Heinz Dörmer
{{Short description|German man imprisoned for homosexuality}}
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Heinz "Saddi" Dörmer{{cite book|last1=Breyvogel|first1=Wilfried|title=Pfadfinderische Beziehungsformen und Interaktionsstile: Vom Scoutismus über die bündische Zeit bis zur Missbrauchsdebatte|date=2017|publisher=Springer-Verlag|isbn=9783658182670|page=183|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CbTQDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA183|access-date=16 August 2017|language=de}} (8 January 1912 – 28 September 1998) was a German man who was imprisoned by the Nazis for homosexuality under Paragraph 175. He was repeatedly released and rearrested, spending more than ten years in a variety of concentration camps and prisons.{{cite book|last1=Grau|first1=Günter|last2=Lautmann|first2=Rüdiger|title=Lexikon zur Homosexuellenverfolgung 1933-1945: Institutionen-Kompetenzen-Betätigungsfelder|date=2011|publisher=LIT Verlag Münster|isbn=9783825897857|page=78|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ttqFWfpTSVMC&pg=PA78|access-date=16 August 2017|language=de}}
Early life
Dörmer was born in Berlin, Germany. Deeply involved with church youth groups as a child, by age fifteen, he was frequenting Berlin's gay bars. Dörmer was 10 years old when he joined the German Youth Movement in 1922. In 1929, he founded his own youth group, called the "Wolfsring" (lit. "ring of wolves"), which combined sexual affairs, amateur theatre performances, and travel. In 1932, he was promoted to youth leader and worked in the scout movement at a national level. He and his group tried to stay independent, but in October 1933 they were forced to join the Hitler Youth.{{Cite web | url = http://www.pink-triangle.org/ptps/dormer.html | title = Heinz Dörmer | publisher = Pink-Triangle.org}}
Imprisonments
In April 1935, Dörmer was accused of homosexual activities with members of his troop, and from 1941 to 1944 he was imprisoned, for corrupting the youth, at Neuengamme concentration camp, a "holding tank for homosexuals, politicals, and non-German aliens".{{cite book |last1= Senelick |first1= Laurence |title= The changing room: sex, drag and theatre |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=O9oqZca7Pq8C |access-date= 12 December 2009 | date= 22 May 2000 |publisher= Routledge |isbn= 978-0-415-15986-9 |page= 363 |chapter= Chapter 14: Amateur hour }}
Post-war life
After the war, Dörmer spent another eight years in prison on various charges. After his final release in 1963, he returned to Berlin to live with his father, who died in 1970. His 1982 application for reparations from the German government was rejected. He died in 1998, but made an appearance in the 2000 documentary film Paragraph 175, which portrays survivors of persecution then authorised under the German anti-male homosexuality law of the same name.
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.pink-triangle.org/ptps/dormer.html Heinz Dörmer biography on Pink-Triangle.org]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20050907073121/http://www.sodomylaws.org/world/germany/genews006.htm Poignant Documentary Recalls Nazis’ Gay Victims]
- [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1017932/bio Biography] on Internet Movie Database
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Category:German prisoners and detainees
Category:LGBT survivors of Nazi concentration camps
Category:People convicted under Germany's Paragraph 175
Category:Neuengamme concentration camp survivors
Category:20th-century German LGBTQ people
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