Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals 1933-1945
After being on a waiting list for three years, Gay Straight Alliance for Safe Schools was privileged to host the exhibition, Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals 1933-1945, from October 10, 2008 to December 10, 2008. The General Library System at the University of Wisconsin-Madison co-sponsored the traveling exhibition, which came to Wisconsin for the first time.

Thousands of people of all ages viewed the exhibition presented inside the Memorial Library at UW-Madison. According to Memorial Library staff, Lee Konrad and Ed Van Gemert, more community groups were on campus for this exhibition than for any other held at the university in the past.

Over 800 high school and middle school students were bused to the exhibition for guided tours through followed by a debriefing and a movie. During the discussions with students GSAFE staff included references to the Pyramid of Hate, which illustrates how subtle thoughts can turn into subtle acts, into more violent acts. At the top of the pyramid is genocide. When looking back from the top levels of the pyramid, we point out that no one expected extreme acts of violence at the beginning. It's important to check our biases.

The exhibition was made up of more than 200 reproductions of photographs, documents, and artwork that examine the Nazi regime's efforts to eradicate homosexuality and the devastating effects the regime had on the gay community. The exhibition includes the Nazi racial and social ideals that were the basis for the persecution. See the exhibition online at http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/focus/homosexuals_02/

The fall 2008 GSA Conference, which focused on the exhibition and LGBT history, drew 150 students and 20 adults from around the state, including Superior, Green Bay, and Milwaukee. LGBT history also became a focus of our attention as we prepared for the exhibition, and we were fortunate to have a group of volunteers who offered tremendous expertise working with the entire staff as a history team. See the LGBT History page. Program staff also worked with student planners to organize a Day of LGBT History, and created resources for the event, but which also are ongoing. See Day of History Resources

The exhibition organizing committee entitled the theme for our programming, from Hate to Hope. The programming included a variety of venues to help contextualize the powerful experience of the exhibition and began with our opening reception held in the Pyle Center at UW-Madison.

• Presenters at the Opening
U.S. Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin
U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Historian Neal Guthrie.
Wisconsin State Representative Mark Pocan

• Special music at the Opening
Composer/Pianist Adrienne Torf of San Francisco, composed special music for our theme.
Cellist Karl Levine, Madison Symphony Orchestra, accompanied Adrienne
Ellen Cervantes, Seb Harris, Trevis Kahel, and Emily Ptak-Pressman also accompanied Adrienne with spoken work.

• Theater at the Opening
Proud Theater performed a special piece commissioned by GSAFE.

Jenny Pressman, chair of the exhibition organizing committee, emceed the reception for both the opening and closing.

Scholars on the Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals Broadened our Horizons Panel of Scholars Presentation
• The Homosexual Emancipation Movement in Pre-Nazi Germany
Jim Steakley, Dept. of German, UW-Madison
• The Nazi Uses of Homophobia
Dagmar Herzog, Dept. of History, CUNY Graduate Center
• Gay Memories of Nazi Persecution in a Transnational Perspective
Erik Jensen, Dept. of History, Miami University (Ohio)

Dagmar Herzog gave a separate lecture with a title that got our group kicked out of the Wisconsin Historical Society: Sex in Crisis: Sex, Politics, & the Religions Right in the Bush Years

Both the panel and Dagmar's separate lecture were generously funded by the George L. Mosse Fund for LGBT History

Two lectures on Memorializing Homosexual Victims in Nazi Germany were given to the youth at the Fall GSA conference and to the larger community. A separate lecture which included the one clergy on record standing up for homosexual men was given at an adult forum at Lakeview Lutheran Church.
They Wore the Pink Triangle
Andreas Pretzel, Technical University, Berlin, Germany

Music, comedy, and a lecture were combined to help our community experience the period just before Nazis took rule of Germany.
Lavender Songs: Weimar Cabaret and Beyond
Alan Lareau, Dept. of Foreign Languages, UW-Oshkosh
Jeremy Lawrence, actor and playwright, New York
Ariela Bohrod, pianist and student, O'Keeffe middle School, Madison
Five films were shown for our film series including, Paragraph 175, But I was a Girl, Love Story, Out of the Past, and Bent.

We are pleased that all of the films and events were very well attended and were successful in helping people to journey with the theme from Hate to Hope. The programming ended with a closing reception held at Temple Beth El. The closing was co-sponsored by the Madison Jewish Community Council.

• Presenter at the Closing
Author Lev Raphael
• Special Song at the Closing
Jazz Singer Lynette Margulies
• Special music at the Closing
Composer/Pianist Adrienne Torf of San Francisco, performed an encore of her piece at the opening to bring a close to journeying with the theme from Hate to Hope.
Cellist Flora van Wormer, cello teacher in Madison, accompanied Adrienne
Margaret Billingham, Seb Harris, Trevis Kahel, and Emily Ptak-Pressman also accompanied with spoken work.
• Student Speaker with GSAFE Staff at Closing
Bailey Roberts on her experience with the exhibition
Photos of the exhibition and recorded events that expressed our programming theme from Hate to Hope will soon be online.
GSAFE's co-sponsor of the exhibition, the UW-Madison General Library System. Primary library contacts: Ken Frazier, Lee Konrad, Dineen Grow, and Jeff Gayton.

Members of the Exhibition Committee
Helen Aarli, Judi Devereux, Mary Fulton, Steve Morrison, Jenny Pressman (chair), Jim Steakley, John Tortorice GSAFE Staff: Cindy Crane, Brian Juchems and Tim Michael

Consultant to GSAFE Staff in Organizing the Exhibition Committee
Marge Schmidt
Members of the LGBT History Team
Pat Calchina, Mary Mullen, Jim Steakley, and Dick Wagner
GSAFE Staff: Cindy Crane, Brian Juchems and Tim Michael

The German timeline created by Jim Steakley and the Wisconsin Timeline developed by Dick Wagner are original pieces. The LGBT lesson plans developed by Mary Mullen and study question by Pat Calchina are also original.

Graphic Design and Posters
Judi Deverexu

Website
Jeanne Marshall

Planners of the Fall GSA Conference and Day of History
Andie Algar, Oregon High School
Emily Erdman, Madison West High School
Taryn Frey, Oregon High School
Amber Gouveia, Middleton High School
Bailey Roberts, Madison West High School
Bonnie Stickel, LaFollette High School
BriAnna Storey, Oregon High School
Statia Swenson, Oregon High School
Dena Wessel, Madison West High School
GSAFE Staff Brian Juchems and Tim Michael

Book Display Organizers
Jill Rosenshield , Scott Seaforth, Jim Steakley, John Tortorice, and Dick Wagner

Docents
Helen Aarli, Abby Churchill, Janice Czyscon, Angela Filer, Crystal Hyslop, Michelle McKiernan
Shawn Neal, Jenny Pressman, John Quinlan, Flora van Wormer, Jim Young

We thank our many generous supporters!
Sponsors of the Exhibition and Programming: Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission; Madison Arts Commission; By Youth For Youth; Purple Moon Foundation; Philanthrofund Foundation; New Harvest Foundation; Mosse Fund for LGBT History; William Wartmann; Alliant Energy Foundation

Partners and Friends of the Film Series: UW-Madison German Department.; Fair Wisconsin; Jon Kelly; Center for Jewish Studies; Edgewood College Center for Multicultural Education; Centro Hispano; OutReach; UW-Madison Women's Studies Department.

In Kind Donations
Bunky's Café
Johnson Brothers
Red Sage
Flower Gallery
Reynolds Moving and Storage
Temple Beth El

We will feel the impact of having the exhibition with us for a long time. We deeply appreciate our old and new friends who will continue to delve into LGBT history with us into the future.

Written by Cindy Crane, Executive Director
December 2008