The Reich Central Office for the Combating of Homosexuality and Abortion () was a government bureau central to Nazi Germany's persecution of homosexuals and tasked with enforcing laws which criminalized abortion.

History

The Reich Central Office was created on 10 October 1936 by a special decree of the ''

Reichsführer-SS (, ) was a special title and rank that existed between the years of 1925 and 1945 for the commander of the (SS). ''Reichsführer-SS'' was a title from 1925 to 1933, and from 1934 to 1945 it was the highest Uniforms and insignia of the Schut ...

Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and military leader who was the 4th of the (Protection Squadron; SS), a leading member of the Nazi Party, and one of the most powerful p ...

. Its creation signaled the revival of persecution of homosexuals during the relative calm after the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XI Olympiad () and officially branded as Berlin 1936, were an international multi-sport event held from 1 to 16 August 1936 in Berlin, then capital of Nazi Germany. Berlin won the bid to ...

. The primary task of the Reich Central Office was the collection of data about homosexuals. The centralized archive of data allowed the Reich Central Office to coordinate the persecution and punishment of homosexuals. To do this, it had at its disposal special mobile squads, which also could carry out executions. By 1940, the section had already possessed data on some 41,000 homosexuals, both suspected and convicted. From 1936 to 1938 SS official Josef Meisinger was the director of the section at the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

Central Headquarters. Later, it was led by criminologist advisor Erich Jacob. In July 1943, Jacob became director of criminology and began working alongside psychiatrist and neurologist Carl-Heinz Rodenberg, who came on as scientific director. A group of 17 workers was available to both of them. The office's collection of records on suspected and convicted homosexuals, which is believed to number about 100,000, was likely destroyed in the last days of the war. In the Nazi regime's campaign against the Catholic Church, many Catholic priests were arrested on unfounded charges of homosexuality and acts of perversion. These "morality" prosecutions were suspended to show foreigners a good image during the 1936 Summer Olympics, but then resumed vigorously after Pope Pius XI had denounced Nazism in his 1937 encyclical . Clergy opposed to the regime or holding views the Nazis found suspect (for instance

pacifism Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ...

) were particularly targeted, with the false charge of homosexual conduct serving to conceal the real political cause of their prosecution. After having served their prison terms, many of those prosecuted were sent to concentration camps (usually the camp at Dachau, which had a special "priest block"). Owing to the especially brutal and inhumane living conditions prevalent in the camps, an indeterminate number of priests sent to concentration camps on concocted charges of homosexuality did not survive their confinement.Paulus Engelhardt:
Korbinian Leonhard Roth OP (1904 -1960) und die „Sittlichkeitsprozesse“ gegen Priester und Ordensleute in der NS-Zeit.
'

Bibliography

* Grau, Günter: ''Homosexualität in der NS-Zeit. Dokumente einer Diskriminierung und Verfolgung'', Fischer, Frankfurt a.M. 2004, . * Hutter, Jörg: "Die Rolle der Polizei bei der Schwulen- und Lesbenverfolgung im Nationalsozialismus

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reich Central Office for the Combating of Homosexuality and Abortion Persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany Anti-abortion organizations in Europe Abortion law 1936 establishments in Germany 1945 disestablishments in Germany Gestapo Organizations established in 1936 Organizations disestablished in 1945 Nazi Party organizations Homophobia Heinrich Himmler Women in Nazi Germany

History

See also

Bibliography

References