The Men with the Pink Triangle: The True Life-and-Death Story of Homosexuals in the Nazi Death Camps
by Heinz Heger
List Price:
Our Price: $6.75
You Save: $5.20 (44%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $4.50 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Heinz HegerTranslator: David Fernbach
Introduction: Klaus Muller
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1994-10-01
ISBN: 1555830064
Number of pages: 120
Publisher: Alyson Books
Book Reviews of The Men with the Pink Triangle: The True Life-and-Death Story of Homosexuals in the Nazi Death Camps
Book Review: great resource about persecution of gay men in the Holocaust
Summary: 5 Stars
This memoir of a man who was imprisoned in concentration camps simply because of his sexual orientation may be slim - only about 120 pages - but it packs a punch. The man's tale, first told in 1971 to Heinz Heger, is straightforward and to the point, addressing a forgotten group of people who were persecuted by the Nazis - and later, by those who rose to power after the Nazis were defeated.
This is a fascinating look into a group that has so often been ignored by Holocaust historians. There are so few books that address the experiences of the homosexual concentration camp victims, and yet there were thousands of these "pink triangle" men in the camps. This is the only memoir I've ever read dealing with that group, and I found it mesmerizing.
The "pink triangle" men were despised by their fellow prisoners; even the murderers and thieves viewed themselves as "morally superior" to the "degenerates" who had violated Paragraph 175 (the law against homosexuality). The man was repeatedly insulted and abused for his orientation (at one point being sexually assaulted by fellow prisoners on the way to a concentration camp). And this memoir adds a new dimension to concentration camp life, addressing sexuality and its fluidity in trying circumstances (many of the capos and other prisoners in positions in authority had male lovers, although they'd vehemently deny that they were gay).
Of course, the man's struggle for equality didn't end once liberation came. He was still haunted by what he had witnessed and endured. His father had committed suicide in despair after his arrest. His promising career in academia had been permanently stalled by the six years he spent imprisoned. And, of course, gays were still acceptable targets to hate after the war; homosexuality wasn't even legal until 1971 in the man's native Austria.
At the time this book was published, the man (who chose to remain anonymous here) still had received no remuneration from the German government by being imprisoned during the Holocaust. And why? Because he was homosexual, a "criminal" prisoner, and therefore entitled to nothing. Wow. I wonder if any gay prisoners received monetary payments for the suffering that they endured.
I'd recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the Holocaust and/or gay history. It's a really remarkable slice of history, and it's a shame that there are so few memoirs available from "non-traditional" Holocaust victims.
More The Men with the Pink Triangle: The True Life-and-Death Story of Homosexuals in the Nazi Death Camps reviews:
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
Summary of The Men with the Pink Triangle: The True Life-and-Death Story of Homosexuals in the Nazi Death Camps
The first, and still the best known, testimony by a gay survivor of the Nazi concentration camps translated into English, this harrowing autobiography opened new doors onto the understanding of homosexuality and the Holocaust when it was first published in 1980 by Gay Men's Press.THE MEN WITH THE PINK TRIANGLE has been translated into several languages, with a second edition published in 1994 by Alyson Books. Heger's book also inspired the 1979 play Bent by Martin Sherman which was filmed as the 1997 movie of the same name, directed by Sean Mathias.It has only been since the mid-1970s that any attention has been paid to the persecution and interment of gay men by the Nazis during the Third Reich. Since that time, books such as Richard Plant's The Pink Triangle (and Martin Sherman's play Bent) have illuminated this nearly lost history. Heinz Heger's first-person account, The Men with the Pink Triangle, was one of the first books on the topic and remains one of the most important.
In 1939, Heger, a Viennese university student, was arrested and sentenced to prison for being a "degenerate." Within weeks he was transported to Sachsenhausen, a concentration camp in East Germany, and forced to wear a pink triangle to show that his crime was homosexuality. He remained there, under horrific conditions, until the end of the war in 1945. The power of The Men with the Pink Triangle comes from Heger's sparse prose and his ability to recall--and communicate--the smallest resonant details. The pain and squalor of everyday camp life--the constant filth, the continuous presence of death, and the unimaginable cruelty of those in command--are all here. But Heger's story would be unbearable were it not for the simple courage he and others used to survive and, having survived, that he bore witness. This book is harrowing but necessary reading for everyone concerned about gay history, human rights, or social justice. --Michael Bronski
Jewish Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Jewish Books
Fighting Back: A Memoir of Jewish Resistance in World War IIby Harold Werner
Columbia University Press; Published: 1992-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $40.00
Price in other shops:
Ethics and Teaching: A Religious Perspective on Revitalizing Educationby Alan A. Block
Palgrave Macmillan; Published: 2009-02-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $89.09
Price in other shops:
Missing Men: A Memoirby Joyce Johnson
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2005-07-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.74
Price in other shops:
The House of Rothschild: Volume 1: Money's Prophets: 1798-1848by Niall Ferguson
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1999-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.39
Price in other shops:
Square of Skyby Janina David
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1981-07-30; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
Escape to Shanghai: A Jewish Community in Chinaby Alex Ross
Free Press; Published: 1993-12-27; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $34.95
An Eye for an Eye: The Untold Story of Jewish Revenge Against Germans in 1945by John Sack
Basic Books; Published: 1995-05; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fryby Andy Marino
St. Martin's Press; Published: 1999-10-29; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.76
Price in other shops:
Eva's Story: A Survivor's Tale by the Step-Sister of Anne Frankby Eva Schloss, Evelyn Julia Kent
St Martins Pr; Published: 1989-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $40.00
Anne Frank: A Hidden Lifeby Mirjam Pressler
Puffin; Published: 2001-08-27; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.50
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
All But My Life: A Memoirby Gerda Weissmann Klein
Hill and Wang; Published: 1995-03-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.43
Price in other shops:
Memoirs of a Warsaw Ghetto Fighterby Kazik (Simha Rotem)
Yale University Press; Published: 2002-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $16.99
Price in other shops:
Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Polandby Christopher R. Browning
Harper Perennial; Published: 1993-02-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.98
Price in other shops:
The Witnesses: War Crimes and the Promise of Justice in The Hague (Pennsylvania Studies in Human Rights)by Eric Stover
University of Pennsylvania Press; Published: 2007-03-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $20.74
Price in other shops:
Eichmann in Jerusalem (Penguin Classics)by Hannah Arendt
Addison Wesley; Published: 2010-07-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.08
Price in other shops:
Court of Remorse: Inside the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (Critical Human Rights)by Thierry Cruvellier
University of Wisconsin Press; Published: 2010-08-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.73
Price in other shops:
On Bullshitby Harry G. Frankfurt
Princeton University Press; Published: 2005-01-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.75
Price in other shops:
We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwandaby Philip Gourevitch
Picador; Published: 1999-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.28
Price in other shops:
A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in the Conquered City: A Diaryby Anonymous
Picador; Published: 2006-07-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.98
Price in other shops:
The Pink Triangle: The Nazi War Against Homosexualsby Richard Plant
Holt Paperbacks; Published: 1988-02-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.97
Price in other shops: