User:Zartesbitter/Commemorative Sphere for the Persecuted and Murdered Lesbian Women and Girls in the Former Women’s Concentration Camp Ravensbrück and Uckermark

Memorial sphere 2022

The fourth memorial sphere was permanently installed on October 30, 2022, at the Ravensbrück Memorial.

The memorial sphere for the persecuted and murdered lesbian women and girls in the former Ravensbrück Women's Concentration Camp and Uckermark is a memorial symbol in the form of a clay sphere that was permanently installed in the Ravensbrück Memorial and Museum in 2022. The “Autonomous Feminist Women and Lesbians Initiative of Germany and Austria” first introduced a memorial sphere to the new memorial site in 2015. Since the mid-1990s, the initiative has organized their own memorial ceremonies on-site to commemorate lesbian women and girls who were imprisoned, murdered, and persecuted during the time of National Socialism in the Ravensbrück Women's Concentration Camp and the Uckermark Youth Concentration Camp for girls and young women. The memorial sphere is currently the only memorial symbol that commemorates lesbian concentration camp prisoners at the site of their suffering.

In 2015, they brought a memorial sphere to the memorial's "New Memorial Site" for the first time. To date, the memorial sphere is the only memorial sign that commemorates lesbian concentration camp prisoners at the site of their suffering.

historic context

In the Ravensbrück Women's Concentration Camp, the largest concentration camp for women in the Third Reich, an estimated 132,000 women were imprisoned, including lesbian women. Since the 1980s, efforts have been made by lesbian groups, organizations, historians, and activists to create a memorial site at the Ravensbrück Memorial and Museum, in order to commemorate the lesbian women who were persecuted and murdered in the Ravensbrück Women's Concentration Camp and the Uckermark Youth Concentration Camp for girls and young women.

During the times of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), the East Berlin group "Lesben in der Kirche" (Lesbians in the Church) publicly commemorated the lesbian victims of National Socialism. On March 8, 1984, International Women's Day, they traveled to the Ravensbrück Memorial to pay tribute. They laid a wreath with the inscription, "In memory of the women of the former Ravensbrück concentration camp, especially our lesbian sisters," and wrote entries in the guestbook, which were later removed after a short time. Despite their efforts to raise awareness of their issues, they were criminalized, and all active participants were subject to surveillance and repression by the Stasi (East German secret police). The Ministry for State Security of the GDR classified the group as a "terrorist organization."

In recent years, various historians have provided evidence that lesbian women were subjected to persecution for various reasons. Unlike in Austria, where female homosexuality was criminalized under Section 175 of the Reich Criminal Code, in Germany it was not explicitly criminalized like male homosexuality. Instead, lesbian women were forcibly admitted to psychiatric institutions or were arrested and persecuted as so-called "asocial", prostitutes, criminals, or for other offenses. Among the prisoners of all groups, there were also lesbian women or lesbian acts, which often faced rejection from fellow prisoners and were punished by the camp authorities if discovered.

The first historian to extensively study the persecution of lesbian women during the Nazi era was Claudia Schoppmann. In the late 1980s, she published the only monograph on the subject titled "Nationalsozialistische Sexualpolitik und weibliche Homosexualität" (National Socialist Sexual Politics and Female Homosexuality), which was supported by a grant from the Hamburg Institute for Social Research. During the 40th anniversary of the liberation in 1995 at the Ravensbrück Memorial and Museum, a group of feminist researchers formed to delve into the specific history of women in concentration camps, building upon the foundational research of Claudia Schoppmann. Sociologist Christa Schikorra conducted an interview with Irene Miller, one of the few surviving lesbian women from the Ravensbrück concentration camp, who provided testimony on her experiences.

history of the memorial sphere

Initiative Autonomous Feminist Women and Lesbians Initiative of Germany and Austria

The Autonomous Feminist Women and Lesbians initiative from Germany and Austria was formed with the aim of creating visibility for the lesbian women and girls who were imprisoned in the Ravensbrück and Uckermark concentration camps during World War II. In the mid-1990s, autonomously operating women and lesbian groups began making annual visits to Ravensbrück to carry out various actions, such as resisting the construction of a bypass road that would pass through the Uckermark memorial site. It was important for them to make the history of the Uckermark Youth Concentration Camp for girls and young women visible and establish a connection to the initiative for commemorating lesbian women.

In 2014, the first commemoration took place as an initiative during the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Ravensbrück concentration camp. Flowers were laid at the shores of Schwedtsee, and a minute of silence was observed. Subsequently, an open meeting was held at the memorial site's visitor center, where quotes from women whose stories Claudia Schoppmann had published were read aloud. The idea of organizing a visible memorial symbol emerged, and the memorial sphere with the inscription, "In memory of the persecuted and murdered lesbian women and girls. You are not forgotten. 2015," was installed at the New Memorial Site of the Ravensbrück Memorial and Museum.

In May 2016, the memorial plaque was removed from the Ravensbrück Memorial and Museum on the directive of the Brandenburg Memorials Foundation. Subsequently, the initiative was asked to submit an official application, which was done in October 2016. The application included a list of supporters who also advocated for the memorial plaque. Additionally, there was a letter from the International Ravensbrück Committee (IRK) addressed to the director of the Brandenburg Memorials Foundation, emphasizing their support for the application.

On November 14, 2016, the first meeting of the international advisory board took place, and they rejected the application for an official commemoration of lesbian women in the National Socialist era. Since then, numerous other applications have been submitted to incorporate this remembrance into the Ravensbrück Memorial and Museum. In April 2017, due to the controversial discussions surrounding public remembrance, a symposium on the topic of "Identity Politics and Remembrance: Gay and Lesbian Memory Cultures in Discussion" was held at the Ravensbrück Memorial and Museum. In October 2017, the initiative organized events during the European Lesbian* Conference in Vienna to draw international attention to the situation. Since 2017, the first memorial sphere has been displayed in the exhibition rooms of the Schwules Museum (Gay Museum), accompanied by a press release protesting against the decision of the Brandenburg Memorials Foundation and the LSVD (Lesbian and Gay Association Germany) to appoint Alexander Zinn as an explicit opponent of lesbian commemoration to the foundation's board.

During the advisory board meeting on November 24, 2017, the initiative's application was once again rejected. In March 2018, a new proposal for the inscription was developed by members of the advisory board and representatives of the LSVD Berlin Brandenburg, without involving the initiative. This led to the initiative submitting a new application, and the ongoing circulation procedure was suspended.

On October 1, 2020, the initiative "Autonome feministische Frauen und Lesben aus Deutschland und Österreich" (Autonomous Feminist Women and Lesbians from Germany and Austria) and the alliance of initiatives supporting the memorial sphere for the persecuted and murdered lesbian women and girls in the former Ravensbrück and Uckermark concentration camp, along with other queer groups and initiatives, jointly submitted an application to the Brandenburg Memorials Foundation.

In April 2021, members of the "Lagergemeinschaft Ravensbrück Freundeskreis e.V." (Ravensbrück Concentration Camp Community Circle, a registered association) who have been supporting the initiative from the beginning, organized a memorial event during the liberation ceremony at the former Ravensbrück concentration camp site to remember the lesbian women who were imprisoned, tortured, and murdered there. In the same year, the expert advisory board of the memorial site approved the application, which was last submitted by various organizations as co-founders. This decision came after an assessment conducted by the Brandenburg Memorials Foundation and the Magnus Hirschfeld Federal Foundation, which was commissioned for this purpose.

Memorial sign inauguration

On the occasion of the 77th anniversary of the liberation of the Ravensbrück concentration camp, the lesbian victims were officially commemorated for the first time. On May 1, 2022, the dedication of the memorial sphere took place at the "New Memorial Site" in the Ravensbrück Memorial and Museum. The memorial sphere is the first and only commemorative symbol that remembers lesbian prisoners of the concentration camp at the site of their suffering.

During the liberation ceremony, the exhibition "Paths to Commemorate and Remember Lesbian Women in the Ravensbrück Concentration Camp" was on display in the former tailoring workshop of the Ravensbrück Memorial and Museum.

Controversies

Persecution term

From 1995 to 2006, there was a controversial debate over the different assessments of the persecution of lesbians in the context of establishing the Memorial to the Homosexuals Persecuted under National Socialism in Berlin. Some opponents of the memorial repeatedly demanded evidence that lesbian women were persecuted during the National Socialist regime due to their sexual orientation, in order to justify the inclusion of lesbian women in the memorial.

Historian Claudia Schoppmann pointed out that the diverse life situations of lesbian women have often been ignored, making it difficult to establish an appropriate culture of remembrance. Schoppmann emphasized that this neglect of remembering lesbian women has led to a focus solely on the persecution of homosexual men. As an example, she cited the rejection of a dedication plaque for lesbian women at the Ravensbrück Memorial in late 2012. She stressed that the concept of persecution should not only be limited to police and judicial repression.

The efforts of the groups "Schwule und Lesben in der Uckermark" (UM Queer), the lesbian archive "Spinnboden," and the LSVD Berlin-Brandenburg to commemorate lesbian women who were persecuted by the National Socialists as "asocial" have failed. The Brandenburg Memorials Foundation rejected this proposal, stating that a systematic persecution of lesbian women by the National Socialists could not be proven. In response to this, a memorial plaque was inaugurated on April 22, 2012, to commemorate homosexual men in the Ravensbrück concentration camp. In this context, cultural historian Corinna Tomberger emphasized: "The fact that homosexual women in concentration camps do not have the same history of persecution as homosexual men denies them the status of a distinct dedicated group. This is despite the Ravensbrück camp regulations punishing lesbian relationships among prisoners, just as they punished not reporting such relationships."

Historian Stefanie Schüler-Springorum dealt with the debate surrounding the concept of persecution, in which some gay historians denied that lesbian women were victims during the Nazi era due to the fact that Paragraph 175 exclusively targeted male homosexuality.

Es stimmt, es gab kein Gesetz. Aber lesbische Frauen fielen auf: durch einen eigenwilligen Lebensweg vielleicht, auch bewegten sich manche in der Subkultur der Großstädte und entsprachen so überhaupt nicht dem Frauenbild der Nationalsozialisten als heterosexuellen Gefährtinnen und vor allem als Mütter. Daher konnten sie durchaus in die Mühlen der NS-Verfolgung geraten, vor allem in der Gruppe der sogenannten ,Asozialen. Heute ist es für die lesbische Community wichtig, ihrer zu gedenken.

— Stefanie Schüler-Springorum

Laurie Marhoefer's research on the biography of Ilse Totzke revealed that there were various factors that led to her arrest and to which lesbian women and queer individuals were exposed during that time. For instance, they were denounced by their neighbors or came under the scrutiny of the Gestapo due to prevailing gender roles or non-conforming behavior. Additionally, they could be sent to concentration camps if they had contact with Jews, were Jewish themselves, belonged to the Sinti and Roma group, made statements against the state, or held communist beliefs. Marhoefer criticized that the requirement to provide so-called "proof of persecution" obscures the complex ways in which contemporary homophobic and transphobic sentiments persist in societies that have abolished explicit legal persecution.

[[Category:Monuments and memorials to the victims of Nazism]] [[Category:LGBT history in Germany]] [[Category:Ravensbrück concentration camp]]