Persecuted under National Socialism, marginalized and unwelcome after 1945
For the first time, historian Stefanie Schüler-Springorum tells the story of how Jewish survivors, Sinti and Roma, former forced labourers and homosexuals experienced post-war West Germany. Racism and anti-Semitism, resentment and discrimination did not end after 1945. Jewish survivors were met with hostility in both the public and private spheres, former forced labourers were grudgingly tolerated, Sinti and Roma continued to be harassed by the police, and homosexuals were persecuted under the Nazi version of Paragraph 175 of the German Penal Code. Their suffering was only recognised and compensated for, if at all, under pressure from the Allies. The narrative of a ‘flourishing democracy’ in West Germany does not apply to everyone – this book presents a different, hitherto neglected history that continues to have an impact today. An important contribution to the debates we are currently having about democracy, our open society and the culture of remembrance.
