LGBTQI+ Persecution and the Holocaust: An Encyclopedia of Prejudice and Perseverance

Gives voice to the experiences of LGBTQI+ persons prior to, during, and after the Holocaust, showing how the Nazi regime instituted a violent, oppressive, and murderous attack on LGBTQI+ life, culture, and identity.Hitler and the Nazis' reign of power had dire and long-lasting consequences for LGBTQI+ persons in Germany, Europe, and arguably the world. This survey of key topics and themes within the greater landscape of Holocaust and genocide studies helps identify how deep-seated prejudices against LGBTQI+ persons evolved into eliminationist ideology under the Nazis. Entries consider the lives of the persecuted and the persecutors alongside examinations of the attitudes and ideas that shaped their present and prejudices; in short, how the German society at large came to condone, and at times participate in, the forceful arrest, disappearance, and murder of thousands of their fellow citizens. Considering also the resistance movement, profiles of key individuals tell the story of those who resisted the Nazi assault on LGBTQI+ persons. A chronology of key events, perspective essays, primary sources, and survivor testimony further help shed light on the resilience and resistance of the community and the evolution of their persecution under and after the Nazis.

About the Author

Alexis Herr is a scholar, educator, and activist specializing in comparative genocide studies. She serves as Executive Director of the Cambodian Genocide Resource Center and holds a Ph.D. in Holocaust History from the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University. She is the author of The Holocaust and Compensated Compliance in Italy (2016) and editor of several acclaimed reference guides, including Darfur Genocide: The Essential Reference Guide (ABC-CLIO, 2020) and Rwandan Genocide: The Essential Reference Guide (ABC-CLIO, 2018). Her work explores the enduring impact of prejudice, resilience, and memory across global histories of mass violence.