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A review by ghada_mohammed
The Men with the Pink Triangle: The True Life-and-Death Story of Homosexuals in the Nazi Death Camps by Heinz Heger, Klaus Muller, Sarah Schulman
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
A comprehensive and heartbreaking account of the imprisonment of Hanns Neumann, a promising young Austrian student who was arrested on suspicions of homosexuality in 1939 before being transported sans trial to Sachsenhausen's concentration camp in 1940 where he was imprisoned until the German liberation five years later. With unflinching detail, he recounts his harrowing experience at the camp as a “pink triangle” from the perilous labour conditions to the various horrors inflicted by officials and other prisoners alike.
I read this for the 2023 Storygraph Genre Challenge's “nonfiction history book about an LGBTQIA+ issue or person” prompt. Otherwise, prior to reading this, I had no idea that the Nazi government not only criminalised but also systematically prosecuted homosexuality: I was jarred by the intensity of the hatred directed on those men for simply being: mere suspicions were enough to build a case and condemn a person, not even a proven act of “indiscretion”. The narrative, told in first person, made me feel as if I was experiencing first hand what Neumann suffered: from discrimination to dehumanisation, being stripped of one's rights and treated like a criminal of a lower status than prisoners who were convicted murderers. The injustice of it all was asphyxiating.
In short, an excellent mind-opening slap of a book. I recommend this to anyone interested in the subject though I find myself obliged to warn prospective readers that it contains multiple explicit descriptions of violence and cruelty that may not suit everyone.
I read this for the 2023 Storygraph Genre Challenge's “nonfiction history book about an LGBTQIA+ issue or person” prompt. Otherwise, prior to reading this, I had no idea that the Nazi government not only criminalised but also systematically prosecuted homosexuality: I was jarred by the intensity of the hatred directed on those men for simply being: mere suspicions were enough to build a case and condemn a person, not even a proven act of “indiscretion”. The narrative, told in first person, made me feel as if I was experiencing first hand what Neumann suffered: from discrimination to dehumanisation, being stripped of one's rights and treated like a criminal of a lower status than prisoners who were convicted murderers. The injustice of it all was asphyxiating.
In short, an excellent mind-opening slap of a book. I recommend this to anyone interested in the subject though I find myself obliged to warn prospective readers that it contains multiple explicit descriptions of violence and cruelty that may not suit everyone.