Frankfurter Engel
Encyclopedia
Memorial
A memorial is an object which serves as a focus for memory of something, usually a person or an event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or art objects such as sculptures, statues or fountains, and even entire parks....
in the city of Frankfurt am Main in southwestern Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, dedicated to homosexual people persecuted under Nazi rule
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
, and section 175
Paragraph 175
Paragraph 175 was a provision of the German Criminal Code from 15 May 1871 to 10 March 1994. It made homosexual acts between males a crime, and in early revisions the provision also criminalized bestiality. All in all, around 140,000 men were convicted under the law.The statute was amended several...
, the latter during 1950s and 1960s.
Design
The memorial is a statueStatue
A statue is a sculpture in the round representing a person or persons, an animal, an idea or an event, normally full-length, as opposed to a bust, and at least close to life-size, or larger...
of an angel
Angel
Angels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...
. The work is the first of its kind in Germany. Subsequent memorials in Germany are Kölner Rosa Winkel (1995) in Cologne and Memorial to Homosexuals persecuted under Nazism
Memorial to Homosexuals persecuted under Nazism
The Memorial to Homosexuals persecuted under Nazism in Berlin was opened on 27 May 2008.- Design of memorial :The Memorial was designed by artists Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset....
(2008) in Berlin.
At the basis of the memorial is written in German language: Homosexuelle Männer und Frauen wurden im Nationalsozialismus verfolgt und ermordet. Die Verbrechen wurden geleugnet, die Getöteten verschwiegen, die Überlebenden verachtet und verurteilt. Daran erinnern wir in dem Bewusstsein, dass Männer, die Männer lieben, und Frauen, die Frauen lieben, immer wieder verfolgt werden können. Frankfurt am Main. Dezember 1994 (Homosexual men and women were persecuted and murdered in Nazi Germany. The crimes were denied, the dead concealed, the survivors scorned and prosecuted. We remember this, in the awareness that men who love men and women who love women still face persecution. Frankfurt am Main. December 1994.)
The memorial remembers at the persecuted homosexuals during Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
and at Paragraph 175
Paragraph 175
Paragraph 175 was a provision of the German Criminal Code from 15 May 1871 to 10 March 1994. It made homosexual acts between males a crime, and in early revisions the provision also criminalized bestiality. All in all, around 140,000 men were convicted under the law.The statute was amended several...
, the lat during 1950s and 1960s that outlawed homosexuality. It was reformed in 1969 and fully repealed in 1973.
History
Rosemarie Trockel
Rosemarie Trockel is a German Artist, and an important figure in the international contemporary art movement.- Life :...
. The memorial was built at the crossing of the streets Schäfergasse and Alte Gasse. On 11 December 1994 the memorial was opened.
Literature
- Rüdiger LautmannRüdiger LautmannRüdiger Lautmann is a German sociologist and one of the most prominent LGBT scholars in Germany.- Biography :Born in Koblenz, Lautmann lived during his childhood in Düsseldorf, where he went to school. He studied first German law. After he finished his law studies, he started a second study in...
. Nationalsozialistischer Terror gegen Homosexuelle. Verdrängt und ungesühnt. (together with Burkhard Jellonnek): Paderborn: Schöningh. 2002. ISBN 3-50674-204-3