Description
Book SynopsisPink Triangle Legacies traces the transformation of the pink triangle from a Nazi concentration camp badge and emblem of discrimination into a widespread, recognizable symbol of queer activism, pride, and community. W. Jake Newsome provides an overview of the Nazis'' targeted violence against LGBTQ+ people and details queer survivors'' fraught and ongoing fight for the acknowledgement, compensation, and memorialization of LGBTQ+ victims. Within this context, a new generation of queer activists has used the pink trianglea reminder of Germany''s fascist pastas the visual marker of gay liberation, seeking to end queer people''s status as second-class citizens by asserting their right to express their identity openly.
The reclamation of the pink triangle occurred first in West Germany, but soon activists in the United States adopted this chapter from German history as their own. As gay activists on opposite sides of the Atlantic grafted pink triangle memories
Trade Review
For those interested in the "problems" of queer history, this book is an excellent introduction to the issues associated with confronting queer historical memory.
* The Gay & Lesbian Review *
Table of ContentsIntroduction: "Beaten to Death, Silenced to Death"
1. "They are Enemies of the State!": The Fate of LGBTQ+ People in Nazi Germany
2. "For Homosexuals, the Third Reich Hasn't Ended Yet": Paragraph 175 and the Nazi Past in West Germany
3. "The Only Acceptable Gay Liberation Logo": The Reclamation of the Pink Triangle in West Germany
4. "It's a Scar, but In Your Heart": The Pink Triangle in American Gay Activism
5. "Remembrances of Things Once Hidden": Piecing Together the Pink Triangle Past on Stage and on Page
6. "We Died There, Too": Commemoration and the Construction of a Transatlantic Gay Identity
Epilogue: "Remembering Must Also Have Consequences"
