Unlike Germany, Austria already had a law explicitly against sexual activity between women. When the Third Reich annexed Austria in 1938, not only did this law remain, but queer women living in the Austrian region of the Third Reich suffered an intensified persecution. Quoting Johann K. Kirchknopf in Queer in Europe during the Second World War, pages 46–50:
The Vienna Regional Court 1 […] used the extended interpretation of paragraph 129 Ib of the Austrian Criminal Code to convict at least three women on charges of “same‐sex fornication” by referring explicitly to the above‐mentioned Supreme Court decision from June 1940 in its verdicts.67 According to the former jurisdiction, these three women should have gone free (Kirchknopf 2012: 71–5).
From a legal point of view, this is significant, because it proves that a [Reich]‐specific measure for the persecution of homosexuality was also applied to women. Whether it was intended by the [Third Reich] or not, lesbian women suffered severely and systematically from the [Fascist] persecution of homosexuality, at least in Vienna.
Statistical analysis of court proceedings
One finds evidence for the systematic and increased persecution of female homosexuality not just on the basis of court files. Statistical data on the intensity of the criminal prosecution of “same‐sex fornication” in Vienna at the time of the [Third Reich] also support the thesis of this chapter. Conventional criminal statistics present data on criminal convictions. They focus on people who were convicted of having committed a certain crime.
To assess the intensity of the criminal prosecution on charges of “same‐sex fornication” as it was carried out by the authorities in Vienna, it is more helpful to focus on the amount of effort that was put into the prosecution of this crime. For this purpose, the main register of the Vienna Regional Court 1 provides useful data.
The register contains the records of all those persons who were prosecuted by this court, regardless of the outcome of the court procedures (ibid.: 84–7). A similar analysis of the main register of the Vienna Regional Court 2 was not possible because it does not contain records of the criminal charges.68 Most of the crimes and offences, however, which were committed in Vienna were prosecuted by the Vienna Regional Court 1 (Kirchknopf 2012: 98, 111).
The main register of a court provides basic data on all court procedures that took place. The data can be used as an indicator of the amount of effort that a court put into the prosecution of crimes and offences. Although they might be very abstract, the data are comprehensive and complete, especially compared with court files, some of which have been destroyed. To provide a basis of comparison, I shall present data from the period 1932–45.
It is only by comparison with the years prior to the Anschluss that it is possible to tell whether or not the [Third Reich] had an influence on the juridical sector.69 In Figure 1, the number of court procedures on charges of “same‐sex fornication” (light grey line) are set in direct relation to all court procedures that were initiated at the Vienna Regional Court 1 (dark grey line) between 1932 and 1945.70
[…]
Figure 1 may lead to the conclusion that the crime of “same‐sex fornication” was of marginal interest to the court. If we take a closer look, however, we notice a significant difference in the development between the light grey line and the dark grey line in the period 1937–39: whereas the number of all court procedures almost halved, the number of court procedures on charges of “same‐sex fornication” grew by almost 70% during this period.
This indicates changing interests in the persecution of this specific crime. In order to make this development more visible, the relative share of court procedures on charges of “same‐sex fornication” have been calculated in terms of percentage (Figure 2).71
[…]
Figure 2 shows that the intensity of the criminal prosecution on charges of “same‐sex fornication” conducted by the Vienna Regional Court 1 almost doubled when the [Third Reich] came to power in Austria and it stayed at a higher level than before throughout their time in power, except for the last month of their rule in 1945. Figure 3 demonstrates how the number of men and the number of women who were prosecuted on charges of “same‐sex fornication” by the Vienna Regional Court 1 changed between 1932 and 1945.72
[…]
Figure 4 shows that between 1932 and 1938, the share of women showed a decreasing tendency. Between 1938 and 1941, however, it grew constantly, reached a height of almost 15% in 1941, remained at a high level in 1942 and then decreased sharply. The height of the relative share of women in 1941 and 1942 cannot solely be explained by the decrease in the number of men who were prosecuted, because the absolute number of women also reached its height at the same time.
This indicates a statistically significant increase in the intensity of the criminal prosecution of women on charges of “same‐sex fornication” in Vienna at the time of the [Third Reich].
A close examination of the reforms that the [Third Reich] introduced into Austrian criminal law regarding homosexuality and of the practical application of these reforms within the system of regular criminal prosecution show that these reforms had a considerably negative effect on lesbian women. Although the institutional players had probably not even considered the possible effects of these reforms on the criminal prosecution of women, negative effects can nevertheless be detected.
A deep legal historical analysis of the jurisdiction confirms that the intensified interpretation of paragraph 129 Ib of the Austrian Criminal Code, as introduced by the Supreme Court in 1940, was also applied by subordinate courts in order to convict women on charges of “same‐sex fornication”.
Furthermore, a statistical analysis of the court procedures of the Vienna Regional Court 1 indicates an increased intensity of the criminal prosecution of women on charges of “same‐sex fornication”. Thus, lesbian women also suffered increased and systematic persecution in Austria under [German Fascism].
(Emphasis added.)
Click here for events that happened today (June 6).
1891: Hiroshi Nemoto, Axis commanding officer, was born in the village of Niida, Iwase County.
1906: Junio Valerio Borghese, Axis naval commander, was born in Artena, Rome.
1936: Ernst Vogelsang received the Spanish Cross in Bronze with Swords.
1938: The Third Reich enacted laws to exclude Jews from commercial and industrial jobs, and the Imperialists captured Kaifeng, Henan Province.
1939: Werner Mölders received the German Spanish Cross in Gold with Swords and Diamonds, and Korvettenkapitän Hans‐Georg von Friedeburg became the commanding officer of U‐27, replacing Korvettenkapitän Johannes Franz.
1940: As the Third Reich’s head of state arrived at the Wolfsschlucht headquarters at Brûly‐de‐Pesche, Belgium, Fascism’s 5th and 7th Panzer Divisions bypassed the strongpoints on the French Weygand defensive line, penetrating near Abeville, Amiens, and Petonne. Likewise, Imperial aircraft attacked Baishi Yi airfield near Chongqing, China.
1941: Axis submarine U‐106 sank British ship Sacramento Valley west of Cape Verde Islands at 0503 hours, massacring three. Berlin implemented the Kommissarbefehl, or Commissar Order, which would bring about the summary execution of any captured Soviet political commissars, yet many Axis commanders would ignore this order! As well, DeSchiMAG shipyard laid down the keel of Z35 in Bremen, and Axis submarine Guglielmo Marconi sank British cargo ship Baron Lovat (the entire crew survived) and Swedish ship Taberg (fifteen killed) west of Gibraltar. Axis submarine U‐43 sank Allied ship Yselhaven hundreds of miles northwest of the Azores at 2024 hours leaving twenty‐four dead but ten alive. At 2325 hours, 630 miles northwest of the Azores, U‐48 sank British ship Tregarthen, killing all forty‐five aboard.
1985: The grave of ‘Wolfgang Gerhard’ opened in Embu, Brazil; the exhumed remains later proved to be those of Josef Mengele, Auschwitz’s ‘Angel of Death’ (Mengele probably drowned while swimming in February 1979).