Last Gay Holocaust Survivor Passes Away at 98
Rudolf Brazda
A man believed to be the last person imprisoned in a concentration camp by the Nazis because he was homosexual has died in France.
Rudolf Brazda, who died on Wednesday at the age of 98, was liberated from Buchenwald in 1945.
He had been in the infamous Nazi camp since 1943, one of up to 15,000 men sent there because they were identified as homosexual.
He was awarded the French Legion of Honour in April.
Mr Brazda, a German-speaking Czech, worked as a roofer before the Holocaust, but was investigated for “debauchery between men” and arrested by the Nazis in 1937. He served two prison sentences before being deported.
He was the last known survivor of the “Pink triangles”. Just as the Nazis identified Jews with yellow stars, homosexuals were made to wear pink labels.
Philippe Couillet, a friend, said Mr Brazda died in his sleep.
