in 1945?

 

For most people, the end of the war was a relief and a liberation. Prisoners of Nazi concentration camps were released. Jews and political prisoners were no longer persecuted.

 

But members of the LGBT community had no reason to celebrate. 

 

The infamous paragraph 175 was still a part of the law. Homosexuals were still persecuted and arrested, although they were no longer killed.

 

Lesbians were also persecuted, but to a lesser degree, because the odious paragraph 175 did not say anything about lesbian activity.

 

What do reviewers say about this film?

This question is not easy to answer

This film is listed on IMDb but there is not rating

There are no user reviews.

It is not available on Amazon

There are no customer reviews

 

The story of the persecution of the LGBT community during the time when Hitler and the Nazi Party was in power is important. It deserves to be told, and in this film, it is done very well.

 

I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars (100 percent).

 

PS. This film is available on the ZDF website until 02 May 2026.

 

REFERENCES

 

# 1. Items available online

 

“Berlin remembers persecuted gays,”

BBC News

27 May 2008

 

“Gay people in Nazi Germany: how hate triumphs,”

Socialist Worker

17 November 2009

 

# 2. Film and video

 

Paragraph 175

A documentary

(2000)

 

Eldorado: Everything the Nazis Hate

A documentary

(2023)

 

# 3. Books

 

The Pink Triangle:

The Nazi War Against Homosexuals

By Richard Plant

(1986 = hardcover)

(1988 = paperback)

 

The Men with the Pink Triangle: The True Life-and-Death Story of Homosexuals in the Nazi Death Camps

By Heinz Heger

(German version 1972)

(English version 1980)

(Reprinted in 2023)

 

Queer Identities and Politics in Germany:

A History, 1880-1945

By Clayton J. Whisnant

(2016)

 

*****

Rudolf Brazda

(1913-2011)

 Persecuted by the Nazis

Survived prison

Survived concentration camp

This picture is from 2009

*****

Stolperstein for Liddy Bacroff 

(1908-1943)

Heinrich Habitz,

the name written with large letters,

was given to her when she was adopted

by the husband of her mother.

She refused to accept this name and

assumed the name Liddy Bagroff

(which is written with smaller letters).

*****

 

Eldorado: Everything the Nazis Hate (2023)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eldorado: Everything the Nazis Hate is a documentary film which premiered in June 2023.

 

It is about the LGBT community (lesbian women and homosexual men) in Germany during two important chapters of German history in the 20th century:

 

** The Weimar Republic: 1918-1933

** The Third Reich: 1933-1945

 

The first word of the title is a reference to a glittery nightclub in Berlin which was a haven for the LGBT community of the German capital during the Weimar Republic. In 1933, shortly after Hitler came to power, it was closed by the Nazis.

 

This film covers the history of the LGBT community in Germany during the first half of the 20th century by using the Eldorado Cabaret as a pivotal point.

 

Here is some basic information about this film:

 

** Director: Benjamin Cantu

** Writers: Benjamin Cantu and Felix Kriegsheim

** Narrators: Robert Beachy and Katrin Himmler

** Languages spoken: German and English

** Subtitles: English

** Run time: 92 minutes

 

Four historians are interviewed in this film.

Here are the names of the participants.

Listed in alphabetical order:

 

** Ben Miller

** Klaus Müller

** Zavier Nunn

** Morgan M. Page

 

Archive footage is used between the talking heads. Archive footage is used to illustrate and support the statements made by the talking heads.

 

In addition, several historical scenes have been recreated by actors. Not only scenes inside the Eldorado nightclub but also some historical moments in other locations.

 

In this film, the story of the LGBT community in Germany during the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich is told by focusing on the lives of seven individuals whose background and experiences were very different. Here are the names:

 

** Ernst Röhm (1887-1934)

** Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935)

** Gottfried von Cramm (1909-1976)

** Manasse Herbst (1913-1997)

** Charlotte Charlaque (1892-1963)

** Toni Ebel (1881-1961)

** Walter Arlen (1920-2023)

 

One of them (Ernst Röhm) was killed by the Nazis.

One of them (Magnus Hirshfeld) was not in Germany when Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power in 1933. He never returned to Germany. He decided to remain in exile. He died in France in 1935.

As you can see from the chart, the other five persons survived the war.

Only one of the five survivors (Walter Arlen) was still alive when this film was being made. He is interviewed in the film. He died in September 2023, shortly after the premiere of this film.

 

Since the topic is the LGBT community in Germany, it is necessary to mention paragraph 175 of the penal code. According to this paragraph, homosexual activity between two men is defined as a crime, while lesbian activity between two women is not mentioned at all.

 

This paragraph is from Prussia. In 1871, when a unified German state was established, it became a part of the law in the new state.

 

In 1918, when the Weimar Republic was established, the paragraph was maintained, but it was not always enforced. Sometimes it was virtually ignored.

 

This fact made some Germans optimistic. They believed the Weimar Republic might eventually abolish this paragraph, but this never happened.

 

In 1933, when Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power, the paragraph was not only enforced. It was expanded.

 

The Nazis wanted to destroy the gay movement. But they did not plan to kill all gay men. They decided to persecute and arrest a significant number of them and place them in a concentration camp. They believed this would be enough to get rid of the gay movement.

 

The Nazis did not really know what to do about lesbian activity. While it was not a crime, they neither could nor would accept it. 

 

Some lesbians were persecuted. When arrested, they were always charged with something else, because lesbian activity was not a crime.

 

Some gay and lesbian Germans decided to go into exile when Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power. They moved to Austria or Czechoslovakia, which seemed to be a safe haven for them.

 

This was true for a while. But in 1938 and 1939, when Nazi Germany took control of these countries, the persecution of the LGBT community was expanded to include these countries as well.

 

After the end of World War II, many victims of the Nazis began to talk about the crimes committed by the Nazis. Members of the Jewish community as well as member of the political opposition began to accuse the Nazis.

 

But members of the LGBT community could not explain how they had been victims of the Nazis.

 

Why not?

 

Because the infamous paragraph 175 was maintained after the end of the war. Not only in West Germany but also in East Germany. 

 

It was eagerly enforced during the 1950s. It was still used to a certain extent in both states until the end of the 1960s.

 

In 1994, four years after the unification of the two German states, paragraph 175 was finally completely removed from the penal code.

 

What do reviewers say about this film?

 

Here are some results:

 

75 percent = IMDb

82 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the audience)

91 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the critics)

 

As you can see, the ratings are quite good. I understand the numerous positive reviews and I agree with them.

 

The story of the LGBT community in Germany during the first half of the twentieth century is important. It deserves to be told, and in this film, it is done very well.

 

I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars (100 percent).

 

REFERENCES

 

Paragraph 175

A documentary film which premiered in 2000

Run time = 74 minutes

 

Verbotene Liebe:

Queere Opfer der NS-Diktatur

A documentary film which premiered on German television (ZDF) in January 2024. It is available on the ZDF website until 02 May 2026.

Run time = 45 minutes

 

*****

 

Eldorado:

Alles, was die Nazis hassen

The German title of the film

(2023)

*****

The Men With the Pink Triangle

by Heinz Heger

(Published in German in 1972)

(Published in English in 1980)

(Reprinted in 2023)

 

*****

 

The Pink Triangle:

The Nazi War Against Homosexuals

By Richard Plant

(Hardcover 1986)

(Paperback 1988)

 

***** 

On this blog:

My review of

Paragraph 175

(2000)

Posted in August 2019

*****