Castration and testosterone implants of homosexual men under Nazism

Domain XVI · Historical, discredited & harmful · Carl Værnet · 1944 · Buchenwald, Germany

What it is

This is a state abuse, not a therapy. Under National Socialism the German state criminalised sex between men under Paragraph 175, imprisoned thousands of gay men in concentration camps under the pink triangle, gave courts and later camp commandants the power to order castration, and allowed…

Format

• Session number and length follow the client's needs and the setting; what follows is a structure for the psychotherapist's own work.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Does it use a device, heat, cold, water or a physical procedure? Has a medical professional checked that it is safe for you?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• the client masking distrust; disengagement. Working: the client tests and gains trust.
• treating the history as remote. Working: trainees can link the history to present ethics.
• the client feeling erased again. Working: the client's history is held as fully as any other.
• abrupt endings around anniversaries. Working: the client has a plan and a sense of completion.
• advocacy replacing grief; online abuse. Working: the client's activism feels chosen and sustainable.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.