For the first time, the German parliament will focus on and talk about the people persecuted and killed for their sexuality under Nazi rule during its annual Holocaust memorial commemorations.
Since 1996, Germany has traditionally marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day focusing on the Holocaust’s six million Jewish victims.
Though there have been occasional instances where tributes were paid to gay and lesbians who were killed under Adolf Hitler. For example, then-president Roman Herzog paid homage to LGBTQ community in the first event.
For decades, activists in Germany have worked to establish an official ceremony to commemorate the LGBTQ victims persecuted under the Nazi regime. The government’s latest efforts, they say, is an important symbol of recognition.
“Today’s hour of remembrances focuses on a group of victims which had to fight for a long time to achieve recognition: people who were persecuted by the National Socialists because of their sexual orientation or their gender identity,” Baerbel Bas, president of the Bundestag lower house, said on Friday during the opening ceremony marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day, according to CNN.
Chairman of Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, Dani Dayan, welcomed the move and said that it will help in broadening Germany’s remembrance culture.
“The Holocaust was an onslaught against humanity: LGBTQ individuals, Roma and Sinti, mentally disabled persons, but especially against the Jewish people,” he told AFP on a visit to Berlin this week.
“We respect and we honour all the victims.”
Concurring with his views, the head of Germany’s Central Council of Jews, Josef Schuster, said that while the main group of Holocaust victims were Jews, “they weren’t the only ones.”
(With inputs from agencies)
