Review – Paragraph 175

Here’s a new slant on Holocaust film-making: a documentary that focuses on Nazi abuse of homosexuals. This focus produces some interesting results. For example, the Nazis had an awkward time reconciling their bigoted hatred of homosexuals with the presence of gay men in prominent positions in their own ranks (though this angle isn’t explored much beyond the death of Ernst Rohm). The interviewees are quite a set as well, ranging from a witty Jewish man to a senile German to a French man who was still understandably bitter about what happened to him. The researchers who put this production together assert that only ten victims of the Nazis’ anti-homosexual persecutions remained alive when the movie was made, and eight of them agreed to be interviewed. The value of their preserved insight makes this a solid contribution to an under-considered aspect of the Holocaust. Mildly amusing