The Memorial to Homosexuals Persecuted Under Nazism

Lest we forget…
History is all around us. In Berlin I find it is always pushed into my face. What is left of the Berlin Wall, the memorials littered around the city, books, magazines, museums, photos, people’s conversations… You don’t need to look far to be reminded of the past.

This is particularly so in the area around the Brandenburger Gate. Today I will tell you about one of the many memorials and soon you will hear about more. This one is the smallest I have come across and it’s easily overlooked. You wouldn’t even really know it was there unless you were walking in the park and thought it looked slightly out of place. In actual fact, this imposing concrete block is the memorial to homosexuals persecuted under Nazism between 1933-1945. There is a small hole that you look through to watch running vidoes of gay people kissing. If you didn’t know, you wouldn’t even realise it was there.

During the war, the Nazis wanted to create a ‘perfect race’, which did not include homosexuals. In fact, it was illegal and around 55,000 gay men were deemed to be criminals, of which 15,000 were killed in concentration camps.
Erected in 2008, it was repeatedly vandalised. Now, like most major cities in the West, Berlin embraces homosexuality. During the Olympics, the town was filled with rainbow flags and anti-Russian graffiti. It’s amazing how a few years can totally change a city…