Vienna (OTS) – Josef Kohout from Vienna is the first homosexual concentration camp prisoner to make his ordeal public – albeit under a pseudonym. His fate is the focus of the second part of the “Universum History” series about “milestones in queer history” by director Fritz Kalteis. ORF 2 is showing the new production “Persecuted Love – The Men with the Pink Angle” on the occasion of “Pride Month 2024” on Tuesday, May 21, 2024, at 9:05 p.m. The feature documentary was created as a co-production between V-Set and Feature Film with ORF and ZDF/ARTE in collaboration with ORF Enterprise, supported by Fernsehenfonds Austria, Filmfonds Wien and Kultur Niederösterreich.
While there was a heyday of queer self-confidence in Vienna and Berlin between the wars, this illusion of freedom ended when Hitler came to power. Homosexual men are persecuted, imprisoned, tortured and even murdered. Like thousands of others, the gay Josef Kohout ends up in a concentration camp after months in Gestapo custody. Branded with the infamous Pink Triangle, he has five torturous years ahead of him. Kohout survives – and his life story later becomes a key work of the second gay and lesbian movement under the title “The Men with the Pink Triangle”. It is not only a reckoning with the Nazi era, but also with Austria after the war: Kohout is denied compensation by the authorities as a Nazi victim.
Vienna, late 1960s: In strict secrecy, Josef Kohout (played by Stefan Gorski) tells the author Hanns Neumann (Michael Dangl) about his time in hell. Like thousands of other homosexual men, he ended up in a concentration camp in the winter of 1940 after ten months in Gestapo custody. Branded with the “Pink Triangle,” he is humiliated and tormented for five years. Kohout survives – also because he fits into a system of sexual exploitation. Nevertheless, after 1945 the Austrian authorities refused him any compensation as a Nazi victim. The reason: Homosexual men are still considered criminals in Austria, as in Germany. Kohout will fight against this injustice until the end of his life – in vain.
Denunciation and persecution: Director Fritz Kalteis tells the story of Josef Kohout for the first time in the lavishly produced feature documentary: “Kohout’s fate represents those tens of thousands of men and women who, like Josef Kohout, were persecuted by the Nazis only because they loved differently than “It was the population policy of the National Socialists.” Immediately after coming to power, the Nazis began to destroy the queer subculture that had flourished in the 1920s, especially in Berlin and Vienna. In the summer of 1934, Hitler had SA chief Ernst Röhm arrested and executed. Röhm’s homosexuality has long been considered an open secret. Only when Röhm became too powerful and stubborn in Hitler’s eyes did he have him eliminated – citing an alleged homosexual conspiracy as the reason. The elimination of Röhm became a turning point for homosexuals in Germany. SS boss Himmler tightened the prohibition paragraph §175 and set up the “Reich Central Office to Combat Homosexuality and Abortion”. It systematizes the hunt for homosexuals – also in Austria after March 1938. “They were waiting for information from other authorities, from other Gestapo control centers or for denunciations from the population – and they came. “We could rely on the population,” says historian Hannes Sulzenbacher from QWIEN, the Center for Queer History in Vienna.
Sexual exploitation in concentration camps: For many gay men, after being imprisoned by the Gestapo, they do not go to freedom, but to concentration camps. At the beginning of 1940, Josef Kohout also found himself in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. There and in the Flossenbürg concentration camp, Kohout learned to fit into a system of sexual exploitation among the prisoners, says historian Klaus Müller from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, who has studied Kohout’s biography intensively: “Kohout wanted to survive. And a Kapo has offered to protect him in exchange for sexual favors. He was young, he looked good, and he only survived his time in camp because he signed this contract from one Kapo to the next that protected him.”
The fate of the men with the pink triangle has been comparatively well researched. The situation is completely different for lesbian women. In contrast to Austria, same-sex sexuality between women was not punishable in Germany – so there was no pink triangle for women. Nevertheless, lesbian women were under great pressure: the Czech-British historian Anna Hájková speaks of a “time of masking, so lesbian women had to appear straight, wear make-up, date men, maybe even have children or get married.” Nevertheless, queer women also ended up in the Nazi concentration camps, albeit for different, often alleged reasons. The film also traces their fate.
“Universum History” broadcaster Caroline Haidacher: “Pride Month celebrates diversity, which is also an opportunity for us to remember those queer people who were persecuted, imprisoned or murdered. Josef Kohout had the courage to tell his story. He represents the thousands of queer victims of National Socialism.”
No end to persecution after the war: After the war, the criminal prosecution of homosexual men in particular continued. In this climate, Josef Kohout is the first Pink Angle prisoner to dare to make his story public: “The political appeal he is clearly making is: ‘You have to recognize us as victims,'” says Hannes Sulzenbacher by QWIEN. Based on Josef Kohout’s memories, the book “The Men with the Pink Triangle” was finally published in 1972, albeit under a pseudonym. The first report of the experiences of a gay concentration camp inmate was discovered by the second gay and lesbian movement in the late 1970s and 80s and is now considered a key work in queer history. Through Kohout, the Pink Angle changes from a stigma to a symbol of the early Pride movement. “It was extremely courageous of Josef Kohout to be the first to break the silence. That’s what makes his story so important – also to understand why there is still anti-queer sentiment today,” says award-winning producer Alex Wieser. She won the Franz Grabner Prize 2024 in the documentary film category.
Josef Kohout is portrayed by young star Stefan Gorski, who was recently awarded the Bavarian Film Prize for “A Whole Life” and is currently nominated for the Austrian Film Prize as “Best Male Lead”. Chamber actor Michael Dangl plays the author Hanns Neumann and Markus Freistätter plays the sadistic camp director Karl Fritzsch. Almdudler owner Thomas Klein, who has been one of the most active supporters of the local pride movement for years, makes a surprise appearance as Kohout’s partner Willi Kröpfl.
Details about the “Universum History” production “Persecuted Love – The Men with the Pink Triangle” are available at presse.ORF.at.
„Regenbogenparade 2024 – Pride and Party. Live dabei.“ am 8. Juni in ORF 1; „A Very English Scandal am 7. Juni in ORF 1
ORF 1 is once again broadcasting the highlight of Pride Month live from Vienna’s Ringstrasse: the “Rainbow Parade 2024 – Pride and Party. “Be there live.” can be seen on Saturday, June 8th, from 1:35 p.m. to 4:35 p.m. Oliver Polzer and drag queen Grazia Patricia comment on the parade. Fanny Stapf and ORF-1 reporters report from the middle of the action, hold exciting talks, offer insights behind the scenes and provide surprising snapshots. On Friday, June 7th, ORF 1 will show the Golden Globe and Emmy-nominated three-part miniseries “A Very English Scandal” about one of the biggest political scandals in England in the 1970s with Hugh Grant and Ben Whishaw from 11:55 p.m.