Paragraph 175

 

 

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I have always felt heartfelt admiration for those who survived Nazi Germany: for the Jews in the Concentration Camps, for the minority groups that Hitler persecuted, and the Allied Soldiers who fought them. I have seen and read countless stories of Nazi atrocities, and they are plentiful, going back to the early 1980s.

Now that we are in the 21st century, does anyone dare ask the question, "Do we really need another Nazi documentary?"

This DVD tells us nothing new. We know that Hitler hated Jews and Homosexuals. We have been reminded of it. And reminded. And reminded. And then reminded again. Why?

The standard answer is, of course "Yes, lest we forget." I could agree with that, if the sentiments were sincere. But at this point in History, one has to question the motivation for making a Nazi Germany film.

At this point, the Nazi atrocities have been memorialized in countless ways, so forgetting them seems impossible.

The public's fascination with the Nazis now borders on morbidity, an unhealthy and creepy fascination. And film makers are cashing in. Am I the only one who finds the idea of cashing in on a national tragedy, well, creepy?

And if its so important to remember history's atrocities, then why is one hard pressed to find a DVD on the Gulag in Russia? Or the Rape of Nanking in China? As with other atrocities, the survivors of these acts are quickly dissappearing, and no one seems to care. Those atrocities have a much greater chance of being forgotten, and are largely unexplored. "Why?" is a daunting question which never gets asked.

This is not meant to be anti-semitic, by the way. But Nazi Germany was only a moment in the long history of Jewish persecution. Nazi Germany lasted little over a decade. Jewish persecution from Islamic fundamentalists has been going on for THOUSANDS of years.

Those fanatics, who have always threatened Israel, now threaten the US. Yet we continue to obsess about Hitler. Why?

Yes, there is a danger of fogetting the Holocaust. But the Jewish people in particular face the current foe Islamic Fundamentalizm. There is a new part of history that needs to be examined, and should be examined because of its immediacy.

Remember the Holocaust, but not at the expense of other tragedies.

The film world needs to move on. The subject of Nazi Germany has been exhausted, then re-exhausted, and then exhausted again. Time for new territory.

The truth about homosexual persecution in Nazi Germany told by 6 survivors, using real footage from the times and documentary/interview style storytelling.
I find it interesting how they only targeted gay men. Nazis declared lesbianism a "temporary and curable problem."
Anyway, an interesting little documentary... not enough substance to it though in my opinion- although that might be because none of the men wanted to talk about their experiences. I imagine they get tired of all the interviews and having to relive those things...

"Do you want butter or guns?"
And the people cried "Guns!"
And at that my Father became afraid."

This is a magnificent piece of documentary filmmaking, not only from the perspective of the production values, but especially of the reportage. It is made clear throughout the documentary how extraordinarily difficult it was to get the extremely elderly men who were the survivors of the Holocaust to think back to what must have been a horrifying period in their lives. The producers managed to get through, however, sometimes with the help of friends, sometimes on their own, and the effect is a devastating one. I cannot agree with the reviewer from Louisiana who carped about "too many Nazi movies". First of all, the Holocaust is a horror which must never be forgotten, and there is no point at which there will be too much information about a "civilized" Western European country which slaughtered millions upon millions upon millions of people at a time which is still in the living memory of countless Europeans, Americans and other citizens of the world. Second, I would have a hard time in coming up with any short list, let alone long list of written, audio or video material which treats the specific subject of the extermination of gay people in Hitler's camps. Gay men were one of the secondary groups of slaughter, of course, in comparison to the breathtaking horror that was visited upon the Jews, but they were a major group nevertheless, and if the critic in Louisiana thinks that this is a story that does not need telling, then I'm sorry, but he's wrong. It does need telling, and the point to this documentary is that not many more years will pass before all of those who survived the terror are gone, gone, gone. The fact that the Holocaust is a throbbing and living thing even in the lives of people in the late 20th and early 21st century was neatly encapsulated in "Paragraph 175" when, if I understood it correctly, a French interviewee said that the interview was the first time that he had ever spoken to a German since World War II. "Paragraph 175" brought tears to my eyes again and again, because I had to ask, again and again, "why, why in God's name, why?" Whether Nazi atrocities have been treated in the media to a greater, lesser, more significant or any other extent than the atrocities of Stalin's Gulag (and as a Latvian, I am perfectly aware of what Stalin did, thank you) is entirely not the point. No human terror can be measured up against any other. This was terror. This was pain. But the survivors also represent a point of joy. They did survive. They had something to say. "Paragraph 175" allowed them to say it. I think that we are better for the story having been told.

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3.0 out of 5 stars Infomative, but slow paced for no reason
Paragraph 175 delves into a little discussed aspect of World War II. While Jewish people were the primary target of Nazi Germany, homosexuals were also discriminated against in... Read more

Published on Dec 4 2002 by qmlhcb

4.0 out of 5 stars THE BASHING OF GAY MEN BY THE NAZI REGIME...
This is a beautifully executed documentary that is approached with great sensitivity. An official selection of the 2000 Sundance Film Festival, the film is named after Paragraph... Read more

Published on Nov 3 2002 by Lawyeraau

5.0 out of 5 stars Painful and beautiful.
It was beautifully assembled. These men - now in their late 80's or 90's - all telling their stories of their young, full lives suddenly lost. Read more

Published on Aug 23 2002 by Akethan

5.0 out of 5 stars Survivors of the Pink Triangle
From the Oscar-winning producers of "The Times of Harvey Milk" (Best Documentary Feature, 1984) and "Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt" (Best Documentary Feature, 1989) comes... Read more

Published on Aug 5 2002 by J. Michael Click

1.0 out of 5 stars Tells Us Nothing New About the Third Reich
I have always felt heartfelt admiration for those who lived in Nazi Germany: for the Jews in the Concentration Camps, for the minority groups that Hitler persecuted, and the... Read more

Published on Aug 1 2002 by Mr. Tickle Snort

5.0 out of 5 stars Less a Documentary than a Reminiscence
PARAGRAPH 175 is a beautifully photographed, historicaly accurate, sensitively enlightening film about the Nazi persecution and slaughter of the Pink Triangle, as male homosexuals... Read more

Published on July 29 2002 by Grady Harp

5.0 out of 5 stars Voices from Our Past
From Common Threads to The Times of Harvey Milk, Rob Epstein and Jeffery Friedman have documented the lives of gay men and lesbians throughout the 20th century. Read more

Published on July 27 2002 by James Hiller

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful
First saw this documentary at a film festival. Unabashed expose of the remaining survivors of the Holocaust who were segregated for being homosexual. Read more

Published on Feb 6 2002 by Justin Case

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