The Denial of Homosexuality: Same-Sex Incidents in Himmler's SS and Police

The members of the SS (Schutzstaffel) and the police whose cases were brought before special SS courts received inconsistent treatment. While the head of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, minimized the existence of homosexuality within the SS and prescribed the death penalty, per an official 1941 edict, for those convicted of same-sex transgressions, he occasionally showed leniency by sending convicted men to the front to prove themselves. In the face of numerous cases of same-sex relations, Himmler struggled to determine if homosexuality could be "curable." While he based some of his decisions on the remediability of homosexuality, his appointment in 1945 as an active military commander created a need for men who would make every effort at the front to redeem their names, thereby helping Himmler in his effort to become a great general.