Persecution of Queer People Under Nazism

Translator's Note: This is a machine-assisted translation completed on April 8, 2025. While care has been taken to maintain accuracy, this translation has not yet undergone human review or validation. Please note that specialized terms, historical references, and nuanced content may benefit from expert review.

Even before coming to power, the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) had established itself as an opponent of the homosexual movement and an advocate for stricter sanctions against queer people. Immediately after taking power, action was taken against bars and nightlife venues in Berlin. The new regime resulted in the shutdown of organizations and publications for transgender individuals, lesbians, and gay men.

Rise to Power and Setbacks

In May 1933, Magnus Hirschfeld's Institute for Sexual Science in Berlin was raided. Parts of the library and a bust of the founder were burned during the book-burning at Opernplatz (now Bebelplatz) on May 10. Hirschfeld was a central object of hatred for the Nazis—as a Jew, a social democrat, and a gay sexologist—and due to the political situation, he was unable to return to Germany after an extended trip abroad. He died in exile in France in 1935. Some key figures in the German queer movement also left the country in 1933, including writer and pacifist Bruno Vogel, who spent a period in exile in Tromsø during the 1930s (Wolfert 2012).

The leader of the Nazi Party's paramilitary wing, Sturmabteilung (SA), Ernst Röhm, had been exposed as homosexual by the social democratic press in 1931. However, Hitler took no action against his old friend at that time. It was only in 1934, when Röhm and the SA threatened Hitler's grip on power, that action was taken. During the so-called "Night of the Long Knives" from June 30 to July 2, Röhm and many other SA leaders were executed. Hitler justified the purge partly by claiming that Röhm and several SA leaders were homosexuals.

Tightening of the Penal Code and Initial Persecution

In 1935, the legal framework against same-sex sexuality between men was tightened by amending Section 175 of the Penal Code and introducing an additional paragraph (§175a), which imposed harsher penalties for specific cases, such as situations where the "victim" was under 21 years of age. During the Nazi regime, approximately 50,000 men were convicted under Section 175. Many were imprisoned, while between 5,000 and 10,000 were sent to concentration camps, where thousands of them died. Some of the German gay men were detained in camps in Norway (see Wolfert 2017).

Lesbian women were not affected by Section 175, but the regime also resulted in setbacks for them. Magazines and organizations were shut down, making it harder to gather. Some lesbian women were also prosecuted under other laws. Transgender individuals faced similar setbacks and were subjected to sanctions or prosecutions to some extent.

The paragraphs from 1935 were carried over to West Germany after the war. This led to many men being convicted and imprisoned during the post-war period. In 1969, the paragraph was reformed, making most relationships between men over the age of 21 legal (although homosexual prostitution remained punishable). In 1968, the prohibition was completely abolished in East Germany. Finally, in 1994, Section 175 was repealed in unified Germany, allowing gay and heterosexual relationships under the same conditions (with the same age of consent).

Proposed Tightening in Norway

During World War II, the Nazi occupying forces sought to introduce similar tightening of laws in many of the occupied territories. This included the Netherlands, where prohibitions were tightened according to the German model shortly after the occupation. In practice, however, this did not lead to widespread prosecutions.

For a long time, it was unknown whether similar measures had been attempted in Norway. Nils Johan Ringdal mentioned a few cases in his study of the police during the occupation, in which German-Norwegian same-sex relationships led to convictions and imprisonments (Ringdal 1987). Social physician Anders Chr. Gogstad presented sources in his book on the healthcare system during the war that showed the German occupying forces, through the Reichskommissariat, had proposed tightening the prohibition against male sexuality in Norway, although it seemed that these proposals did not progress further (Gogstad 1991). Later, sources archived alongside documents related to a proposed amendment to the Norwegian homosexuality law in the 1950s revealed that Norwegian NS-ministers also sought such legal changes (Jordåen 2011). Police Minister Jonas Lie supported tightening Section 213 of the Norwegian Penal Code—a nearly dormant paragraph at the time—so that active prosecution could also occur in Norway. Justice Minister Sverre Riisnæs also supported the proposal, but it was not implemented. The matter was postponed for a larger revision of the Penal Code, which never materialized during the German occupation.

Persecution in Norway?

Later research has shown that some cases were prosecuted, primarily cases involving a Norwegian and a German, or two Germans (Jordåen and Wolfert 2015). In these instances, German Section 175 was applied.

Two cases can be mentioned: Fredrik Mowinckel (1903-1951), a wealthy Bergen native, was sentenced to ten years in prison in autumn 1940 by "Gerichtsherr und Admiral der Westküste Norwegens" for a relationship with a German soldier. Mowinckel served most of his sentence at Fuhlsbüttel Prison in Hamburg (Wolfert 2016).

Another case involved Charles Petterson (1916-1980), a painter from Bergen, who initiated a relationship with Gustav Schreiber (1904-1945), a German associated with Organisation Todt in Bergen. Petterson got a job at Schreiber's office and moved into his apartment. Petterson was sentenced to one year and three months in prison in 1944, while Schreiber received two years and three months. Schreiber had previously been convicted of similar offenses in Germany, likely explaining the harsher sentence. Petterson served most of his sentence in Germany and returned to Norway shortly before the war ended. Schreiber was later transferred to the Börgermoor penal camp and died there on January 10, 1945, at the age of 40 (Jordåen and Wolfert 2015, 470-473).

There is one known case of possible prosecution of a lesbian relationship in Norway during the war, involving Helene Gottaut (1923-1997) (Schoppmann 2019).

Both of these cases were prosecuted in German courts in Norway under German law. As mentioned, Section 213 of the Norwegian Penal Code was not amended, nor were there changes in its enforcement. Only a few convictions under this section are known from the period 1940-1945.

Read more about the Norwegians and Germans who were punished in Norway during the war in Runar Jordåen and Raimund Wolfert's article in Historisk tidsskrift.

National Unity Party (Nasjonal Samling) and Homosexuality

The initiative for the proposed tightening of laws came from the occupying forces, but it was also promoted by the Norwegian NS ministers. Since these ministers were dedicated adherents of Nazi ideology, and as Lie was the highest-ranking Norwegian representative of the SS—an organization led by Heinrich Himmler that spearheaded the persecution of homosexuals—this likely also reflects an ideological standpoint on their part.

The attitude toward homosexuality among Norwegian National Socialists in the 1930s and 1940s has not been systematically studied. In 1936, the National Youth (Nasjonal Ungdom) protested against a meeting of the Mental Hygiene Association, where doctor, socialist, and sex educator Karl Evang gave a presentation. A leaflet distributed during the meeting claimed that the speakers promoted "all kinds of unnaturalness and perversity," and that Karl Evang, in one of his articles, had lamented that homosexuals hardly had a chance "to establish a valuable and lasting sexual relationship, due to the suspicion and general surveillance they are subjected to" (quoted from Østbye 1943, 258). In several instances of NS propaganda, Evang's name was compared to Magnus Hirschfeld and one of his close collaborators, the doctor Max Hodann (who was in exile in Norway).

No thorough study of NS's views on homosexuality, or the extent to which they propagated against it, exists. However, Hans W. Kristiansen has examined several years of the NS newspaper Fritt Folk without finding much anti-homosexual rhetoric. He concludes that "the homosexual" was not portrayed as a central dangerous figure or threatening group, unlike, for example, "the Jew," "the Bolshevik," and "the Freemason" (Kristiansen 2006, 329).

While NS clearly opposed Evang and sexual education in the 1930s, this was not necessarily perceived as a central component of their ideology. Even individuals widely known to be homosexual were drawn to this ideology. This included Åsmund Sveen, an NS member and central cultural bureaucrat during the war, and Per Imerslund, a pan-Germanist and radical National Socialist on the Quisling-critical wing.

Everyday Life and Resistance

The conditions for queer individuals, and any potential persecution of them during the occupation, is a very underexplored area in Norwegian occupation history. Preliminary findings suggest that there was likely no extensive persecution. For men who had sex with men, the situation may have appeared much the same as before the war. Some eyewitnesses even emphasize that the war offered new opportunities for sexual encounters and friendships. Lawyer Dermot Mack, who later became the leader of the Norwegian Association of 1948, pointed out that he became part of a community, and that the blackout of the capital made public meeting places even more conducive to secret gatherings in parks and public restrooms (Eikvam 1984; see also Bjørn André Widvey's article on Gaysir, which mentions conditions in Tromsø).

Some Norwegian queer individuals were active in the resistance movement, including the Oslo tourism director Alfhild Hovdan and Member of Parliament Carl P. Wright (Conservative Party) from Porsgrunn. It is also difficult to determine the extent of this involvement. In an era when sexual identity was not openly discussed, sexuality was likely not a significant factor in one's stance toward the occupation. In the book Homofile - myter og virkelighet (1978), one informant, "Johan," recounted that during the war, he traveled to England, enlisted, and participated in the invasion of France (Bergh, Bjerck, and Lund 1978, 52).

Further Research

The number of eyewitnesses from World War II is dwindling, and so far, few have spoken about or been asked about the situation for queer individuals during the war. Nevertheless, further research may provide a better picture than what we have today. More cases where men who had sex with men were investigated and convicted can likely be found by searching Norwegian and German archives. The Norwegian Digital Prisoner Archive 1940-45 (Fanger.no) is an initiative where this topic will also be explored further. Additionally, a closer study of National Unity Party (Nasjonal Samling) publications and propaganda material could provide a better understanding of whether and how this topic played a role for Norwegian National Socialists. In 1941, an initiative from the Order Police and Security Police proposed creating "national registers of homosexuals and sexual offenders," which could also be an interesting area for further exploration (see Jordåen and Wolfert 2015, 463).

Homosexuality played a relatively significant role in discussions about Nazism as early as the 1930s. Norwegian left-wing intellectuals viewed Nazism as an example of how sexual repression could provoke homosexual, sadistic, authoritarian tendencies in some individuals. This involved both concrete accusations of homosexual Nazis and more abstract theorizing based on a psychoanalytic understanding of sexuality. This topic has also not been extensively explored in a Norwegian context. Many Norwegian prisoners in concentration camps observed and described homosexual prisoners. This topic has only been lightly researched (Jordåen 2015, 2017), and a more systematic investigation could provide interesting insights into how Norwegian prisoners viewed homosexuality.

Finally, the everyday lives of individuals who defied gender and sexuality norms during the war have not been explored in research. Nor have the exile communities in London, Stockholm, and other places been closely examined. However, Øistein Parmann wrote about how, in Stockholm, he became part of "a very interesting but exhausting environment of artists, actors, and homosexuals" (Parmann 1997, 30).

In other words, there is both room and a need for more research on a field and a period about which we know little today.

Source Material

This section was added on May 1, 2024.

The sources concerning the amendment proposal to Section 213 of the Norwegian Penal Code of 1902 in 1942 have been digitized by the National Archives and are available on the Digital Archive.

The material from the Reichskommissariat concerning mentally ill individuals ("Geisteskranke"), homosexuals, abortion, and sexual interventions is found in the archive of the Reichskommissariat's Department of Public Health: National Archives: Reichskommissariat, (AV/RA-RAFA-2174), Eb: Hauptabteilung Verwaltung, Ebe Abteilung Gesundheitswesen.

The material specifically concerning homosexuality is located here: National Archives: Reichskommissariat, (AV/RA-RAFA-2174), Eb: Hauptabteilung Verwaltung, Ebe Abteilung Gesundheitswesen, L0005: B I Medizinische Angelegenheiten, 1940-1945, and spans pages 92 to 100.

The material from the Ministry of Police and the Ministry of Justice in 1942, as mentioned above, was extracted and archived together with material from the 1950s concerning the proposed revision of Section 213 of the Penal Code. It is available here: Digital Archive, National Archives: Ministry of Justice, Legislative Department, RA/S-3212/D/De/L0028/0002: Penal Code, Penal Code Revision, Homosexuality, 2 folders 1951-1955. The documents related to the amendment proposal in 1942 are located from pages 225 to 325.

The aforementioned material was digitized by the National Archives in 2022 in connection with the Queer Cultural Year. The material from the Reichskommissariat was digitized in February 2024 on the initiative of the Queer Archive (Skeivt arkiv).