Branded by the Pink Triangle by Ken Setterington

Branded by the Pink Triangle by Ken Setterington was a very interesting read. It is a different point of view of the Holocaust. The stories of gay men arrested and put into concentration camps because of who they are and who they love. Yes, it was at a different time from now but back before Hitler was in power German society was fairly unconcerned about gays and lesbians. There was a law, Paragraph 175, but not many were arrested under that law, many didn’t seem to care much. Once Hitler came into power the law was very much used to arrest many men. Lesbians weren’t arrested or harassed as much as the men were. This book gives tells the story of gay men who suffered terrible wrongs and torture and terrible treatments. There’s enough detail to get the big picture but I didn’t find it to be overly done for students to read. I was surprised to learn that after prisoners were liberated, those with the Pink Triangle were still treated as prisoners and some still had to ‘complete’ their sentencing. It’s definitely a must have addition for any library collection especially if students are studying the Holocaust.