On May 4th we commemorate victims of war. What do we know about LGBTI+ in World War II?
Homosexuals were considered enemies of the state for Adolf Hitler and his Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterspartei (NSDAP). In Nazi Germany, some 100,000 men were arrested on the grounds of homosexuality. About half were convicted, about 15,000 homosexuals died in concentration camps. We do not know what the strict policy meant for homosexuals in Utrecht. Throughout the Netherlands, however, the number of convictions seems to have stagnated between 1940 and 1945. Before and immediately after the war, more homosexuals were convicted on the basis of 248bis than during the occupation.
Read more about the war, the resistance and commemoration: