# Is this claim that Gay concentration camp weren't liberated at the end of WWII? TRUE? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 17, 2016, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-claim-that-gay-concentration-camp-werent-liberated-at-the-end-of-wwii-true/749229 "2016-03-17T01:52:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tafowler87](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f07891/32.png) [@tafowler87](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tafowler87)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-claim-that-gay-concentration-camp-werent-liberated-at-the-end-of-wwii-true/749229/21 "2016-03-17T16:45:24Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > **Moderator Note** > > These are your idea of a joke, eh? I don’t think you have a future in comedy. > > We do allow a certain amount of joking in GQ, after the question has been factually addressed, but this type of “humor” is not appropriate here. Since I don’t recall you having a pattern of this sort of behavior in GQ I am going to give you a mod note here instead of a warning, but don’t do this in GQ again. The prompt itself isn’t factual. I don’t work for; nor have I ever worked for GQ. I ask this (if we were face to face I would ask politely in a calm, mature disposition)… What humor exactly is it that you assume I used here? ---
**Author:** ![tafowler87](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f07891/32.png) [@tafowler87](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tafowler87)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-claim-that-gay-concentration-camp-werent-liberated-at-the-end-of-wwii-true/749229/22 "2016-03-17T16:46:27Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > WTF, Tafowler? I don’t understand your question… ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-claim-that-gay-concentration-camp-werent-liberated-at-the-end-of-wwii-true/749229/23 "2016-03-17T16:46:39Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > A pink triangle superimposed on a Star of David. [Like this.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9c/Pink_triangle_jew.svg/120px-Pink_triangle_jew.svg.png) :eek: My God you are not joking as it turns out. They had all sorts combinations [as I just found out](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_concentration_camp_badge#Double_triangles). Those guys were fucking insane.:mad: ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-claim-that-gay-concentration-camp-werent-liberated-at-the-end-of-wwii-true/749229/24 "2016-03-17T17:50:04Z")
> [@tafowler87](#): > > HAHAHAHAHA… I thought it was funny. It wasn’t. > [@tafowler87](#): > > The prompt itself isn’t factual. > I don’t work for; nor have I ever worked for GQ. > I ask this (if we were face to face I would ask politely in a calm, mature disposition)… > > What humor exactly is it that you assume I used here? > [@tafowler87](#): > > I don’t understand your question… **Moderator Note** **tafowler87** , knock it off or you will receive a warning for disrupting this thread and for trolling. Do not post nonsense like that in General Questions again. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-claim-that-gay-concentration-camp-werent-liberated-at-the-end-of-wwii-true/749229/25 "2016-03-17T20:34:31Z")
WtF???😕 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-claim-that-gay-concentration-camp-werent-liberated-at-the-end-of-wwii-true/749229/26 "2016-03-17T21:40:18Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > **Moderator Note** > > **tafowler87** , knock it off or you will receive a warning for disrupting this thread and for trolling. Do not post nonsense like that in General Questions again. > > Colibri > General Questions Moderator **Moderator Note** In case anyone was wondering, **tafowler87** wasn’t banned for his posts in this thread, but for trolling in the Pit. (No big surprise there.) That thread has been removed. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-claim-that-gay-concentration-camp-werent-liberated-at-the-end-of-wwii-true/749229/27 "2016-03-17T21:48:46Z")
> [@tafowler87](#): > > … > What humor exactly is it that you assume I used here? # Obviously, none. As for OP, Alan Turning basically was a major factor in helping Britain to win the war; in return, they stripped him of his security clearance and drove him to suicide when they found he was gay. The US military had to be dragged (sorry) kicking and screaming into accepting gays, in the twenty-first century. When I was in college in the 70’s, it was still normal for insecure macho types to go down to the gay bars and beat up the people coming out, for Saturday night entertainment. Did you really think 2015 sensibility applied to 1945 military? People convicted on regular crimes still had to serve their sentence as others point out. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-claim-that-gay-concentration-camp-werent-liberated-at-the-end-of-wwii-true/749229/28 "2016-03-17T22:33:21Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > When I was in college in the 70’s, it was still normal for insecure macho types to go down to the gay bars and beat up the people coming out, for Saturday night entertainment. That goes on nowadays too. :mad: In the movie “Paragraph 175”, the issue of lesbians was addressed. They weren’t persecuted as severely as gay men were, because lesbianism was considered something a woman chose to engage in. I wonder how many of the “Joy Division” women were lesbians that they were trying to make straight. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2016, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-claim-that-gay-concentration-camp-werent-liberated-at-the-end-of-wwii-true/749229/29 "2016-03-18T00:38:30Z")
> [@AHarris](#): > > To put it into perspective, all of the allies had similar laws against homosexual behaviour. Imprisoning someone for it wouldn’t have caught anyone’s attention as unusual. France being a notable exception (since 1791); even Vichy France settled for raising the age of consent for gay sex to 21 instead of a criminal ban. > [@UDS](#): > > …(A Netherlander, say, convicted of homosexual offences in the occupied Netherlands wouldn’t have entered the German penal system; he would have been dealt with in the Dutch penal system, so no concentration camp for him.)… Would they? Gay sex has been legal in the Netherlands since 1811. The Germans did enforce Paragraph 175 in the Occupied Netherlands so even if they did put violators in Dutch prisons instead of concentration camps their sentences would be null & void at Liberation. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2016, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-claim-that-gay-concentration-camp-werent-liberated-at-the-end-of-wwii-true/749229/30 "2016-03-18T16:18:03Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I wonder how many of the “Joy Division” women were lesbians that they were trying to make straight. Presumably none; the term “Joy Division” comes from the novel\* House of Dolls\*. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2016, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-claim-that-gay-concentration-camp-werent-liberated-at-the-end-of-wwii-true/749229/31 "2016-03-18T17:00:23Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > **Moderator Note** > > In case anyone was wondering, **tafowler87** wasn’t banned for his posts in this thread, but for trolling in the Pit. (No big surprise there.) That thread has been removed. > > Colibri > General Questions Moderator We all owe you a debt of gratitude. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2016, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-claim-that-gay-concentration-camp-werent-liberated-at-the-end-of-wwii-true/749229/32 "2016-03-18T17:30:29Z")
Yes, sadly at the time for most of the allies “deviant” sex WAS criminal and merited locking up. You live in your times… > [@AK84](#): > > Those guys were fucking insane.:mad: Well, that was kind of obvious. But as you said, fussy about procedures and rules. It would probably peeve them greatly that after so much time and effort and thorough attention to detail invested, people would later on say it did not really happen or if it did was not so bad. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2016, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-claim-that-gay-concentration-camp-werent-liberated-at-the-end-of-wwii-true/749229/33 "2016-03-18T17:48:38Z")
Were there actually any “gay only” concentration camps? _(Guarded by men in leather jackets and jackboots with Nazi regalia? The mind boggles…)_ ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2016, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-claim-that-gay-concentration-camp-werent-liberated-at-the-end-of-wwii-true/749229/34 "2016-03-19T12:56:43Z")
IIRC towards the very end of the war Germany started to liquidate their prisons and placed everyone formerly jailed into slave labor/concentration camps, since it was more productive to work people to death no matter how minor the crime than be idle in prison. Those who refused to go or were seen as troublemakers/liabilities were executed right inside the prison. So there were a bunch of non-persecuted (in the Holocaust sense) inside concentration camps by the time of liberation. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-claim-that-gay-concentration-camp-werent-liberated-at-the-end-of-wwii-true/749229/35 "2016-03-21T01:21:18Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Were there actually any “gay only” concentration camps? No. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-claim-that-gay-concentration-camp-werent-liberated-at-the-end-of-wwii-true/749229/36 "2016-03-21T21:27:26Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Were there actually any “gay only” concentration camps? > > _(Guarded by men in leather jackets and jackboots with Nazi regalia? The mind boggles…)_ [Sort of, the Italian fascist regime interned gay Italians on the island of San Domino until the start of WWII.](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22856586) ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-claim-that-gay-concentration-camp-werent-liberated-at-the-end-of-wwii-true/749229/37 "2016-03-22T18:58:46Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Were there actually any “gay only” concentration camps? > > _(Guarded by men in leather jackets and jackboots with Nazi regalia? The mind boggles…)_ They probably weren’t even forced to join the Cummerbund. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-claim-that-gay-concentration-camp-werent-liberated-at-the-end-of-wwii-true/749229/38 "2022-06-30T07:22:08Z")
I was going to start a new thread on this subject, but research turned up this thread I had not previously read from 2016. I very recently came across this article from last year [LGBTQ+ History Month: gay victims and survivors of the Holocaust are often forgotten – we need to tell their stories (theconversation.com)](https://theconversation.com/lgbtq-history-month-gay-victims-and-survivors-of-the-holocaust-are-often-forgotten-we-need-to-tell-their-stories-154417) " Even after the camps were shut down, many gay survivors were never truly liberated. Homosexuality was not decriminalised in Germany until 1967 in East Germany and 1969 in West Germany, and so a number of survivors ended up back in prison. Many were also unable to return to their families due to the shame and stigma attached to the [pink triangle](http://auschwitz.org/en/history/categories-of-prisoners/homosexuals-a-separate-category-of-prisoners/robert-biedron-nazisms-pink-hell/). Even those who did, like Heinz Heger, often found themselves shunned by society. While Jews, children, and political prisoners could apply for [financial and moral support from the new German governments](https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/holocaust-compensation-and-restitution-by-country), homosexual men could not. Similarly, their testimonies were not prioritised by Holocaust researchers or by the criminal courts. As a result, many survivors blamed themselves for their [persecution](https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=UYh_OaQrEvcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=men+with+the+pink+triangle&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false)." I think this article is a good reason to add to/revive this thread. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-claim-that-gay-concentration-camp-werent-liberated-at-the-end-of-wwii-true/749229.md?page=1)