The Pink Triangle: The Nazi War Against Homosexuals

This is the first comprehensive book in English on the fate of the homosexuals in Nazi Germany. The author, a German refugee, examines the climate and conditions that gave rise to a vicious campaign against Germany's gays, as directed by Himmler and his SS—persecution that resulted in tens of thousands of arrests and thousands of deaths.

In this Nazi crusade, homosexual prisoners were confined to death camps where, forced to wear pink triangles, they constituted the lowest rung in the camp hierarchy. The horror of camp life is described through diaries, previously untranslated documents, and interviews with and letters from survivors, revealing how the anti-homosexual campaign was conducted, the crackpot homophobic fantasies that fueled it, the men who made it possible, and those who were its victims. This chilling book sheds light on a corner of twentieth-century history that has been hidden in the shadows much too long.

“A strong book, not easy to put down . . . Mr. Plant writes convincingly, keeps clear of sentiment, and lays bare a particularly fearful corner of mid-twentieth century inhumanity.” —The Economist

“Using many documents and studies available only in German and augmenting them with . . . his own interviews with survivors, Mr. Plant . . . has begun to shed light on this obscure and nasty byway of National Socialism.” —The New York Times Book Review

“A powerful and painful account.” ―Martin Gilbert, author of The Holocaust