Paragraph 175: Anti-Gay Persecution in Nazi Germany

Documentary – Available on 28, 29, and 30 June 2021 (from midnight on 28th till 11:59 on 30th)

Screening in connection with the ‘Paragraph 175 and the Legacies of Anti-Gay Persecution” talkback at 7:00pm on June 29, 2021. Paragraph 175 is an award-winning documentary that sheds light on the persecution of gay people by Nazi Germany through the lives of several men and one woman. Rupert Everett narrates this harrowing documentary about the persecution of homosexuals in the Third Reich, which adds a deeper dimension to Holocaust history. Using an obscure paragraph in Germany’s penal code dating back to 1871, the Nazi government arrested gay men, sending them to jail or concentration camps, where they were tortured and murdered. Interviews with aging survivors detail the shift from the social freedoms of the Weimar Republic to the repressive terror imposed by the Nazis.

Watch it here.

Talkback – June 29 at 7:00PM EDT

The Neuberger is joined by Dr. Jake Newsome and Michelle Douglas to discuss the legacies of sexuality-based persecution and its associated iconography in both Nazi Germany and Canada.

Dr. Jake Newsome is a museum educator and scholar of German and American LGBTQ history. He earned his Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and his research focuses on Holocaust history, gender and sexuality, and memory studies. His book Pink Triangle Legacies: Coming Out in the Shadow of the Holocaust, which will be published by Cornell University Press next year, traces the transformation of the pink triangle from a concentration camp badge in Nazi Germany into a symbol of queer activism, pride, and community beginning in the 1970s. Dr. Newsome is the recipient of multiple research and teaching awards, scholarships, and fellowships. He is also a public scholar and international speaker, who has been invited by institutions ranging from small community centers to the French and UK governments and the US Library of Congress to speak about the memorialization of the Nazis’ gay victims. Dr. Newsome currently works at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC.

Michelle Douglas is a veteran, a survivor of Canada’s “LGBT Purge” and an activist in the movement to seek legal equality for the LGBT2Q+ community over the past 30 years. Michelle served as an officer in the Canadian Armed Forces from 1986 – 1989. Despite a distinguished service record, she was honorably discharged after being deemed “Not Advantageously Employable Due to Homosexuality”. After being fired by the military, Michelle’s landmark legal challenge in 1992 ended Canada’s formalized discriminatory policy against LGBT members of the military. This experienced launched a decades-long commitment to volunteerism and activism for Michelle. Professionally, Michelle also had a 30-year career in public service. She retired from the Canadian Department of Justice in 2019 where she held the position of Director of International Relations. Michelle is a member of the board of directors of the Michaëlle Jean Foundation. Michelle was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012. In 2021, Maclean’s Magazine named Michelle on their “Power List 50”. She is a graduate of Carleton University and resides in Ottawa.

Watch it here.

Presented in Partnership with the German Consulate General in Toronto.