Paragraph 175

Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman reaped fame with their documentary The Celluloid Closet, dealing with the representation of homosexuals and homosexual desires on the silver screen. In Paragraph 175, they again draw attention to a thus far underexposed period of gay history: the persecution of homosexuals during the Nazi era and World War II. The relatively free and easygoing twenties, when Berlin was the homosexual’s Valhalla, was followed by repression by the Nazis. The ban on homosexuality, imposed in 1871, was enforced for the first time and homosexuals could be arrested for a simple touch, look or gesture. Epstein and Friedman follow historian Dr. Klaus Müller on his trip to the now elderly gay survivors ( both ex-Nazis and persecuted people. In addition, they have collected astonishing archive footage from the time, both of enjoyable days out during the Weimar republic and of the ensuing misery. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)