Week 4: Who were the Nazis persecuting, REALLY?

As we recall during the prohibition era, we continually saw the implicit oppression of those that identified or displayed behavior that was outside the heteronormative way.  We now have observed that policy was enacted after efforts of the prohibition era failed to deter such activity from the gay community to keep them apart from the mainstream culture to deliberately express their sexuality.  Given the article we just read, "The Exclusion of Homosexuality From the Public Sphere in the 1930's", something similar was occurring abroad to what other people may have overlooked widely until decades later.  Many dismiss the events of World War II and Nazi Germany as the xenophobic elimination of one specific minority group to create the ideal "Arian Race".  The Jews were solely sought as the certain population to cleanse Germany from, however, there were more groups involved that were being persecuted for operating outside the German Norm.  It was evident that homosexual men and women were being oppressed by Nazi Germany, imprisoning them in concentration camps.  They wore an inverted pink triangle to signify that they were heterosexual.  Over 100,000 homosexuals (more specifically from Poland) became victims of these death camps.

What was ironic from the way events played out was that homosexual culture flourished during the 1920's in literature, cinema, and the media; unfortunately, due to rising inflation and economic dilemmas encouraged the Nazi regime which began to use scapegoats for the country's problem.  The question remains, who were the Nazi's persecuting, really? Many hear the narrative of the Jewish faith becoming eliminated, but the world forgot about our brothers and sisters of the gay community.  In this aspect, we observe another instance on how the government has succeeded to silence different sexual expressions throughout history.  Once again, with the Sochi games coming up the same has occurred, but the growing resistance from the gay community and its allies will be a tantamount milestone to the continued existence of a new freedom of speech.

http://en.auschwitz.org/h/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=3