This statute was part of Section Thirteen of the German criminal code. Other crimes in this section included bestiality, bigamy, incest, and sexual assault. Paragraph was a statute unde r the German Empire — , the Weimar Republic — , the Nazi regime — , and into the postwar era.
However, it was enforced differently by different governments and regimes. While Paragraph criminal ized sexual acts between m en, it was never a crime to identify as a gay man in Germany.
In particular, the language in Paragraph came from Paragraph of the Prussian legal code. This made it very difficult for the police and the justice system to enforce Paragraph 17 5. As a result of the justice system interpreting the statute narrowly, statistics show that yearly convictions typically numbered in the hundreds during both the German Empire and the Weimar Republic. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the nature of human sexuality became an important area of scientific investigation and debate.
Germany was at the forefront of this development, not least because of debates regarding Paragraph Even before the founding of the German Empire in , there were campaigns advocating for the decriminalization of sexual relations between men in various German states.
By the early twentieth century, one of the most prominent advocates was physician and sex researcher Magnus Hirschfeld. Hirschfeld challenged the common idea at the time that same-sex attraction was a pathological perversion and a vice. Instead, he argued that it was innate or inborn angeboren. Based on his understanding of same-sex attraction as inborn, Hirschfeld argued that homosexuality should not be punishable by law. This committee spearheaded a campaign to reform Paragraph Their efforts became particularly important in the s during the Weimar Republic.
In terms of Paragraph , German legal scholars and politicians debated whether sexual relations between men should be considered a crime at all. Among the groups who supported the decriminalization of sexual relations between men were:. However, there were also groups who advocated for making this statute stricter. Among them were various moderate and right-wing political parties and mainstream religious organizations.
For example, the radically right-wing Nazi Party officially opposed any efforts to decriminalize sexual relations between men.
Such vices will lead to the disintegration of the German people. The political deadlock of the Weimar Republic ultimately prevented any revision of the criminal code. Paragraph r emained in effect. Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany in January In the first two and a half years of the Nazi regime, the government enforced Paragraph similarly to the way it was enforced in the Weimar Republic. For example, they closed meeting places, arrested repeat offenders, and shuttered presses.
However, in the Nazi regime revised Paragraph Afterwards, it began prosecuting men in far greater numbers for violating this statute. As part of a broader Nazi effort to rewrite and reform the criminal code, Nazi jurists amended Paragraph on June 28, The new version of the statute went into effect on September 1 of that year. A man who commits sexual acts Unzucht with another man, or allows himself to be misused for sexual acts by a man, will be punished with prison.
This even included gestures as simple as looking at or touching another man. As before, however, neither Paragraph nor any other statute ever criminalized identifying as a gay man. Nonetheless, the revision of Paragraph broadly expanded the type of acts subject to punishment.
Thus, it dramatically increased the number of men punished under the statute. The new version of Paragraph had two additional sections: a and b. Section a listed four specific behaviors that the Nazis saw as particularly egregious violations of Paragraph These included a man. The Nazi regime saw men who engaged in these behaviors as particularly harmful, because they believed that they were corrupting other men.
According to a, these acts could result in a sentence of up to ten years hard labor in a prison. Within the context of the German criminal justice system, this was a comparatively long and harsh prison sentence. Importantly, both parties could be punished. For analogous heterosexual acts, only the person who instigated the act could be penalized. Furthermore, the legally proscribed sentences for analogous heterosexual acts were shorter.
Section b became the statute banning bestiality. As before, this prohibition applied to both men and women. When reforming the statute in , Nazi jurists had a chance to extend Paragraph to women. However, they chose not to do so. Their beliefs drew on widespread attitudes about the differences between male and female sexuality. Furthermore, women did not typically hold leadership roles in the military, economy, or national politics. Tag der Ausgabe that includes the text of Paragraph June 28, The German Ministry of Justice revises Paragraphs and a of the German criminal code with the intent of 1 expanding the range of criminal offenses to encompass any contact between men, either physical or in form of word or gesture, that could be construed as sexual; and 2 strengthening penalties for all violations of the revised law.
Help us teach about the consequences of unchecked hate and antisemitism. Give today. WeRemember Watch Now. Bruns' story shows how long of a journey homosexuals had to make in Germany before being granted equal rights. For decades, the attorney repressed all signs that he might be homosexual. He married, had three children, and had a very successful career, becoming a prosecutor at West Germany's Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe.
In , homosexuality briefly became a major political issue. Bruns, who had already confided in his wife, felt that this was the moment for him to come clean with the Federal Court of Justice.
Rebmann's argument was that, in the third division of the criminal court, Bruns had to deal with cases of spying, and his "deviant sexual behavior" made him a security risk. Read more : Gay conversion 'therapy' ban in Germany gains momentum. One year later, the whole of Germany learned that Manfred Bruns was gay. The federal prosecutor was invited onto a TV talk show to discuss the topic of homosexuality. Bruns had found the issue that was to become the focus of his life.
He started campaigning for the equal rights and treatment of "ers," as they used to be called and became the spokesman of the Lesbian and Gay Association in Germany LSVD.
Bruns still works as a legal advisor for the LSVD. He has been living happily with his male partner for the past 26 years. His motivation was always the same: "I had to do something to make sure life stories like mine didn't get repeated. Perhaps he has even gone beyond it. And today it's possible to have gay ministers in Germany. That's just great. The sexual orientation of Millenials is flexible and goes beyond traditional categories such as homosexuality, heterosexuality or bisexuality — especially among women, a new study in the Journal of Sex Research shows.
On Friday, Germany's parliament begins debating whether to rehabilitate and compensate homosexuals convicted under the notorious paragraph It's a symbolic gesture, but one that victims appreciate.
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