In Nazi Germany, not only were the Jews, Gypsies and mentally disabled persecuted and murdered, but also homosexuals, who were targeted by Nazi law. Some homosexuals were rounded up through denunciations in order to scare them into “normalcy.” Others were imprisoned for years even after the war had ended.

“The Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals” was an exhibit created by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, as part of its traveling exhibit program. The exhibit consisted of 27 panels that spoke about the roots of the Nazi’s desire to exterminate the homosexuals in Germany, the rationale of the Nazis, how it was carried out and the after effects of what they had done.

The National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education gathered a group of students from Seton Hill University on February 6 to view this exhibit, brought to the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill, Pa. The beginning of exhibit talked about “Paragraph 175,” a clause in German law that had been instituted by Kaiser Wilhelm I, and the Nazi’s revision in 1935 expanding certain actions between men as “indecent.” The exhibit also showed pictures of Nazi propaganda that urged men to not fall into homosexuality, documents that were used in convictions, as well as pictures of men who had been taken to concentration camps.

“It was very interesting. I’ve seldom heard about the persecution of homosexuals in the Holocaust so I found it interesting,” said Danielle Meyer, a junior who went on the trip.

The docent for the tour was Harvey Meiren, an older gentleman whose entire family had been affected in some way by the Holocaust. His father’s family had been ripped apart by the genocide, and now Meiren wanted to help educate others. His family was from Norway, and he talked about how little people knew about Norwegian Jews in the Holocaust.

“It’s something that too many people are trying to denounce and say it never happened. The philosophy of the Jews is, ‘never again’,” said Meiren.

Meiren was quite an interesting docent, as he was able to pepper the tour with much of his own personal and family accounts, including a story of how his uncle escaped the Nazis five separate times.

“I think he did a good job conducting the tour,” said Kayla Lukacs, a senior who attended. “His stories were informative and entertaining,” she said.

Some of the attendees thought that the exhibit could have used a video or some other kind of interactive learning.

“It might have been better if there was less reading, but, the information provided was good, and the length of it was appropriate in order to get the point across,” said Elyse Schneider, a junior who went.

The students who went also thought that this exhibit should be seen by everyone—they thought it would be a good idea that everyone should know more about the Holocaust and who suffered at the hands of the Nazis.

“I would recommend this exhibit to anyone because it gives people a different point of view on the holocaust. You get to see the homosexual view; male and female on the purging done during Hitler's reign,” said Lukacs.