Natascha Bobrowsky © KZ-Gedenkstätte Mauthausen: 14. Dialogforum 2023
by Natascha Bobrowsky [University of Vienna] /
The persecution of homosexual women (Austria 1938-1945)
In September, I had the opportunity to present aspects of my dissertation project at the CU REMEMBER workshop “Gender and Intersectionality in Remembrance” in Trieste. The workshop focused on how gender and intersectionality shaped experiences of persecution under fascist regimes and how these perspectives can enrich contemporary practices of remembrance. In this context, my presentation took a closer look at two biographies of women who were prosecuted as homosexuals in Austria during National Socialism. The sources for my research are court files concerning the conviction of these women under § 129 Ib Austrian penal code (StG).
In Austria, both male and female homosexuality was punished under § 129 Ib StG until 1971. The criminal code imposed prison sentences of up to five years for this. The persecution of homosexual women continued in Austria during the Nazi era, even though Nazi Germany did not have a corresponding law. § 175 German Reich penal code (RStG) was limited to male homosexuality. Due to the lack of standardization of criminal law, this difference remained after the “Anschluss” of Austria in 1938.
The interplay between Nazi-specific persecution and punishment practices and Austrian criminal law, which sanctioned female homosexuality, led to a specific discrimination against women in Austria between 1938 and 1945. The conviction of a young Carinthian woman under § 129 Ib StG in 1943 resulted, for example, in her deportation to the Ravensbrück and Mauthausen concentration camps in the beginning of 1945. She had been accused of having sexual intercourse with another woman in a hospital.
Many such stories remained unexplored for a long time and are not remembered. Programs such as CU REMEMBER are therefore incredibly important in giving a voice to such marginalized stories.
Natascha Bobrowsky was part of the CU REMEMBER workshop “Gender and Intersectionality in Remembrance” in Trieste, where she presented her work to university students, PhD candidates, and early-career researchers. She currently writes her PhD at the Department of History at the University of Vienna. Her first book about Forbidden Relationships in Austria during National Socialism (Verbotene Beziehungen – Weibliche Homosexualität im nationalsozialistischen Österreich) was published in 2025 in the Mandelbaum Verlag.
In September 2023 Natascha Bobrowsky held a talk about her work at the Mauthausen Memorial. A video of this talk in German can be found below.
Video (in German only): © KZ-Gedenkstätte Mauthausen: 14. Dialogforum 2023
Queere Lagergeschichte(n) – Erinnerungen, Diskurse, Kontinuitäten
– 29. – 30. September 2023
Weibliche Homosexualität im Nationalsozialistischen Österreich. Stigmatisierung und Verfolgung homosexueller Frauen
Natascha Bobrowsky
(Universität Wien, Institut für Zeitgeschichte)
Inhalt: Natascha Bobrowsky
Video: Mauthausen Memorial
Schnitt: Mauthausen Memorial / Florian Kollross
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