In Wien als homosexuell Verurteilte im KZ Mauthausen

Abstract

Based on the Nazi Victims Database of Qwien, 22 men were identified who were convicted as homosexuals in Vienna and subsequently committed to the Mauthausen concentration camp. Only four of those convicted were deported directly to Mauthausen; the majority—15 men in total—arrived from Dachau. The article reconstructs the biographies of the 14 prisoners who were murdered in Mauthausen. In the course of this research, it was found that not all of these prisoners were assigned the “pink triangle” or classified under “Paragraph 175,” even though the reason for their internment in the concentration camp was a conviction under Paragraph 129 Ib, the provision that, since 1852, had criminalized “unnatural fornication.” Some individuals were categorized as “professional criminals” under the designation PSV or BV, while others were registered as “asocial” with the classification “Reich compulsory labor” (Arbeitszwang Reich, AZR). Only 13 of those convicted as homosexuals in Vienna were in fact registered in Mauthausen under the category of “Paragraph 175” prisoners. Although the small number of cases means that the study cannot claim statistical significance, it demonstrates that a simple count of prisoners registered as homosexuals in concentration camps provides only a limited picture. This must be supplemented by intersectional, microhistorical, and biographical research in order to grasp the true extent of the persecution of homosexuals.

DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.57820/mm.comments.2025.01