LGBTQ+ Experiences in the Holocaust
Created by Dr. Jake Newsome for Unspoken feature film.
This classroom activity will give your students the chance to use their historian skills to analyze rare, primary source documents and then communicate their findings to each other. It includes a link to a 20 minute video that provides an up-to-date historical overview of the Nazi persecution of LGBTQ+ people. (Downloads as a .zip file with PDFs)
Gender, Sexuality, and the Holocaust
This collection of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s digital teaching tool Experiencing History presents 15 artifacts and necessary historical context to help students explore: How do gender roles transform during times of war and genocide? How do understandings of sexuality and desire intersect with notions of race, gender, politics, and power? From Jewish women who took on traditionally male responsibilities, to testimonies of sexual violence, to gay and lesbian perspectives of Nazi rule, this collection explores how a focus on gender and sexuality can broaden our understanding of Jewish perspectives on the Holocaust.
Homosexual Life under Nazi Rule: The Legacy of Paragraph 175
This Facing History and Ourselves lesson plan focuses upon the legacy of Paragraph 175 of the German Constitution, used by the Nazis to systematically persecute gay men. It is closely based on the acclaimed documentary Paragraph 175.
Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals, 1933-1945
This teaching resource from the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre facilitates student engagement with historical context, photograph and primary source document replication, and testimonies featured in the Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals 1933–1945 exhibition from the USHMM. The activities are recommended for grades 8 through 12.
The Pink Triangle: Gays in the Holocaust
This lesson plan from Chicago’s The Legacy Project provides context and resources to discuss the fate of gay men during the Holocaust as well as discussion prompts for how these historical lessons may be applied today.