The film “The End of Silence” and a subsequent discussion commemorated the abolition of the “gay paragraph”, §175 StGB, exactly 30 years ago.
The film traces the persecution of gay men in particular in Frankfurt in the 1950s. Back then, homosexual men were hunted down with the help of lawyers who had already worked under National Socialism. More than 200 homosexual and bisexual men were persecuted, harassed and arrested in Frankfurt. But lesbian women were also persecuted and harassed, albeit in a different way to men.
After the film, there was a very lively discussion with the audience, in which contemporary witnesses of this discrimination and young queer people recapitulated the current situation, especially with regard to the Europe-wide renaissance of right-wing parties and slogans, and discussed possible solutions.
