Tel Aviv unveils first memorial to gay Holocaust victims

[Sunlei]

The monument in the centre of the city is designed around a pink triangle - the symbol gay prisoners were forced to wear in the concentration camps. Writing on the monument in English, Hebrew and German reads: "In memory of those persecuted by the Nazi regime for their sexual orientation and gender identity." It is the first Holocaust memorial in Israel that deals with both Jewish and non-Jewish victims alike, according to local reports.

The monument, unveiled on Friday, will stand outside the Municipal LGBT Community Centre in Tel Aviv's Meir Park (Gan Meir).

German Ambassador Andreas Michaelis said: "It is important that we put up monuments and name streets, in order to remember things that happened in the past. But they must be first and foremost reminders for the future."

The Nazis branded homosexuality an aberration threatening their perception of Germans as the master race, and the Gestapo kept a special register of around 100,000 gay people. Thousands were sent to Nazi concentration camps in the 1930s and 1940s.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25687190

[Zorra]

1. Recommend, thanks for posting! nt

[Betsy Ross]

2. kick nt

[xfundy]

3. Finally!

When allied forces liberated the camps, they often left the gay prisoners locked up or turned them over to new jailers.

Finally a sense of sanity and equality IRT people who never "chose" the gender they would be attracted to, no matter how much cancervatives and "Christian" "leaders" lie.

[fujiyama]

4. It's also a reminder

that persecution goes on today - in Russia and many other countries. The recent laws passed in Russia are disturbing and have echoes of the past.

[mythology]

7. This

I think that we should remember that other groups were also persecuted. Not to minimize the millions of Jews who died, but to remember that hatred was directed at many groups.

The recent laws outlawing being gay in Uganda was actively supported by various anti-gay groups here in the U.S. It's something that I think we as a country should be far more outraged by and realize that some parts of our society are promoting. At some point the difference between what the Nazis did and what these sorts of groups are doing is at least partially one of scale.

[William769]

5. Kick & highly recommended.

[Ken Burch]

6. Such monuments should be set up in all the major cities in Europe

Last edited Sun Jan 12, 2014, 06:41 AM - Edit history (2)

These people must be remembered, but not just in Israel.

[Behind the Aegis]

8. These are still relatively few, but others exist throughout the world.

There are displays in the Holocaust museums, but actually displays dedicated to gays solely, are few in number.

Berlin


Memorial at Dachau


Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn


Vienna


More here: http://andrejkoymasky.com/mem/holocaust/ho08.html

[LeftofObama]

10. Thanks for posting those.

I have never seen them before.

[Behind the Aegis]

12. You are welcome.

Many people have never seen them, or even know they exist. I have pictures of the Holocaust memorial in New Orleans, but it is one more geared toward Jews, but still very beautiful.

[azurnoir]

9. what a timely tribute

only 70+ years late

[Cha]

11. Thank you Sunlei

[Meandyou]

13. K&R