A belated recognition: Paris honors LGBTQ+ victims of the Nazi regime

Σε μια ιστορική και βαθιά συγκινητική κίνηση, η Πόλη του Φωτός έριξε επιτέλους φως και σε ένα από τα πιο σκοτεινά, παραγνωρισμένα κεφάλαια της Ιστορίας: τη ναζιστική θηριωδία απέναντι στα ΛΟΑΤΚΙ+ άτομα. Το Παρίσι απέκτησε επισήμως μνημείο αφιερωμένο στα θύματα ΛΟΑΤΚΙ+ ταυτοτήτων που διώχθηκαν, βασανίστηκαν και εκτελέστηκαν από το ναζιστικό καθεστώς – ένα μνημείο σιωπής που όμως μιλάει δυνατά.

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21 Jul 2013, Weimar, Germany --- Homosexuals' memorial plaque is placed where once stood one of the demolished barracks in Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar, Germany, 21 July 2013. The camp, established by the Nazis in 1937, was one of the first and the largest of them on German soil, housing some 250.000 prisoners between 1937 and 1945. 65.000 prisoners were killed or died during this period. --- Image by © Horacio Villalobos/Corbis

The monument is located in the heart of the French capital, next to the Seine, not far from places of remembrance for the Jewish community and other groups that suffered deadly persecution. The placement of the monument is not accidental; it is an attempt to integrate this aspect of history into the broader narrative of collective memory.

For decades, LGBTQ+ people imprisoned, executed, or silenced by the Nazis remained invisible even in the post-war record of crimes. Acknowledging this historical injustice, however belatedly, signals not only an acknowledgement of the past, but also a commitment to the present and the future.

This monument is not just stone; it is political. It reminds us that fascism is not just a matter of ideology, but also of everyday inhumanity – and that each era must decide who it remembers and why. In the era of the far-right resurgence and the new transphobic rhetoric, History calls us not just to remember, but to be vigilant.

Because without memory, forgetting becomes complicit. And without recognition, no justice can be considered complete.

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