Political, social and legal transformation of human rights relating to non-heteronormative men in Germany

In the article below the authors analyse the political, social and legal revaluations of human rights relating to non-heteronormative men in Germany, from the rise of the German Empire (Zweites Reich) till contemporary times. What is important is not only a change in the mentality of the German society throughout the last hundred years, but also the fact that the legal system of the Federal Republic of Germany (Deutsche Bundesrepublik, BRD) was using a provision that had been created during the Nazi dictatorship and applied it to its own citizens. The authors of this article demonstrate that the social changes in the BRD in the second half of the 20th century were much faster than the amendment of the legal system; what is more, the BRD has not faced its Nazi past, failing to atone to homosexual men who had been persecuted on the basis of a Nazi legal provision, inherited and applied by a democratic state.