30 Days of Queer Cinema - Day 26 | Paragraph 175

Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman's harrowing documentary examines the systematic extermination of gay people during the holocaust, citing Paragraph 175 of Germany's penal code to punish homosexuality with death. It was this campaign that gave rise to the symbol of the pink triangle (which was the symbol used by the Nazis to identify gay prisoners, much like the yellow Star of David for their Jewish victims). It is an essential piece of gay history, chronicling the painful decline from the more sexually liberated era of the Weimar Republic to the Third Reich's murderous crackdown on LGBT people. Through powerful survivor testimony, Paragraph 175 paints a heartbreaking portrait of an oft-overlooked aspect of the Holocaust that feels eerily timely now, and serves as an urgent reminder of just how close we are to losing everything. It's an essential watch, and an impassioned call to heed the warnings of the past.