Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Amsterdam - The Homomonument


You can blow these pictures up by clicking on them if you want to see more. Here's the official link to the homomonument website. The Homomonument commemorates all women and men ever persecuted because of their homosexuality. The pictures on the actual website are much cooler, but since I saw it myself here's the pictures I took of the three triangles that make up the monument. I also purchased my first rainbow item, a rainbow belt, right near the triangles. :)

In other news Amsterdam, as expected, was a really thought provoking experience. I will have to write more about it later. In fact I need to journal about 15-20 pages first. It's late here and tomorrow I'm off to Brugge.




The below is from the homomonument website.
Immediately following the end of the Second World War there were calls to establish a memorial to commemorate the gay men and women who lost their lives in the war. However, all efforts to establish a monument failed. It took until the 1980’s, almost 40 years after the war, before the time was ripe. It wasn't until then that thorough research into the persecution of homosexuals in the Second World War was properly conducted.

Homosexuals were persecuted and oppressed under the Hitler regime. Gay men and women simply did not fit into the concept of a strong Aryan nation and they consequently had to be eliminated. Gay men who were arrested and deported to concentration camps were issued a "branding mark" in the form of a pink triangle.

They were forced to wear this symbol on the upper left corner of their jackets and on their right trouser legs. These triangles were two to three centimetres larger than the triangles worn by the other prisoners so that everyone could see from a distance that the wearer was a homosexual man. Lesbian women were classified as political prisoners or as social deviants and were consequently made to wear either a red or black triangle accordingly.

The Homomonument makes a strong statement that history must not be repeated: "Never again". The monument calls for vigilance. The Homomonument does not, however, only commemorate the victims of the Second World War. It commemorates all homosexual men and women who have been, or are still being, persecuted and murdered by government regimes who denounce their very existence. The monument honours the brave gay men and women who have struggled for freedom and the human rights of people who have a different sexual orientation than was and is considered normal.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Welcome home! Glad to hear you had a good trip. Thanks for posting about the Homomonument - I'd never heard of it before. Very cool. Hope to see you soon! Kate

titration said...

Thanks! :) Yeah the monument is pretty cool. And yes lets do dinner or something soon.