LGBT History Month 2026: Robert Oelbermann and Rudi Pallas

Both Robert Oelbermann and Rudi Pallas were prominent figures in the German youth movement who became victims of Nazi persecution due to their homosexuality.

Robert Oelbermann in 1936 shorty before his arrest.
Coll. Archive of the German Youth Movement, Witzenhausen, P1 No.914

Robert Oelbermann was born in 1896 in Bonn, Germany. In 1921, he and his twin brother Karl founded the Nerother Bund youth group in the Cologne region. Such youth groups were quite common at the time and focused on hiking, camping, singing folk songs (using the Zupfgeigenhansl songbook), and experiencing nature. Gay relationships sometimes developed from the intense adolescent male camaraderie, and the Nerother Bund accepted these friendships, espousing a type of "pedagogical eros."

During the Nazi persecution of homosexuals, many Hitler Youth leaders who had previously been members of the Nerother Bund youth group were arrested beginning in late 1935. Robert Oelbermann was taken into custody on February 14, 1936. In a letter written afterward, he openly defended homosexuality, calling it "the sole foundation of the state." He argued that it was an undeniable fact that all true leaders possessed same-sex inclinations and that all genuinely great achievements arose from this impulse. For these reasons, he concluded, portraying same-sex love as abnormal, pathological, or criminal was a profound injustice—damaging both to individuals and to the state itself.

In July 1936, Oelbermann was sentenced to 21 months in prison under Paragraph 175 (the German law criminalizing homosexual acts), just one of more than 50,000 men persecuted for being gay during the Nazi regime. After serving his sentence, he was taken into "protective custody" and deported to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. There, he became an important figure, especially for prisoners marked with the pink triangle. Within the camp, he was soon known as the "leader of the 175s," as camp elder Harry Naujoks later recalled in his memoirs. As the unofficial block elder of Block 14—where many homosexual prisoners were concentrated—he was able to do much to encourage solidarity and mutual support among the pink triangle inmates. It was here that he met Rudi Pallas, a former scout leader (he formed the South Legion Youth League), physician at the Berlin University Hospital and fellow gay prisoner.

Rudi Pallas, from the album of his friend Fritz Nickel, ca 1930-31
Coll. Archive of the German Youth Movement, Witzenhausen N125 No.9

Oelbermann and Pallas together organized clandestine resistance activities among homosexual and political prisoners, doing a a great deal to foster solidarity among the gay prisoners. Lectures, musical evenings, and cabaret performances were held in Block 14. The SS eventually even imposed a ban on visits to this block, probably because they feared it could "become a central point of the camp," as the prisoner Albert Christel later reported.

Block 14 was dissolved in the spring of 1940, and most of the homosexual prisoners were transferred to other concentration camps. Oelbermann himself was transported to Dachau in August. Seven months later, on March 29, 1941, forty-four year old Robert Oelbermann died there, according to the official report, from "cardiovascular failure due to asthma and edema."

However, Pallas was released in May 1940 and sent to the Eastern Front before being taken prisoner by the Russians. He was one of the few homosexual deportees to be recognized as a "victim of war" for his anti-fascist activism. In 1952, while under investigation once again by the West German police for homosexuality, he committed suicide.

Some information above culled from The Pink Triangle, a German-language site:
http://www.rosa-winkel.de/bio-oelbermann.htm
and
The French-language Shoah Memorial site:
https://expo-homosexuels-lesbiennes.memorialdelashoah.org/robert-oelbermann-1896-1941-et-rudi-pallas-1907-1952.html

LGBT History Month 2026: Alojzy Pawłowski's Five Lost Years in Concentration Camps

Arrested and locked up in various concentration camps, Alojzy Pawłowski was forced to spend a total of five years of his life in prison simply because he was gay.

When we look back in time for this LGBT History Month, it is easy for the sheer scale of persecution to reduce its victims to numbers. But behind those numbers were individual lives—gay men and women with families, friendships, hopes, careers, loves, and stories of their own. So many of those stories were never recorded, were deliberately and maliciously erased, or disappeared with the people who lived them. Remembering people like Alojzy Pawłowski allows us to restore, from our own moment in history, some measure of the individuality and humanity that was so savagely denied to them in their lifetimes.

From Arolsen Archives at the International Center on Nazi Persecution:

Alojzy Pawłowski was born in Soły (Ashmyany district/Vilnius Voivodeship) in 1918.He was a Polish national, a Catholic, and a nurse by profession. At 22 years of age, he was sentenced to two years in prison for fornication with men, similar to his partner Jan Ratajczak.

It is written in the ruling: “Defendant 1 [Pawłowski] was employed as an auxiliary nurse from August 30, 1939, until May 28, 1940, […] at the city hospital in Poznań. In May 1940, he met defendant 2 [Ratjczak] at the hospital, who had been admitted there at the end of April with a foot injury. Without first alluding to his intentions in conversation, he lay down in bed with defendant 2 one night around the middle of May. He gripped defendant 2’s genitals, held his own against them, and played until […] he became stiff and ejaculation took place.”

Special Court I of Poznań declared: “The term fornication in Paragraph 175 of the German Criminal Code (StGB) comprises not only coitus-like acts between men, but also any abuse of the body of another person of the same sex for sensual pleasure. As expressly determined by the law, the man who allows himself to be abused by another man for fornication is equal to the man who commits fornication with him. These elements of the crime are present in all three cases.”

Alojzy was also convicted based on Paragraph 174/3 and was considered the seducer: “It was to be taken into account during sentencing that the defendant [Pawłowski] acted as the seducer, and has a proclivity towards perverted fornication. He was therefore not allowed any mitigating circumstances. […] However, it was to be taken into account for the defendant [Ratajczak] that he was seduced into performing the act by the defendant [Pawłowski].”

He served his sentence in Poznań prison and, from August 9, 1940, in Rawicz penitentiary. He was moved to Rawicz prison camp in 1942. He was due to be released in June 1943, but the Gestapo took over.

In August 1942, Alojzy wrote a letter to his aunt, Maria Jankowska. He was curious as to whether his family was in good health. In this text, the censor at Rawicz underlined just a couple of sentences: “[Aunt], you have told me that you have spoken to Edward and that he recently got married. Thank you very much for the greetings, and I ask that you send a short note from me.” That was the last letter between Alojzy and his family. It is not known who Edward was, but Alojzy was once again punished due to this fragment of text.

In August 1943, the Gestapo transported him to Auschwitz concentration camp where he was assigned prisoner number 136627. One year later, he was taken to Ravensbrück concentration camp – then to Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp and Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where he was freed.

Alojzy Pawłowski returned to Poland after the war and lived in Ustka. He wrote two letters to the Arolsen Archives, one in 1973 and another in 1984. He needed some kind of evidence that he had been a concentration camp prisoner in order to receive a pension.

A guest article by Joanna Ostrowska. The biography of Alojzy comes from her book “Oni. Homoseksualiści w czasie II wojny światowej” (Warsaw 2021).

https://arolsen-archives.org/en/news/five-lost-years-alojzy-pawlowski/

LGBT History Month 2025: The Unbreakable Spirit of Robert T. Odeman

Martin Hoyer, known by his stage name Robert T. Odeman, was a German classical pianist, actor, writer, and composer persecuted by the Nazi regime for living openly and unapologetically as a gay man. Born in Blankenese, which became a quarter of Hamburg, he later took his stage name of Robert T. Odeman when he began his career as an actor and musician.

In 1922, he met his first love, architecture student Martin Ulrich Eppendorf, who went by the name Muli, with whom he shared a close and enduring relationship until Muli's untimely death in 1932. But the heartbreak he must have felt did not silence him. He threw himself into his work and Odeman became musical director of the New Theater in Hamburg in 1933 and later opened a cabaret, which the Nazis shut down, claiming it to be "politically subversive." Life under the regime became more and more dangerous. He was betrayed by a boyfriend who turned Odeman in to the Gestapo and consequently arrested under Paragraph 175 (the infamous Nazi law criminalizing homosexuality) in 1937, spending nearly 3 years in prison. After his release in 1940, Odeman was subject to a Berufsverbot (an order of “professional disqualification”) and forbidden from performing in public.

But the worst was yet to come: Odeman was arrested again in 1942 and this time sent to the brutal Sachsenhausen concentration camp. In a twist of fate and unimaginable courage, Odeman managed to escape during a forced death march toward the Baltic Sea in April 1945, alongside other gay prisoners..

After the war and all the unimaginable trauma he had been through, Odeman found inspiration and focused on cultural activities, training as an actor and performing in various theatres. He also wrote satirical poems that were set to music by such notable German musicians as Charles Kálmán and Norbert Schultze. In 1959, he found love again with Günter Nöring. Since same-sex marriage was still a distant dream, Odeman adopted Nöring — a legal workaround used by many queer couples of the time to secure inheritance and other rights. Günter took the name Odeman-Nöring, a quiet but powerful gesture of unity.

Robert T. Odeman lived a full, defiant, creative life — one marked by love, persecution, survival, and ultimately, resilience. He passed away in 1985, at the age of 80, leaving behind a courageous and inspiring legacy.

LGBT History Month 2025: Heroes Richard "Jack" Baker and James "Michael" McConnell

Richard "Jack" Baker and James "Michael" McConnell are hereoes and pioneers in the gay rights movement. They were the first same-sex couple known to obtain a marriage license, have their marriage solemnized, and have it legally recognized by a government, paving the way for future same-sex marriage legal battles.

Jack Baker and Michael McConnell at home, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1970
Photo: Charlotte Brooks, LOOK Magazine collection (Library of Congress)

Pioneers of Marriage Equality

In 1970, Baker and McConnell, in Minneapolis, became the first same-sex couple known to apply for a marriage license. When Hennepin County denied their application, they fought the decision, eventually appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court. While the Supreme Court declined to hear their case, the dismissal set a precedent against same-sex marriage that would later influence the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Despite facing legal hurdles, Baker and McConnell managed to get married in 1971, with their marriage legally recognized by the government. Their actions and legal challenge played a significant role in the broader fight for marriage equality, and their story serves as an important part of LGBTQ+ history. Over forty years after Baker and McConnell first applied for a license, Minnesota legalized same-sex marriage on May 13, 2014.

Their story is told in the book THE WEDDING HEARD 'ROUND THE WORLD available through major booksellers and online.

I send eternal gratitude to you both, Jack and Michael...you are the reason I am married to my husband today.

LGBT History Month 2025: The Bravery and Talent of Brian Stonehouse

Born in England in 1918 to an unwed mother, Brian Stonehouse's early years were marked by societal skepticism and the looming shadow of illegitimacy. His family emigrated to France, where his British roots and sexual identity painted him as a perennial outsider and keen observer, a fate that would shape the rest of his life.

Stonehouse's journey took a dramatic turn during World War II when he became a Special Operations Executive for British intelligence. As a gay secret agent often disguised as a French art student named Michel Chapuis, he faced the horrendous trials of three Vichy prisons and survived the brutalities and torture of five Nazi concentration camps. His survival was partially due to his remarkable talent for drawing; he sketched portraits of the guards’ wives and mistresses, securing extra food and shelter in return, all while keeping his personal vow of never painting or drawing a Nazi officer in uniform. His charm and good looks also played a crucial role; in one camp, he befriended an SS guard who offered him protection.

Immediately after the war, Stonehouse returned to Dachau to sketch the crematoria, driven by a strong desire to "bear witness" to the atrocities he had seen. His commitment to documenting history brought him to the War Crimes Tribunal, where he met American Major Harry Haller. It was Haller who persuaded Stonehouse to emigrate to the United States and kickstart his career as an illustrator.

Stonehouse quickly rose to prominence, becoming one of the most sought-after fashion illustrators of his era. His work graced the pages of leading fashion magazines, and his illustrations became synonymous with elegance and style. However, the 1970s saw a shift in his artistic focus. Stonehouse began experimenting with his drawings, showcasing male models and capturing that era's blossoming gay pride and sexuality, infused with hints of his own identity. In 1979, he returned to Britain and became a portrait painter. His clients included members of the Royal family. One of his last portraits of The Queen Mother, who sat for him many times, still hangs in the Special Forces Club in London.

Brian Stonehouse lived his life like a cinematic epic, filled with adventure, artistry, and passion, but above all else, extreme bravery in the face of death. His story even includes an affair with an unnamed male Swedish film star. He passed away in 1998, leaving behind a legacy that bridged the worlds of espionage and fashion, and a life story that continues to inspire.

Left, Stonehouse in uniform. Right, Stonehouse disguised as Michel Chapuis, French art student.

This Moment Might Be Dark, But It Is Not Our First

Author and organizer Garrett Bucks had this to say after Tuesday night's "speech" to the nation by the convicted felon:

"Last night’s address wasn’t technically a state of the union, but it was one more chance for Trump to lay out a story of a country whose hearts are small and shriveled.

But if he gets to tell his stories, than so do we.

You know damn well that the state of the union isn’t strong.

The state of the union is cruel, which means that we must be more caring than ever.

The state of the union is teetering, which means that we must both block and build at the same time.

The state of the union breaks our hearts, which means that we must love each other even harder.

The state of the union has us questioning our own mettle, which is why we must remember that we are not the first who’ve been asked to be brave.

The state of the union is, as it has always been, unwritten.

The state of the union is, as always, what we make it."

https://thewhitepages.net/p/the-state-of-the-union-is