07 Elucidating stereotypes

In the exhibition, you come across derogatory portrayals mainly in sources from the Nazi era. Sometimes, however, exhibition organisers themselves also propagate stereotypes – for example, by selecting certain stories and leaving out others. The presented stories thereby seemingly stand in for an entire group of people.

This is also the case here, which by way of an example depicts the persecution of homosexual men under National Socialism.

At the centre is the file of H. B. In 1939, he was accused of repeatedly sexually harassing his work colleagues. They were under the age of 21 and were therefore deemed minors under National Socialist law.

The Cologne Regional Court therefore convicted the postal worker H.B. of ‘unnatural fornication’ and ‘attempted seduction to fornication of male persons under the age of 21’ – criminal offences that the Nazi regime used to persecute homosexuals (§175, 175a of the Criminal Code). Further convictions followed later.

Whether the case actually unfolded as described in the file by the criminal investigators and the public prosecutor’s office is anyone’s guess. Nevertheless, the exhibition only presents the file of a homosexual who is alleged to have molested minors.

Untold, on the other hand, are all the stories of gay men who were convicted under National Socialism for consensual sex or romantic relationships. It was precisely these people who were severely persecuted during the Nazi era, as even flirting or walking hand in hand was criminalised.

Would you like to learn more about being gay in Cologne in the 1930s? Then swipe left here and take a look at the story of Johann N.

The pub Nettesheim in Cologne’s historical district, popular with gay men, before 1914

Johann N. discovered his homosexuality as a teenager, mainly at the Dornröschen, a popular meeting place for gay men in Cologne’s city centre.

Back then I was friends with an SA man. I also slept with him. … I lived on Bismarckstraße, high up under the roof. He came to visit me there at night.’

Johann N., 1990

Advertisement for the Dornröschen restaurant in the gay magazine *Die Freundschaft* (Friendship), 1920s

In 1933, the Dornröschen was forced to close, and Johann N. and his friends found themselves facing increasing persecution. Regarding a person named Johann Baptist Welsch, who regularly appeared at the Dornröschen dressed as a woman under the name Tilla, he stated:

‘And then I saw Tilla … accompanied by two policemen. And since she was now well known as a motley cow, she was arrested and then taken away to a concentration camp.’

Photo of Tilla in the lesbian magazine *Die Freundin* (The Girlfriend), 1928

Tilla was murdered in 1943 in the Mauthausen concentration camp. Johann N. was also arrested several times, but survived the Nazi era. In his old age, he recounted his experiences as a gay man under National Socialism.

By only showing the case file on H. B., the exhibition reinforces a prejudice that was very widespread in the 1990s and still resonates today: that there is a connection between homosexuality and paedophile acts.

Other stories of gay acquaintanceships and romances, such as that of Johann N., are not told. And insights into gay or lesbian lifestyles apart from sexuality are completely absent.

Often, however, only official sources on the lives of persecuted people have been preserved, making it almost impossible to gain any insight into their lives. Go two rooms further to find out more.

Credits:

1. © NS-DOK; 2. File of H.B. © LAV NRW R, BR 2034, VH II 83; 3. Memorial to commemorate the persecution of homosexual people in Cologne © CC-BY-SA KölnTourismus, Foto: Christoph Seelbach; 4. Nettesheim pub © private; 5. Advertisement for the Dornröschen restaurant in the gay magazine Die Freundschaft (Friendship), 1920s; 6. Die Freundin, no. 09, 1928, p. 5; 7. Drawing of the Dornröschen restaurant by Martin Augenstein, according to Willi Zehnpfennig © Centrum Schwule Geschichte e.V.

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