Press date: April 6, 2011, 1 a.m., Rotes Rathaus (Red City Hall), Wappensaal
On April 6, the publishing house Campus Verlag, in cooperation with the Governing Mayor of Berlin, the Foundation Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, the Brandenburg Memorials Foundation (Stiftung Brandenburgische Gedenkstätten), the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation, and the Lesbian and Gay Federation (LSDV) will present the biography: »Happiness always found its way to me. Rudolf Brazda – The survival of a homosexual during the Third Reich« (»Das Glück kam immer zu mir. Rudolf Brazda – das Überleben eines Homosexuellen im Dritten Reich«). The event will start at 1 p.m. at the Wappensaal of the Red City Hall in Berlin. Following the book presentation, there will be a panel discussion on the still not completed rehabilitation and compensation process of homosexuals who were persecuted under the National Socialist regime. In addition to the Governing Mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit, and the author of the biography Alexander Zinn, Prof. Dr Günter Morsch, director of the Brandenburg Memorials Foundation, Prof. Dr Rüdiger Lautmann, University of Bremen, and Rikola-Gunnar Lüttgenau, associate director of the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation, will be joining the discussion. Uwe Neumärker, director of the Foundation Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, will be moderating the conversation. Provided that he is in good health, Rudolf Brazda will be joining the event as well.
Rudolf Brazda, born 1913, is probably the last living witness who had been imprisoned at a concentration camp because of his homosexuality. After two jail sentences according to the anti-homosexual Paragraph 175, he was deported to the concentration camp of Buchenwald in 1942. Optimism, humour, and a lot of luck made it possible for him to survive persecution and terror. Alexander Zinn tells the story of a fulfilled life that was affected by love and a zest for life, despite all adversities. At the same time, he describes the ruthless persecution of homosexual men – a story that did not end after 1945 because Paragraph 175 remained in order in its tightened (Nazi) version until 1969.
Please RSVP until April 4 at: schulte@campus.de.
Notice:
Also on April 6, there will be another book presentation at the Prinz Eisenherz book store, Lietzenburger Straße 9, 10789 Berlin, at 8:30 p.m.
Contact:
Campus-Verlag
Kurfürstenstr. 49, 60486 Frankfurt/M.
Tel.: +49(0)69 – 97 65 16-55
Email: schulte [at] campus.de
Alexander Zinn (author)
Monumentenstraße 29, 10965 Berlin
Tel.: +49(0)30 – 61 60 95 65
Email: zinn [at] gmx.de
