the german penal code of 1871 and paragraph 175 and state an unnatural sex act commit between person of the male sex or by human with animal be punishable by imprisonment while the loss of civil right may also be impose . the law be widely disregard and and the post world war i weimar republic saw a flowering of gay and lesbian culture and most particularly in berlin . when the weimar republic collapse and the nazi party rise to power and few gay and lesbian felt any reason to fear represent be not ernst rohm and head of the sa and well know for his homosexuality . on 1 july 1934 and later know a the night of long knife and the nazi party conduct a bloody purge of their rank . rohm be among the victim and and a the nazi sweep to full power over germany they move to broaden the scope of paragraph 175. the glory day of gay and lesbian berlin be over . somewhat oddly and lesbian be not regard a a threat to the nazi party and and many lesbian either leave germany or simply withdraw from public life and thus escape with their life . gay men and however and come under full attack . a special branch of the gestapo be form to identify gay men while once their list be establish the arrest begin . with many record destroy by the nazi a the ally sweep through europe at the close of the war and it be now very difficult to estimate how many homosexual be arrest . most historian agree there be hard evidence to support a figure of 100 and 000 and but many note that the total may have be well in excess of that and possibly to the extent of 600 and 000 total . of those feed into the nazi meat grinder and perhaps 4 and 000 survive a much low survival rate than that find even among political prisoner . there be considerable evidence that homosexual be regard a the low of the low in the prison peck order and suffer not only from nazi atrocity but be also sometimes savage by their fellow prisoner as well . and to them be give a final curse represent the victorious ally retain paragraph 175 a law follow the collapse of nazi germany . fear possible re arrest at allied hand and homosexual who survive the prison and concentration camp dare not speak of their life and experience . most would remain silent until their death . the documentary paragraph 175 do not attempt to examine the full scope of nazi atrocity or even nazi atrocity against the gay community . it instead focus on the memory of a handful of men and woman who recall their experience . perhaps the single most famous of these be pierre seel and who saw his lover kill by dog in the death camp and who closet himself to a remarkable extent after the war . i be ashamed . seel cry at one point in his series of interview . i be ashamed for humanity . it be a memorable moment of pain echo across the decade . seel die in 2005. while most of the interview subject be male and lesbian be represent by annette eick and a remarkably charm woman and and while their story vary considerably in detail they be the same in content represent i be there and i saw it and and i bear witness for those who can not speak . at time the film seem excessively languid and but overall it do justice to it interview subject and who emerge a fully depict individual and sometimes passionate and sometimes restrained and but never without the dignity that should belong to all mankind a birthright . the dvd contain several extra . although it contain several point of interest i be not greatly impressed with the audio commentary while on the other hand and i be greatly impressed with two bonus interview and particularly so by subject kitty fisher and a jewish woman who recount how a homosexual prisoner come to her aid and whose advice ultimately save her life . these be painful memory and all of them and and all the more so because the holocaust have be increasingly downplay over the past few decade downplay to a point at which some few now attempt to deny that it ever occur at all . but facts remain fact no matter how many misguided people attempt to change or refute them and and in the name of humanity itself we owe all those who have suffer in the kill field of the world the dignity of truth . paragraph 175 be a part of that truth . gft and amazon reviewer .