For the first time, the German Parliament will focus their International Day of the Victims of the Holocaust commemorations on the victims persecuted by Nazism over their gender identity or sexual orientation.
"This group is important to me because it still suffers from hostility and discrimination," Bundestag President Bärbel Bas told AFP.
Although the former head of state Roman Herzog (1994-1999) spoke in 1996 about the tragic fate of gay and lesbian people under the Nazi regime, LGBTQ rights activists say their history has long been marginalised or forgotten.
Friday’s ceremony, where their persecution will be highlighted, is “an important symbol of recognition” of “the suffering and dignity of the victims who were imprisoned, tortured and murdered,” said Henny Engels of the Gay and Lesbian Rights Association.
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Since 27 January 1996, MPs have held an annual solemn ceremony in the lower house of parliament to mark the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp.
Traditionally, it focuses on the memory of the 6 million Jews assassinated by Adolf Hitler’s far-right Nazi regime.
