Karl Lange
Encyclopedia
Karl Lange was imprisoned by the Nazis
for the then crime of homosexuality
under the criminal code's Paragraph 175
, which defined homosexuality as an unnatural act.
Lange was born in Hamburg
, Germany
to an American father and a German mother. In 1935, when Lange was twenty years old, an informer told the police that he had been having secret meetings with a fifteen-year-old youth, and he was arrested. He was released after fifteen months but re-arrested in 1937 and imprisoned at Fuhlsbüttel prison
, and then was part of a group that was transferred to Waldheim prison in Saxony
, where he had suffered a nervous breakdown
and was transferred to the prison hospital.
After the war Lange was hired at a bank in Hamburg but was fired after eighteen months when his employer learned of his Paragraph 175 convictions.
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
for the then crime of homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
under the criminal code's Paragraph 175
Paragraph 175
Paragraph 175 was a provision of the German Criminal Code from 15 May 1871 to 10 March 1994. It made homosexual acts between males a crime, and in early revisions the provision also criminalized bestiality. All in all, around 140,000 men were convicted under the law.The statute was amended several...
, which defined homosexuality as an unnatural act.
Lange was born in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
to an American father and a German mother. In 1935, when Lange was twenty years old, an informer told the police that he had been having secret meetings with a fifteen-year-old youth, and he was arrested. He was released after fifteen months but re-arrested in 1937 and imprisoned at Fuhlsbüttel prison
Fuhlsbüttel
Fuhlsbüttel is an urban quarter in the north of Hamburg, Germany in the district Hamburg-Nord. It is known as the site of Hamburg's international airport, and as the location of a prison which served as a concentration camp in the Nazi system of repression....
, and then was part of a group that was transferred to Waldheim prison in Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
, where he had suffered a nervous breakdown
Nervous breakdown
Mental breakdown is a non-medical term used to describe an acute, time-limited phase of a specific disorder that presents primarily with features of depression or anxiety.-Definition:...
and was transferred to the prison hospital.
After the war Lange was hired at a bank in Hamburg but was fired after eighteen months when his employer learned of his Paragraph 175 convictions.