In what ways, if any, does this book alter your perceptions of WWII, the Holocaust, and/or America’s role in the liberation of Germany? Did anything surprise you?
I’ve read many memoirs surrounding the Holocaust. Never heard of this subject in any of them. It surprised me that the cruelty of that time period was experienced by this population
I have been to Dachau and learning it was set up to house the third sex was a surprise. The worst surprise was how the Americans were treating people like Bertie and Sophie. I want to learn more about whether that was true. As far as the Holocaust, I knew it was awful and awful for many, nothing new really other than exposing how anyone non white and pure was treated and how many of the German people seemed to think it was acceptable.
If you ever have the chance to see Martin Sherman’s play, Bent, I highly recommend you do so. Going to a performance of it back in the early 90s was how I learned about the abuse of “the third sex” way back when. I can’t believe this topic isn’t more widely covered; I’ve seen very little about it in the years since.
What I find shocking and dismaying is that the Allied forces were not treating these folks more humanely. Yet another dark mark on American history.
I know that most would prefer to not believe this part of the story, but according to the Holocaust museum (as found on Snopes.com):
As the Allies swept through Europe to victory over the Nazi regime in early 1945, hundreds of thousands of concentration camp prisoners were liberated. The Allied Military Government of Germany repealed countless laws and decrees. Left unchanged, however, was the 1935 Nazi revision of Paragraph 175. Under the Allied occupation, some homosexuals were forced to serve out their terms of imprisonment regardless of time served in the concentration camps. The Nazi version of Paragraph 175 remained on the books of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) until the law was revised in 1969 to decriminalize homosexual relations between men over the age of 21.
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I had always thought we were the
'good guys" in the aftermath of the war. This book showed a side of America that continued the discrimination of trans and “lilac” people. I guess i shouldn’t have been surprised to learn that we were jailing people whose only crime was being themselves. But now I remember when I was a young girl there was a lesbian couplpe in our small town who were ignored at best and talked about and shunned at worst. Then I did n’t understand, now I do. I am ashamed .
Kim.kovacs, Thanks for including the quote from the museum.
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When I was in my 20’s I went to a special exhibit about the Holocaust. There were purple stars included. I had never known that there were different colored stars based upon the German system of identifying the person’s “crime.” I was in shock. It had never been discussed in school; I had only known about the yellow star for Jewish people.
I never knew about the treatment of the LGBTQ community by the Allies until reading this book. How horrible. I am grateful I read this book.
I’m embarrassed to say almost all of it surprised me. While I knew gays and others were captured/killed in the Holocaust, the details were all new to me. And I had no idea Americans/Allies set up their own camps after the war. I feel very ignorant to this part of history and am so thankful to have read this book.
I have read so many books about the Holocaust, but none of them touched on the topics delved into in this book. I was quite surprise by the Allies reaction to the third sex individuals after the war.
I knew that homosexuals were one of the targeted groups put into the camps. What surprised me was the freedom the LGBTQ+ people had in Berlin in the early 1930’s - almost 100 years ago. I had not heard of the term “third sex” and was amazed at the amount of research the Institute had done and documented, such a shame that was all burned. I too had to look into the Allies treatment and imprisonment of this group of people, disappointed that the liberators felt the need to continue to punish them for a “crime” that did not hurt anyone. I also looked up the meaning of the different colored stars/triangles, there were so many more targeted groups than I was aware of.
This book points out so many truths about Americas involvement in World War II. Coming just 20 years after the First World War we were so reluctant to join the war, even though many reports of the Nazi atrocities had already been verified.
This is also the first book I have read that points out the anger the American troops had at the German people for allowing the slaughter of so many people.
I think of myself as well read. But this book shocked me! It was very hard to read knowing that our counrty took part in this discrimination and cruelty, but also knowing that we did nothing to help Jews escape when they could. It was the hardest WWII book I have ever read. It took me so much longer to read as it broke my heart.
Like most of you, I had read many books about the Holocaust but I had never heard to the reimprisonment and continued persecution of homosexuals after what was supposed to be the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps. This shocked me so much that I had to research it to see if it was true historically. As difficult as this subject is, I am so thankful for Milo Todd’s amazing novel . I learned so much, especially about how people coped with being transgendered in the days before modern treatments were available.
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I was surprised a bit by the treatment of these German people. We as citizens of a country cannot control what the government does, especially during war. They were good people who were in very difficult circumstances. The US military was acting as if the citizens were responsible for the horrific treatment of the Jews. I’m sure there were some who either overtly or covertly assisted the government however the majority of the peoplec of Germany were not.
Sad to think that the soldiers who liberated Dachau and the other camps, who were appalled at the condition of the victims, could be part of continuing to incarcerate transexuals and gays simply because there was no understanding, compassion or recognition that there is variety in humanity.
I was quite shocked to learn that the Allies imprisoned members of the LGBTQIA+ community after the camps were liberated! I guess I really shouldn’t have been so surprised given the level of homophobia and lack of understanding about transgenderism in America at that time.
I also was not aware of the U.S. Army’s role in imposing reparations upon German citizens.