Paul Gerhard vogel

Paul Gerhard Vogel was born in Leipzig in 1915. Paul was one of the brave queer people who spoke out openly about his experiences as a persecutee of the Nazis. As a teenager, he refused to serve as a Hitler Youth flag bearer. For that refusal alone, he was imprisoned for five years by the fascist government.

In 1943, Paul was arrested again, but this time for being gay. He was not offered the option of castration, as some queer people were. Sentenced to seven years in the Emsland penal camps, he lived where queer people were singled out for extreme brutality. He later recalled, “For half a year, I was kept bent over. My hands were tied to my ankles.” He was forced to relieve himself in his clothes. “They threw the food on the floor. I had to lick it up.” Guards beat and sexually abused the men marked with the pink triangle.

Vogel was then moved to Nazi occupied Norway, where he labored in the freezing weather, clearing snow with almost no protection. “I had shoes made of wood, paper, and wire,” he said. To stay alive, he stuffed newspapers under his clothes. Most prisoners perished. Vogel survived.

Liberation in 1945 did not bring justice. Paragraph 175 remained law for decades, and gay survivors like Vogel were denied recognition and compensation. Only later in life did he speak publicly, contributing his testimony to the documentary “We Were Marked With a Big A” and helping reclaim the erased history of queer victims of Nazism. He continued to be persecuted after the war, being arrested again in 1952 for being gay. He didn’t trust the Russians or the new GDR Government. Paul refused to be in the closet, and fled to West Germany after being forced into prison a second time by the GDR.

Vogel lived to 80, passing away May 4, 1995. In 1994 there was a documentary made about Paul, “Vogels Reise. Ein deutsches Schicksal.” If anyone has access to this, please reach out.

Sources and Further Reading: 

We Were Marked with a Big A. 1994 documentary, Germany.

https://skeivtarkiv.no/seivopedia/paul-gerhard-vogel by Raimond Wolfort April 14, 2017.