Rudolf Brazda, Last Known 'Pink Triangle' Holocaust Survivor, Has Died at 98

Rudolf Brazda, the last known survivor of the 'Pink Triangles', deported by the Nazis for homosexuality, has died at the age of 98, AFP reports:

"Rudolf was sleeping peacefully in his sleep at dawn on August 3, he resided since last June in a hospital for the dependent elderly in Bantry (Haut-Rhin)," according to his entourage. The funeral of the man of Czech origin naturalized French in 1960 will be held Monday in Mulhouse, said the funeral.

"In accordance with his will, his remains will be cremated and his ashes placed alongside those of his life partner of more than 50 years, Edward Mayer, who died in 2003 in Mulhouse," add friends.

The French website Yagg wrote in October:

"The son of Tcheckoslovaquian immigrants in Germany, Rudolf Brazda was 20 when Hitler rose to power. He had lived his homosexuality freely and openly until the law penalizing homosexuality, the notorious “Paragraph 175″, was toughened by the Nazi regime. On August 8, 1942, after having gone to prison twice, he was sent to the concentration camp of Buchenwald, where he was given the number 7952, and a pink triangle. Even though Buchenwald wasn’t an extermination camp, an estimated 56.000 prisoners (out of the 238.000 who were incarcerated) died in the camp, either because they were executed or from exhaustion or illness."

Watch Brazda's October 2010 interview, telling his story, AFTER THE JUMP...

May he rest in peace.

Meet Them on the Mountain

Videographer and activist Sean Chapin chronicles the annual construction of the Pink Triangle on San Francisco's Twin Peaks.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

From ThePinkTriangle.com, the Pink Triangle is an annual commemoration of the gay victims of the Holocaust and a reminder of the on-going inhumanity to repressed minorities going on now around the world. The event transforms Twin Peaks, in San Francisco, into a memorial that can be seen from miles away. The goal of the Pink Triangle event is to remind people that even though the hatred that existed in Germany 70 years ago that led to the creation of the Pink Triangle no longer exists there, such hatred certainly persists in many parts of the world including Uganda, Malawi, Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

Video: Director Lars von Trier Banned from Cannes After Remarks About Sympathizing with Hitler

Director Lars von Trier has been banned by Cannes following remarks he made yesterday at a press conference for his film Melancholia that visibly stunned his star Kristen Dunst and sent shock waves through the festival.

Said Von Trier: 

"I really wanted to be a Jew and then I found out that I was really a Nazi because my family was German....Which also gave me some pleasure...What can I say? I understand Hitler...I think I understand the man, he’s not what you would call a good guy. But I understand much about him. And I sympathize with him a little bit. I’m not for the Second World War. I'm not against Jews. I’m very much for Jews. No not too much, because the Israelis, a pain in the ass...Okay, I'm a Nazi."

Von Trier apologized shortly after the press conference: “If I have hurt someone this morning by the words I said at the press conference, I sincerely apologize. I am not antisemitic or racially prejudiced in any way, nor am I a nazi.”

The AP reports:

A statement from Cannes organizers Thursday said von Trier now is "persona non grata" at Cannes for his comments a day earlier. It is an unprecedented move by the festival that bestowed its highest honor on the director's film "Dancer in the Dark" back in 2000.

The statement did not specify whether that meant von Trier's current Cannes film, "Melancholia," has been booted from Cannes and was no longer eligible for prizes.

 Watch Von Trier's remarks (and Dunst look like she wants to crawl under the table),
AFTER THE JUMP...

Watch: Rudolf Brazda, Last Known 'Pink Triangle' Survivor of Buchenwald Concentration Camps, Gives Interview

Rudolf Brazda, the last known survivor of the Pink Triangles, tells the sobering story of his experience for French website Yagg:

"The son of Tcheckoslovaquian immigrants in Germany, Rudolf Brazda was 20 when Hitler rose to power. He had lived his homosexuality freely and openly until the law penalizing homosexuality, the notorious “Paragraph 175″, was toughened by the Nazi regime. On August 8, 1942, after having gone to prison twice, he was sent to the concentration camp of Buchenwald, where he was given the number 7952, and a pink triangle. Even though Buchenwald wasn’t an extermination camp, an estimated 56.000 prisoners (out of the 238.000 who were incarcerated) died in the camp, either because they were executed or from exhaustion or illness."

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Watch: Daily Show Beats Down Scott Lively's Gay Nazi Theory

 

On last night's Daily Show, Jason Jones made a complete mockery out of anti-gay wingnut Scott Lively and his theory that Adolf Hitler and the Nazis were gay.

After Lively explains that the Nazis murdered homosexuals to cover up the fact that they, too, were secretly gay, Jones asks: "So that which you hate the most, you secretly are?"

With a special appearance by our own Corey Johnson, and friends David Mixner, Dan Choi, Michael Crawford, and Jamie McGonnigal.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Evangelical Wingnut Scott Lively Warns of 'Gay Nazi' Takeover of U.S. Military After 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Repeal

American evangelical and Holocaust revisionist Scott Lively, who has been under the spotlight for his work fomenting anti-gay hate in Uganda, is now warning that the U.S. military will be taken over by gays as he alleges it was in Nazi Germany. 

Lively is soliciting donations so that he can personally distribute copies of his book, The Pink Swastika, to each member of Congress, Box Turtle Bulletin reports:

"In the Pink Swastika, Lively posits that the German Nazi movement was, at it’s very core, a homosexual movement, and that militant and violent fascism is the core feature and goal of the LGBT equality movement. He uses that same twisted view of history to argue against DADT’s repeal."

We've seen some similar nonsense recently from the American Family Association's Bryan Fischer.

Writes Lively on his website:

Dear Pro-Family Patriots,

The worst idea in a long string of bad ideas by the Obama administration is the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. I am personally going all-out to try to stop the repeal. I am looking for sponsors to fund a book distribution of copies of The Pink Swastika to every member of the U.S. Senate. To help, make a donation at http://www.defendthefamily.com/help/donate.php. We’re asking for donations of $25 or more to help cover the cost of books and travel.

I will personally hand-deliver copies of the book, and the essay below to each Senate office sometime within the next 10 days so please act quickly. If you are within driving distance of D.C. and would like to join me for a day of lobbying, please e-mail me at sdllaw@gmail.com. Please also distribute this message to your pro-family lists.

May God Save America,
Scott Lively, J.D., Th.D.

Explains BTB: "Lively certainly can’t be faulted for having an overly-active imagination. Consider his prediction of what will happen if DADT is repealed. First, if gays are allowed in the military, then straight people will refuse to serve. Those straights who remain will turn to violence in response to the unrelenting sexual harassment. That violence will lead to “politically correct” sensitivity training, which will prompt a further exodus. This then leads to a draft, which would be supported by the “anti-war Lefties.” But that sensitivity training? It won’t work, so they will have to segregate the services into gay and straight units. And that’s when the homosexuals take over all the branches of the military — just like, he says, what happened in Nazi Germany."

What do military officers from Britain, The Netherlands, Canada, Israel, and Australia have to say about that? It's nonsense, of course.

Not to mention the fact that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" repeal is a done deal.

Lively was recently featured in Current TV's 'Misisonaries of Hate' documentary and appeared on a Nightline segment about Uganda's "kill the gays" bill.