The famous “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out” quote leaves out the fact that before anyone, the Nazis came for trans people.
They came for the communists first. The fear of worker’s rights offered by communism is what caused the first fighting and gave Hitler power. Everything else followed. Hitler hunted down communists in ‘33. The prosecution of LGBTQ was a slower burn heading into the late 1930s.
However, I suggest we pay sharp attention to this:
This is exactly what republicans and trump are doing. Removing trans from passports, removing trans from military, etc.
Edit: before people downvote my position, they should read more about the lead up to the Reichstag Fire and the raid of the Institute. They are not singular markers in the course of history that define the beginning or end of anything. There were numerous battles with communist groups througout Germany in the 1920s and onward, from street fighting with Hitler’s proto-nazis to actions by the Weimar government. I don’t think anything I said is incorrect. Anti-communist action was part of Hitler’s rise and included the Reichstag Fire in Feb of ‘33, and the raid of the Institute was in May of ‘33. So even by that metric…they came for the communists first.
The Reichstag fire was in February ‘33, the institute was raided in May of ‘33.
My original position was that fighting against communists helped bring Hitler to power, and those clashes occurred first, from street fighting to attempted uprisings by various communist factions within Germany. There is plenty of history out there on this. So yes, they still “came for the communists first” in the context of this discussion. I don’t say this to detract from historic persecution of LGBTQ people in any way.
The institute was targeted by Nazis as early as 1920.
From about the early 1920s onward, Hirschfeld became a target of the far-right in Germany, including the Nazi Party. He was physically attacked during multiple incidents, including an incident in Munich on 4 October 1920 in which he was badly injured… By 1929, frequent targeting by Nazis made it difficult for Hirschfeld to continue with his appearances in public.
Ok dude (or whoever you are), I don’t need to get in the weeds of digging through history for ever-smaller events to continue with this debate. On the context of the discussion of the Reichstag vs Institute, the Reichstag events happened first. That pretty much settles the original debate. As far as wholesale attacks on groups, the Communists by far faced the most resistance and the most violent resistance before the somewhat more acceptable trans community (as long as they stayed within their restrictive walled garden) began to have their rights stripped from them as noted in the source I provided.
who accused the movements of “degeneracy”, going against family values and promoting “un-German” ideas. A particular target of conservative ire were LGBT publications and magazines, which were grouped with pornographic magazines as “filth literature”. Laws such as the 1926 Harmful Publications Act were pushed through by conservative movements to attempt to limit or regulate the contents of these publications.
Protect the youth from being “converted” by banning books. The conservative political strategy is literally fascism. Modern trans people in prison are being forcibly detransitioned by denying them medication exactly the same way they were in the 30s.
The famous “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out” quote leaves out the fact that before anyone, the Nazis came for trans people.
They came for the communists first. The fear of worker’s rights offered by communism is what caused the first fighting and gave Hitler power. Everything else followed. Hitler hunted down communists in ‘33. The prosecution of LGBTQ was a slower burn heading into the late 1930s.
However, I suggest we pay sharp attention to this:
This is exactly what republicans and trump are doing. Removing trans from passports, removing trans from military, etc.
Edit: before people downvote my position, they should read more about the lead up to the Reichstag Fire and the raid of the Institute. They are not singular markers in the course of history that define the beginning or end of anything. There were numerous battles with communist groups througout Germany in the 1920s and onward, from street fighting with Hitler’s proto-nazis to actions by the Weimar government. I don’t think anything I said is incorrect. Anti-communist action was part of Hitler’s rise and included the Reichstag Fire in Feb of ‘33, and the raid of the Institute was in May of ‘33. So even by that metric…they came for the communists first.
lone_fairie is correct.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institut_für_Sexualwissenschaft
If you want to discuss technicalities:
The Reichstag fire was in February ‘33, the institute was raided in May of ‘33.
My original position was that fighting against communists helped bring Hitler to power, and those clashes occurred first, from street fighting to attempted uprisings by various communist factions within Germany. There is plenty of history out there on this. So yes, they still “came for the communists first” in the context of this discussion. I don’t say this to detract from historic persecution of LGBTQ people in any way.
If you really want to discuss technicalities:
The institute was targeted by Nazis as early as 1920.
Ok dude (or whoever you are), I don’t need to get in the weeds of digging through history for ever-smaller events to continue with this debate. On the context of the discussion of the Reichstag vs Institute, the Reichstag events happened first. That pretty much settles the original debate. As far as wholesale attacks on groups, the Communists by far faced the most resistance and the most violent resistance before the somewhat more acceptable trans community (as long as they stayed within their restrictive walled garden) began to have their rights stripped from them as noted in the source I provided.
And with all the same talking points too.
Protect the youth from being “converted” by banning books. The conservative political strategy is literally fascism. Modern trans people in prison are being forcibly detransitioned by denying them medication exactly the same way they were in the 30s.