Learning from Experience: Heinz Dörmer

[reviews_and_ramblings]

I know that, for some people this is a delicate and painful matter, but please, read this story as I read it, the experience of a man who can teach a lot to others. I don't want to judge who was right and who was wrong, one of my favorite quote is from Simon Wiesenthal, "the things are not white and black, but they have shades of grey".

Heinz Dörmer (born 1912, Berlin, Germany) was a gay man deeply involved with church youth groups as a child. By age fifteen, Dörmer was frequenting Berlin's gay bars.

By the 1920’s, Berlin had become known as a homosexual eden, where gay men and lesbians lived relatively open lives amidst an exciting subculture of artists and intellectuals.

In 1929, Heinz Dörmer founded his own youth group, the so-called "Wolfsring" (ring of wolves), which combined sexual affairs, amateur theater performances, and travel. In 1932, Heinz was promoted and worked on the Scout movement at the national level.

Dörmer and his group tried to stay independent, but in October, 1933 they were forced to join the Hitler Youth.

In April, 1935, Dörmer was accused of homosexual activities with members of his troop, and was imprisoned. He was repeatedly released and rearrested, spending more than ten years in a variety of concentration camps and prisons.


Heinz Dörmer on a camping trip in 1931 with his friend Werner Henneberg, who died in a concentration camp. From PARAGRAPH 175, the documentary feature by Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman. © 2003 Telling Pictures

After the war, Dörmer spent another eight years in prison on various charges. After his last release, he returned to Berlin to live with his father, who died in 1970.

In 1982, he applied for reparations from the German government. His application was rejected.

The story of Heinz Dormer was told for the first time in "Paragraph 175" (Paragraph 175 was the sodomy provision of the German penal code dating back to 1871), awards documentary winner at Sundance Film Festival and Berlin Film Festival in 2000. (From Wikipedia)

Comments

[maximvanziel.livejournal.com]

I appreciate your choice of topic and your attitude, "I don't want to judge who was right and who was wrong". I've never used the exact same phrase, but repeatedly suggest it. Even in Afghan or Iraq issue, there is neither the good side nor the bad side, needless to say about the WW2.

>(Paragraph 175 was the sodomy provision of the German penal code dating back to 1871)

Most of people tend to believe that it was adopted during Nazi era, but in fact, since 1871 until 1994 when it was abolished finally. I've written about this issue again and again on my blog. So that it was used to accuse the abuse of human rights during that era as well as Holocaust. As a result, people have missed the point. Still in 1987, 117 people were convicted under Paragraph 175.

Dörmer's life tells everything. His first arrest was after the purge of homosexual men in SA (as you know, I'm obsessed by this incident). But after the WW2 he was arrested again. The government of West Germany kept this law, saying it was not influenced by National Socialist(Nazi) politics. Surely he wasn't regarded as dangerous, otherwise, he and his group have been wiped out in 1934. That is his tragedy, because there was no political or ideological element in his activity. If I were living in those days, certainly I'd have been shot dead by this very day 74 years ago :P

The photo is very nice :)
New layout is nice as well, only I get used to your pink background!

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

When I read Dormer's life I thought at you. I thought you probably would like this documentary.

And yes, my layout is very different from the other one... and less pink!

Elisa