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NAZI PERSECUTION OF HOMOSEXUALS 1933-1945

ARTICLE 6 — INDECENCY BETWEEN MEN

• §175 of the Penal Code contains the following wording:

  §175

  A man who commits indecency with another man, or allows himself to be misused indecently, will be punished with prison.

  In especially minor cases the court can refrain from punishment of a participant, who was not yet twenty-one years old at the time of the time of the criminal act.

• The following rule shall be added after §175 of the Penal Code as §175a:

  §175a

  [The following] will be punished with a penitentiary sentence of up to ten years, or under extenuating circumstances with a prison sentence of no less than three months:

  • A man who compels another man to commit indecency with him, or to let himself be misused indecently, by force or by threat of imminent danger to life and limb;

  • A man who induces another man to commit indecency with him, or to let himself be misused indecently, by means of the abuse of an official or professional relationship, or one of seniority;

  • A man over twenty-one who seduces a male person under twenty-one to commit indecency with him, or to let himself be misused indecently;

  • A man who on a professional basis commits indecency with men, or allows himself be misused indecently by men, or offers himself for such purposes.

From Reich Ministry of the Interior, Reichgesetzblatt, Part I (1935): USHMM Collection

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