Description:

NAZI PERSECUTION OF HOMOSEXUALS
A fine-content group of nine documents, 13pp. 4to., Oberhausen and Dusseldorf, Mar. 31, 1938 - Aug. 12, 1939, concerning the case of Karl Wiechert, a postal and telegraph inspector in Oberhausen. In 1938, Weichert was accused of homosexuality (a crime in Germany until 1975!) and dismissed from his position. The collection of documents specifically relates to an inquiry from Weichert's supervisor who desired to have him reinstated to his post. Of interest is a signed copy of Weichert's appeal, Feb. 4, 1939 in which he requests that the punishment should be lighter considering that fact that the alleged homosexual activity was due to his seduction as a youth. In his adult life Weichert, claimed to follow a 'normal' path in life. In the petition, which was apparently denied, Weichert proposes that he pay a fine of 500 RM in lieu of a dismissal so he could still marry and raise a family. He writes, in part: "When you think of the question, if I can be left in service, which creates standards that take into account the person and the circumstances - and this is crucial to the question - I am convinced that my appeal will succeed. A transfer from my current department and the other effects of punishment to see justice done...will destroy me economically and personally...". His supervisor at the Post Office agreed. In a Aug. 12, 1939 communication to the court, he asserted that Weichert, "...did not breach the principles of National Socialist ideology appropriate to the conduct of his personal life, character and attitude...I intend therefore to request his exclusion". Sadly for us, the record of Weichert's odyssey through the German legal system ends at that point. Nazi persecution of homosexuals was widespread, but uneven. From 1933 to 1945 approximately 100,000 men were arrested for homosexuality and an estimated 50,000 served time in prison and an indeterminate number in mental hospitals. Documents bear minor marginal tears and the usual folds, else very good condition.

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July 21, 2011 11:30 AM EDT
Stamford, CT, US

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