The Nazis exploited this by using vague laws like Paragraph 175 to persecute homosexuals. The law wasn’t designed for this, but its vague wording allowed for expanded interpretation to fit the regime’s agenda.
This is incorrect. Paragraph 175 was always designed to prosecute gay sex, and was enforced even during the Weimar Republic. What the Nazis did was expand it - you didn’t have to have sex with a man, just do something that might lead to sex with a man. Essentially, gay men could have gotten away with holding hands or even kissing in earlier eras, sex needed to be proven. But the Nazis made it essentially any gay behavior.
Paragraph 175 continued to be enforced after the Nazis were kicked out - it stayed on the books in West Germany essentially unchanged until 1969. After ‘69 it was changed to only apply to sex with men under 21 or prostitution.
Gay men who were liberated from the camps who had charges under Paragraph 175 were often sent back to finish their sentences. The handbook for the Allies mandated this.
This is incorrect. Paragraph 175 was always designed to prosecute gay sex, and was enforced even during the Weimar Republic. What the Nazis did was expand it - you didn’t have to have sex with a man, just do something that might lead to sex with a man. Essentially, gay men could have gotten away with holding hands or even kissing in earlier eras, sex needed to be proven. But the Nazis made it essentially any gay behavior.
Paragraph 175 continued to be enforced after the Nazis were kicked out - it stayed on the books in West Germany essentially unchanged until 1969. After ‘69 it was changed to only apply to sex with men under 21 or prostitution.
Gay men who were liberated from the camps who had charges under Paragraph 175 were often sent back to finish their sentences. The handbook for the Allies mandated this.