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==== Gay Life in Germany ====
[[File:gayberlin.jpg|thumbnail|300px|Gay nightclub in Berlin, circa 1930]]
During the Weimar Republic of the 1920’s, the gay nightlife was at its peak in Berlin. “Bars for homosexuals” and “cafes where men danced with men” were "accepted as part of the new life.”<ref>Frank Rector, ''The Nazi N a z i Extermination of Homosexuals'' (New York: Stein and Day, 1981), 14.</ref> At a time when there were more than 2,000 known male prostitutes, civil servants, sailors, and government officials were among the throngs who frequented the numerous gay bars. One of the leading proponents of the gay liberation movement in Berlin was researcher Magnus Hirschfeld. He opened the Institute for Sexual Research on July 1, 1919 and tried numerous times to get a bill to the Reichstag to retract Paragraph 175; a law that defined homosexuality as criminal behavior.
Paragraph 175 was first put into law in 1871 after Germany’s reunification. Hirschfeld believed that the liberal Weimar government might seriously consider repealing the law. In 1929; however, National Socialist deputies in the Reichstag Assembly averred that Jews were to blame for the homosexual problem in Germany in an attempt to “undermine the morality of the German people.”<ref>Austin, “Homosexuals and the Holocaust.”</ref> Hitler responded to Hirschfeld’s efforts in the same manner. In a letter published August 2, 1930 by the fascist friendly newspaper, the ''Volktscher Beobachter,'' Hitler wrote that “Jews are forever trying to propagandize sexual relations between siblings, men and animals, and men and men.”<ref> Plant, ''The Pink Triangle'', 49.</ref> Although historically indifferent to homosexuality until the early 1930’s, Hitler felt it necessary to advance his theory that Jews were to blame for the decline of Germany. Three months after attaining the position of Chancellor, Hitler passed the Enabling Act, which eliminated the Weimar Constitution and gave the Fuhrer unchallenged control of Germany. Less than three months hence, on May 6, 1933, the Hirschfeld Institute was seized and all photographs and books were burned in an effort to rid the nation of non-Germanic culture. Also in 1933, laws were enacted which banned all pornography and homosexual rights groups and organizations. The gay life in Germany was waning in force and the decisive blow to the liberty in Germany came during the “Night of Long Knives.”
