30 Years of the National Fund - 30 Years of Recognition for Homosexual Victims of National Socialism in Austria

Since 1995, the National Fund has provided recognition to people persecuted by the Nazi regime due to their sexual orientation and sought to preserve their memory, which it does by subsidising numerous projects. This June, the National Fund is demonstrating its solidarity with the LGBTIQ+ community by displaying the colours of the rainbow on its website and social media channels.

During the Nazi regime, around 100,000 people were arrested under Section 175 of the German Reich Criminal Code, and more than half of these arrests (approximately 53,400) led to convictions. Recent research estimates that around 6,000 people were deported to concentration camps on charges of homosexuality. In Austria, Section 129 Ib of the Criminal Code criminalised sexual contact between persons of the same sex as “unnatural sexual acts”. After the “Anschluss” in 1938, the paragraph remained in force and the prosecution of female homosexuality therefore continued, although the corresponding provision in the German Reich (Section 175 of the German Reich Criminal Code) exclusively punished male homosexuality.

After 1945, homosexuals were not recognised as victims of National Socialism for a long time, especially since homosexuality remained a criminal offence in Austria until the minor reform of the Criminal Code in 1971. Discrimination relating to the age of consent was not abolished until 2002.

In 1995, the National Fund Law made provision for people who had been persecuted by the Nazi regime on the grounds of their sexual orientation to be recognised as victims for the first time. One of them was Erwin Widschwenter, a soldier in the German Wehrmacht who was arrested due to his sexual orientation and accused of “asocial behaviour”. He was sent to a military prison and later to Stein prison, where he survived the bloody massacre of April 1945. His life story was published in 2005 in the National Fund's publication “10^th Anniversary of the National Fund. A Closer Look and Future Prospects”.

The Life Story of Erwin Widschwenter

Erwin Widschwenter, born on 28 April 1908 in Hall in Tyrol, was a soldier in the German Wehrmacht arrested because of his sexual orientation and accused of “asocial behaviour”. He was sent to a military prison and later to Stein prison, where he survived the bloody massacre of April 1945.

Projects on this topic funded by the National Fund

• "Poofs" on trial. The self image and public image of homosexuals during the Nazi era in Austria
• Collection of names of the homosexual and transgender victims of National Socialism in Vienna
• The prosecution of homosexual acts by the Nazi courts martial in Vienna 1938-1945
• The Nazi persecution of Homosexuals on the Territory of former Austria. From Life.
• Beaten to death - deathly silence. Homosexual women and men during the Nazi era in Austria - symposium
• Event series: Persecution of homosexuals under National Socialism
• Projects sponsored by the National Fund on the topic of homosexuals during the Nazi regime