Established in 1988, the Gay Museum in Berlin provides insights into different aspects of gay life, past and present. The permanent exhibition also contains information on the persecution of homosexuals under National Socialism.
Berlin of the Weimar Republic was a city in which gay life could for the most part flourish freely. There were many networks, magazines and bars for gay men and lesbians. Homosexuality and the way it was dealt with played an important role in Berlin's cultural life.
The National Socialists' rise to power in 1933 was a severe blow to homosexuals in Germany. Already in the spring of 1933, the authorities shut down most bars which were known to be meeting points for gays and lesbians. On May 6, 1933, National Socialists plundered the library of the »Institute for Sexual Research«, which had been founded by Magnus Hirschfeld, and destroyed the looted books during a book burning session on what is today Bebelplatz four days later.
In 1935, the National Socialists broadened Paragraph 175 of the German Criminal Code condemning homosexuality and thus made criminal prosecution of gay men possible. The very broad term »lewdness« was now no longer qualified as an »offence« but as a »crime« which could be punished by up to five years of imprisonment. The also newly formulated Paragraph 175a introduced prison sentences of up to ten years for so-called »severe lewdness«. Gay men and supposedly gay men were persecuted by the police mostly in larger cities. Many were denounced by their neighbours at the slightest suspicion. National Socialist courts sentenced about 50,000 men on the basis of Paragraph 175 and 175a. A part of the convicts was incarcerated in prisons, however, between 5,000 and 15,000 men were deported to concentration camps where they were marked as a separate prisoner group with pink triangles. Stigmatised due to their homosexuality, they were mostly avoided by other prisoners.
The National Socialists' rise to power in 1933 was a severe blow to homosexuals in Germany. Already in the spring of 1933, the authorities shut down most bars which were known to be meeting points for gays and lesbians. On May 6, 1933, National Socialists plundered the library of the »Institute for Sexual Research«, which had been founded by Magnus Hirschfeld, and destroyed the looted books during a book burning session on what is today Bebelplatz four days later.
In 1935, the National Socialists broadened Paragraph 175 of the German Criminal Code condemning homosexuality and thus made criminal prosecution of gay men possible. The very broad term »lewdness« was now no longer qualified as an »offence« but as a »crime« which could be punished by up to five years of imprisonment. The also newly formulated Paragraph 175a introduced prison sentences of up to ten years for so-called »severe lewdness«. Gay men and supposedly gay men were persecuted by the police mostly in larger cities. Many were denounced by their neighbours at the slightest suspicion. National Socialist courts sentenced about 50,000 men on the basis of Paragraph 175 and 175a. A part of the convicts was incarcerated in prisons, however, between 5,000 and 15,000 men were deported to concentration camps where they were marked as a separate prisoner group with pink triangles. Stigmatised due to their homosexuality, they were mostly avoided by other prisoners.
During National Socialism about 50,000 men were sentenced on the basis of Paragraph 175 and 175a. Thousands of men were sent to concentration camps for being gay, many of them perished there due to hunger and abuse or fell victim to targeted killings.
Since the beginning of the 1980s, efforts to create a museum on the history of homosexuality and gay lifestyle had been made in West Berlin. In 1986, the »Association of Friends of the Gay Museum in Berlin« was founded. This initiative resulted in the opening of the Gay Museum in Berlin's Kreuzberg district in 1987. Between 1989 and 2013, it had been located in the rear of a town house on Mehringdamm, not far from well-known gay scene hotspots. In 2013, the museum moved to Lützowstraße in Berlin's Tiergarten district. The relocation, made possible by public grants, also meant that the work of the museum could be expanded thematically. Until a new permanent exhibition will be opened, there are a number of temporary exhibitions.
- Name
- Schwules Museum Berlin
- Address
-
Lützowstraße 73
10785 Berlin Berlin - Phone
- +49 (0)30 695 990 50
- Fax
- +49 (0)30 612 022 89
- Web
- http://www.schwulesmuseum.de
- kontakt@schwulesmuseum.de
- Open
- Daily, except for Tuesdays: 2.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m.; Saturday: 2.00 p.m. to 7.00 p.m.
- Possibilities
- Guided tours, readings, concerts, archive and library, temporary exhibitions