Do not forget. To remember. This is the mission that the Memorial of the homosexual deportation, an association created in 1989, whose purpose is to defend the memory of the victims of intolerance in matters of sexual orientation and more specifically of homosexuals persecuted under the Nazi regime. A “raffle“very often forgotten and absent from the history books. As a result, a conference-debate was organized yesterday at 6 p.m. at the Departmental House for the Fight against Discrimination (6th), as part of the opening of the exhibition The deportation of homosexuals.

“Our goal is to find fragments of history through the archives and to make as many people as possible aware of this passage in history that has been forgotten for too long.says Christian de Leusse, member of the association. Recovering the memory is a continuous work. We must unblock mentalities, free speech so that young people are free.“And for good reason, recent research proves that during the Second World War”,507 homosexuals were arrested and 181 were deported from French territory“.

During the event, it was also an opportunity for Isabelle Sentis, LGBTQ activist for thirty years and co-founder of the association Queer code, to present some experiences of German and French lesbians, such as Suzanne Leclézio and his company Yvonne Ziegler. “They were arrested and tortured because they were lesbians. They were then deported to the Ravensbrück camp in 1944“, explains the speaker, on the occasion of the anniversary of the liberation of the camp.

In total, although the figures are still provisional, it is about “100,000 homosexuals, men and women, who were sent to prison or deported to concentration campsafter Christian de Leusse. Some were guinea pigs in experimentsdoctors‘, others were the targets of darts”.

A National Day of Remembrance and Heroes of Deportation ceremony will therefore be held tomorrow at 10 a.m. on January 23, 1943 Square (2nd), with a laying of the LGBT wreath at the foot of the monument.