Pink Triangle Legacies: Coming Out in the Shadow of the Holocaust – W. Jake Newsome

While not as well-known in the mainstream as the Pride flag, the pink triangle — the Nazi concentration camp symbol for prisoners convicted under Paragraph 175, the German law that criminalized homosexual activity among men — is an enduring and important marker of queer history that morphed from an emblem of shame into a symbol of activism.

With “Pink Triangle Legacies,” W. Jake Newsome has written a definitive account of its history tracing both the socio-political environment in pre- and post-Nazi Germany, and how it gained broader awareness despite the continued prosecution of gay men under Paragraph 175, which prevented many gay concentration camp survivors from sharing their stories. 

While Newsome’s text is more academic than narrative, it is a fascinating microhistory of queer oppression and liberation in which he painstakingly pieces together the experiences of a group that historians largely overlooked because of homophobia.

I’ll be honest; this was dense, and sometimes a slog to work through. 

While I was interested in the information — especially Newsome’s exploration of how lesbians and transgender individuals struggle to feel represented in a symbol used almost exclusively for white gay and bisexual men (these other groups were typically assigned a black triangle by the Nazis) — the enormous amount of information presented made it difficult for me to keep my brain engaged beyond a few pages at at time. 

Newsome clearly did the work — there are nearly 75-pages of bibliography — and I think he sometimes struggled with micro details that overlooked the macro story. But that’s coming from someone who read this for enlightenment and not as reference, which is where I think this should ultimately sit on library shelves rather than nonfiction.

Still, I’m glad I stuck with it as it provided a comprehensive and balanced view of the tumultuous road to making both the past and present of queer history inclusive. This is most ideal for readers who love niche history with a connection to current trends. While there are some personal perspectives intertwined, it is not the focus of the text.

Thank you to the author and Cornell University Press for a gifted copy of “Pink Triangle Legacies.” This exchange of goods has not impacted my review. 

Rating (story): 4/5 stars

Rating (narration): N/A

Format: Hardcover (personal library)

Dates read: May 25 – August 20, 2023

Multi-tasking: N/A