Melech 9,900 Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel’s cultural and financial capital unveiled a memorial Friday honoring gays and lesbians persecuted by the Nazis, the first specific recognition in Israel for non-Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Tucked away in a Tel Aviv park, a concrete, triangle-shaped plaque details the plight of lesbian, gay, bis-xual and transgender people under Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich. It resembles the pink triangles Nazis forced gays to wear in concentration camps during World War II and states in English, Hebrew and German: “In memory of those persecuted by the Nazi regime for their s-xual orientation and gender identity.” The landmark joins similar memorials in Amsterdam, Berlin, San Francisco and Sydney dedicated to gay victims of the Holocaust. While Israel has scores of monuments for the genocide, the Tel Aviv memorial is the first that deals universally with Jewish and non-Jewish victims alike and highlights the Jewish state’s rise as one of the world’s most progressive countries for gay rights. “I think in Israel today it is very important to show that a human being is a human being is a human being,” Mayor Ron Huldai said at the dedication ceremony, where a rainbow flag waved alongside Israel’s blue-and-white flag. “It shows that we are not only caring for ourselves but for everybody who suffered. These are our values – to see everyone as a human being.” Israel was born out of the Holocaust and its 6 million Jewish victims remains seared in the country’s psyche. Israel holds an annual memorial day where sirens stop traffic across the nation, it sends soldiers and youth on trips to concentration camp sites and often cites the Holocaust as justification for an independent Jewish state so Jews will “never again” be defenseless. But after 70 years, Tel Aviv councilman Eran Lev thought it was time to add a universal element to the commemoration. Lev is one of many gays elected to public off ice in Tel Aviv, a city with a vibrant gay scene that has emerged as a top international destination for gay tourism. “The significance here is that we are recognizing that there were other victims of the Holocaust, not just Jews,” said Lev, who initiated the project during his brief term in office. As part of their persecution of gays, the Nazis kept files on 100,000 people, mostly men. About 15,000 were sent to camps and at least half were killed. Other Nazi targets included communists, Slavs, gypsies and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Unlike their persecution of Jews, however, there was no grand Nazi plan to exterminate gays. Nazis viewed being gay as a “public health problem” since those German men did not produce children, said Deborah Dwork, director of the Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. “The idea was to change their behavior, not to eradicate them, not to murderthem,” Dwork said. The policy was far from sweeping – as evidenced by the rampant homos-xuality among the ranks of the Nazi Party’s SA paramilitary wing, which helped pave Hitler’s path to power. The most famous gay Nazi was Ernst Röhm, one of the most powerful men in the party before Hitler had him executed in 1934. Later, the Nazis outlawed being gay and the Gestapo set up a special unit targeting homos-xuality. In the Buchenwald concentration camp, the Nazis carried out experiments to try and “cure” homos-xuality. Those sent to the camps were forced to wear pink triangles, compared to the yellow stars that Jews bore on their clothing. Gay Jews wore an emblem that combined the two colors. Today, despite worldwide criticism of how it handles Palestinian demands for statehood, Israel is one of the world’s most progressive countries in terms of gay rights. Gays serve openly in Israel’s militaryand parliament. The Supreme Court grants a variety of family rights such as inheritance a nd survivors’ benefits. Gays, lesbians and a transs-xual are among the country’s most popular musicians and actors. Moshe Zimmermann, a professor from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the memorial project’s historical adviser, said the Tel Aviv monument marked a big step in Israel by ridding itself from what he called a monopoly of victimhood. “We are finally shedding the load of being the lone and ultimate victim,” he said. “We can learn from this that by recognizing the victimhood of others, it does not diminish the uniqueness of your own victimhood.” http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2014/01/israel-city-unveils-gay-holocaust-victims-memorial/#.UtAd9hHTYWw.facebook Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkchylde 14,857 Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 I'd talk about the erasure they made on bi/trans/+ people but instead I'm just gonna say that I'm happy this memorial's been made, even if it's a bit late. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael 533 Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 I always feel like the LGBT people who were murdered in the genocide are kind of forgotten, and it's very sad. So this is wonderful. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melech 9,900 Posted March 23, 2015 Author Share Posted March 23, 2015 I always feel like the LGBT people who were murdered in the genocide are kind of forgotten, and it's very sad. So this is wonderful.Like the thread mentioned is that Nazis didn't plan to kill homos-xuals but rather want to cure them while Jews were killed on purpose. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael 533 Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Like the thread mentioned is that Nazis didn't plan to kill homos-xuals but rather want to cure them while Jews were killed on purpose.But they did murder them. Many of them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melech 9,900 Posted March 23, 2015 Author Share Posted March 23, 2015 But they did murder them. Many of them.15.000 compared to 6 million Jews. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael 533 Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 15.000 compared to 6 million Jews. Does that erase the fact that it happened?15,000 murdered homos-xuals is hardly a trivial matter. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FATCAT 60,888 Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Like the thread mentioned is that Nazis didn't plan to kill homos-xuals but rather want to cure them while Jews were killed on purpose.Criminals, Mental patients, Homos-xuals, and Jews were placed into concentration camps. Only, when the Allies came to free the jews, they didn't free the Gays trapped in the camps. This kitten over here (meow) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melech 9,900 Posted March 23, 2015 Author Share Posted March 23, 2015 Does that erase the fact that it happened?15,000 murdered homos-xuals is hardly a trivial matter.No, of course not, but it explains why more attention is paid to the Jews. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael 533 Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 No, of course not, but it explains why more attention is paid to the Jews. But that doesn't give reason to give no memory to the LGBT people who were murdered, which often happens. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melech 9,900 Posted March 23, 2015 Author Share Posted March 23, 2015 But that doesn't give reason to give no memory to the LGBT people who were murdered, which often happens.I never denied that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael 533 Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 I never denied that. Your first post did read as a bit of a Nazi sympathyzer tho Of course you aren't tho. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melech 9,900 Posted March 23, 2015 Author Share Posted March 23, 2015 Your first post did read as a bit of a Nazi sympathyzer tho Of course you aren't tho. Please. My family died and was in concentration camp for being Jews. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow 6,697 Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Numbers, s-xual orientation, and ethnic background do not diminish the value of human life. Nazi Germany did many atrocities against human life and remembering the lessons of those losses should reinvigorate this generation to never let it happen again. Imagine you or your loved ones in those concentration camps. Stand in the light, cast your shadow. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael 533 Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Please. My family died and was in concentration camp for being Jews. I'm sorry to hear that.Did I say that you were a nazi sympathizer? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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