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1933 Election Campaign: Hitler’s Election Posters Cover the Front of "Eldorado," a Berlin Transvestite Bar Closed by the Police (Early March 1933)

In the 1920s, Berlin had become famous for its liberal, bohemian atmosphere and its sexual permissiveness – just two of the many reasons why so many artists had been drawn to the city in those days. But “public morality” changed very quickly under Hitler. In March 1933, Berlin’s legendary transvestite bar “Eldorado” was closed by decree of the city’s chief of police. In the photograph below, the windows of the famous Kalckreuthstraße bar have been covered over by swastikas and NSDAP election posters: “Vote for Hitler – List 1.” Shortly thereafter, many other bars known as meeting places for gay men and lesbians were closed in response to “moral complaints.” In 1935, Article 175 of the Reich Criminal Code (which criminalized homosexuality) was tightened, and homosexual acts became subject to more severe forms of punishment. Many of the 50,000 homosexuals sentenced under Article 175 wound up in prison or concentration camps.

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1933 Election Campaign: Hitler’s Election Posters Cover the Front of

© Bildarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz