Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals Exhibit in Blowers Gallery

UNC Asheville is currently hosting the North Carolina debut of the traveling historical exhibition, Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals 1933-1945, produced by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Ramsey Library’s Blowers Gallery. The university is also hosting the traveling exhibition Pioneering Voices: Portraits of Transgender People, created by the nonprofit organization Family Diversity Projects based in Amherst, Mass.

Both exhibitions will be on view until April 7, and are free and open to everyone. Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals 1933-1945 is displayed in Ramsey Library’s Blowers Gallery, open during regular library hours. Pioneering Voices: Portraits of Transgender People is on view in Karpen Hall, weekdays from 8 a.m.-6 p.m.

Through reproductions of historic photographs and documents, Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals 1933-1945 examines the Nazi regime’s attempt to eradicate homosexuality, which left thousands dead and shattered the lives of many more. Pioneering Voices: Portraits of Transgender People features photographs and interviews with transgender people of all ages, and with their partners and children.

Lectures, film screenings and discussions complementing the exhibitions:

• Screening of Paragraph 175, a documentary which takes its name from the part of the German penal code used by the Nazis to arrest homosexuals and send thousands to concentration camps where many perished. The film was directed by Academy Award-winners Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman. 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 23 at the Fine Arts Theatre, 36 Biltmore Ave., Asheville. Tickets at the box office 30 minutes before show time.
• Beyond Kinder, Küche, Kirche’ (children, kitchen, church): Gender and Sex under National Socialism, a lecture by Eric Roubinek, UNC Asheville assistant professor of history. Noon on Tuesday, March 7 in the Highsmith Union Intercultural Center. Free and open to everyone.
• Screening of Out in the Night. 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 21st in the Humanities Lecture Hall. Afterwards there will be a Q&A with Renata Hill and Patreese Johnson, subjects of the film.
• Screening of  A Womb of Their Own. 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 22 in the Laurel Forum in Karpen Hall. Afterwards there will be a panel discussion.
• Panel discussion: Gender Minorities in Faith Traditions, featuring members of Asheville’s clergy. 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 4 in Karpen Hall, room 038. Free and open to everyone.

To arrange docent-led tours and for more information, contact Deborah Miles, director of UNC Asheville’s Center for Diversity Education, at dmiles@unca.edu or 828.232.5024.

Below are pictures of the Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals 1933-1945’s opening reception held on February 16th in the Blowers Gallery of Ramsey Library: