On this day, November 15, in 1941

Nazi SS chief Heinrich Himmler ordered the arrest of all 'homosexuals' in Germany. Previous to the Nazi's presence in Germany, Berlin had had one of the most active LGBT rights movements of the time, but the Hitler Regime quickly devised a plan to purge Germany of all homosexuals. In the concentration camps, gay men were used for medical experiments, brutally beaten, mauled by dogs, castrated, raped with jagged objects, and used as target practice for soldiers. Even after the war, homosexuals were not acknowledged as victims of Nazi persecution and many were actually forced to serve out their terms of imprisonment. It wasn't until 2002 that the German government released a formal apology to the gay community.