The persecuted of World War II at the hands of the German Nazis included many categories of individuals aside from Jews. Also part of the “Final Solution” of Nazi Germany were blacks, Homosexuals, Gypsies, criminals and political prisoners (typically from among the intelligentsia). There were concentration camp barracks for all of these types of prisoners, and they were all assigned colored triangles to label them for ready identification. The Gypsies were signified as such by brown triangles, while homosexuals were made to wear pink. Regardless of what color filled in the triangle, these groups were as persecuted, tortured and killed as the Jews, albeit in less overall numbers. Many of them, particularly the homosexuals, were even more ostracized within the camps, not only despised by the Nazi officials but also looked upon with contempt and suspicion by other prisoners. Medical experiments of all manner of cruelty were performed on these groups as they had been on the Jews. This analysis will discuss the persecution of these groups, including various tortures and medical experiments to which they were routinely subjected. The conclusion will address how the experiences of these concentration camp victims were similar and different when compared to the experiences of Jews.
The ideology of Adolph Hitler and the Nazi regime included the belief of the undesirability of various types of individuals, especially blacks, Homosexuals, Jews and Gypsies. Deportations of all these “undesirables” and others occurred and they suffered the same fate as Jews in that they were stripped of their belongings, taken away at will by the Gestapo and ripped away from their relatives and friends. Pierre Seel was 18 when the Gestapo ordered him to appear before them. He was taken from his family, forced to confess his homosexuality because his name was on a list of people who visited a homosexual pick-up spot because he had once reported...