Perspectives on the documents by the persecuting administration from legal history and quantitate research
English abstract
There are debates in the research on the persecution of homosexuals by the National Socialist regime in how far lesbians were subject to these persecutions. Without doubt the persecution of homosexual women differed in form and degree compared to homosexual men. The article reports recent regional studies on the degree and intensity of the persecution of female homosexuality in Vienna during National Socialism. The author argues that NS–specific measures and the increased pressures from the National Socialist regime on the control of male homosexuality also influenced the intensity of the persecution of female homosexuality, which was already systematically prosecuted by the Austrian law enforcement agencies before the National Socialist period. The analysis from a legal history perspective documents well that NS–specific measures of the prosecution of homosexuals concerning criminal law in Vienna were also exercised towards women. Quantitate analysis also shows that activities of the Vienna law enforcement agencies concerning women already prosecuted as homosexuals increased significantly.