Upon
the rise of
Adolf Hitler and the
National Socialist German Workers Party (the Nazi Party) in Germany,
gay men and, to a lesser extent,
lesbians, were two of the numerous groups targeted by the Nazis and were ultimately among
Holocaust victims. Beginning in 1933, gay organizations were banned, scholarly books about homosexuality, and
sexuality in general, were
burned, (such as those from the
Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, run by Jewish gay rights campaigner
Magnus Hirschfeld) and homosexuals within the Nazi Party itself were murdered. The
Gestapo compiled lists of homosexuals, who were compelled to sexually conform to the "German norm."