leopold obermayer

Leopold Obermayer was born in 1892. He was a lawyer in Germany and held Swiss citizenship. Regardless, he was arrested by the Gestapo and given up by Switzerland, which was aware of his queerness. He lived in Würzburg openly as a gay man, and noticed that his mail was being opened, indicating he was being spied on. He bravely legally fought back against the Gestapo, even going in person to demand their illegal seizure of his mail be stopped. When his apartment was raided, nude photos of men were found (including Albrecht Becker, an artist I’ve profiled before) and in 1935 he was sent to Dachau. There he endured torture, solitary confinement, and he wasn’t sure he would ever leave. He was punished because he wrote to the Swiss Consulate, and also for complaining about his treatment.

 Unfortunately, the Swiss government did nothing to help him, knowing that he was gay. A diplomat pointed out that Swiss citizens could not be interned in concentration camps and not have access to a trial, but they were overruled and Obermayer was abandoned in Germany. He was then sentenced to a further 10 years in prison. A nazi newspaper printed the ridiculous headline “Satan on trial, the trial of Jewish corrupter of men, Obermayer, horrific deeds of a Talmudic Jew.” Leopold died in Mauthausen concentration camp on February 22, 1943.  I have presented Leopold as he should have been: Happy, gay, and exuding color. 

Sources and Further Reading:

https://stolpersteine-wuerzburg.de/opfer/?q=74

https://raumdernamen.mauthausen-memorial.org/?id=4&p=9457&L=0