LGBT People of History 39 - Paul O'Montis
Paul O'Montis
Paul O’Montis (1895 – 1940) was born Paul Wendel in Budapest.
He was gay and Jewish.
He was brought up in Hanover and then moved to Berlin where he became a famous comedian, singer and impersonator. He recorded prolifically and his performances were seemingly quite bawdy containing caricatures, nonsense songs and double entendre jokes. He did not hide the fact that he was openly gay in his work and performing. He performed at all the top venues in Berlin, Hanover and Hamburg as well as on the radio.
When the Nazis seized power in 1933, Paul had to flee to Austria and in 1935 he was banned from performing in Germany. After the Anschluss in 1938 he again had to flee – this time to Prague. In 1939 he was arrested and deported to Lodz in Poland.
From Lodz he ended up in Sachsenhausen concentration camp in 1940 as a pink triangle prisoner (homosexual). This meant he was treated as the lowest of the low. He only survived there for 6 weeks. It is said that he was forced by a Blockalteste (head of camp barracks) to take his own life because he was gay.
Ian and Callum.
With thanks to Wikipedia and http://andrejkoymasky.com/mem/holocaust/ha33.html
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