Interpretation of Paragraph 175

Paragraph 175 is about a national prohibition that was added to the Reich Penal code in 1871 stating that any unnatural sex act between male or by humans with animals would be punished by imprisonment and will loose their civil rights . In 1935, after the death of Ernst Roem the Nazi’s reform this law in three parts. Paragraph 175 stated that sex between men would be punishable but might refrain from punishment if the male is below 21 years old. Paragraph 175a included that persons who involved in sex between men would be imprisoned for 10 years and even he was a victim had to serve for 3 months.Paragraph 175b included that if human performed sex with animals would be imprisoned and also loose their civil rights.

 I think this Paragraph 175 is related with the lecture. First of all, it can be related to the movie “Blue Angel” in which a professor Rath’s personal choice to have affair with the cabaret performer Lola leads to loose his job. From this it is shown that there was a social structure that would punish people that did not conform to society’s standards and this law also tells about the punishment if someone is acting out of natural sex or going against the society’s standards. In addition, professor Rath choosing Lola in his life leads him to self destruction that might be indicating the Germans to be aware of that if someone would go against the society’s rules then they will be destroyed like the character Rath. Also the actress who played the role of Lola, Marlene Dietrich herself was a bi-sexual so this might be the reason that she fled to USA to live a free life.