STRIPES INSTEAD OF UNIFORMS,
AND NAZI CONCENTRATION CAMP BADGES INSTEAD OF MILITARY INSIGNIA
Piotr Chruścielski, Stutthof Museum in Sztutowo
Both were deemed 'unworthy' victims of the Third Reich: branded as saboteurs by their compatriots for many years, they remain overlooked in Polish historiography because they were viewed as Nazi invaders.
In August 1942, a field court-martial under the Admiral of the Norwegian North Coast (Feldgericht des Admirals der Norwegischen Nordküste) passed judgment on 19-year-old Günther,
a member of the German Navy artillery unit stationed in Trondheim, Norway (Marine-Artillerie-Abteilung 506). He was sentenced to eight months in prison for failing to return from leave on time. During the investigation, it was revealed that he had engaged in sexual intercourse with a man shortly before beginning his service in the navy, at a time when he was not yet subject to military jurisdiction1. In Germany, homosexual practices were criminalised under paragraph 175 of the Criminal Code. The court imposed this sentence to deter Günther from such "unnatural" behaviour2.
Could Helwig Belzer’s expulsion from the navy at the age of 22 be linked to his sexual relations with men? His nephew, Michael Luther, ponders this possibility in an email to me: “If that’s true, it makes sense why my mother’s side of the family has always said so little about Helwig. My mum once mentioned that she had never seen her brother with a girl3.” Michael speculates that the pressure from their parents for Helwig to find a girlfriend might have pushed him to move out and enlist in the merchant navy. Unfortunately, we may never uncover the whole truth. Helwig's Kriegsmarine records—like those of Günther, who served in the artillery, including Marine-Flak-Abteilung 226—have not survived. The remaining document offers no evidence that Helwig faced punishment from military courts. While it is known that he was disciplined, the sources do not provide any details. In March 1942, he was assigned to an educational unit in Wittmund (30. Schiffs-Stamm-Abteilung), and by December of that year, he found himself in a penal company on the Eastern Front. In February 1943, this unit returned to the Hel Peninsula, along with Helwig. Just five months later, he was arrested by the Gestapo and sent to the Stutthof concentration camp. This marked the end of his military service, which had begun with his conscription in December 1940. Letters he wrote to his parents and sister reveal his reluctance to participate in the war initiated by Germany.
4
1 Günther's fate, unless otherwise stated, is presented in the article based on: Copy of the verdict of the field court at the North Coast Admiralty in Norway dated 14.08.1942, Copies of notices from the military prisons Akershus, Anklam and Torgau-Brückenkopf from 16.10.1942 to 06.04.1943, Entries from the records of the German Post for Informing Relatives of the Fallen of the Former German Wehrmacht (Deutsche Dienststelle für die Benachrichtigung der Angehörigen von Gefallenen der ehemaligen deutschen Wehrmacht - WASt), Bundesarchiv - Abteilung Deutsches Reich in Berlin-Tegel, Marinepersonalunterlagen, PERS17/SPA-Sch/387, S., Günther, 20.12.1923, n.p. For more on the court proceedings see Bundesarchiv - Abteilung Militärarchiv in Freiburg, Verfahrensakten von Gerichten der Reichswehr und Wehrmacht, RM 123/84696. Günther's surname shortened to an initial. According to the provisions of the Federal Archives Act (Bundesarchivgesetz), it will not be possible to give his name in full until 2033 at the earliest.
2 In the context of judgments handed down by the military jurisdiction, see e.g. G. Grau, Homosexualität in der NS-Zeit. Dokumente einer Diskriminierung und Verfolgung, ed. 2, Frankfurt am Main 2013. pp. 209-241; K.D. Spangenberg, Wo ist Fritz? - Opfer des § 175 im Dritten Reich. Ein Beispiel für Militärjustiz und die Verfolgung Homosexueller in der Wehrmacht, Marburg 2024.
3 Email from M. Luther to the author dated 11.04.2017 (author's own translation of the article). Further about Helwig, unless otherwise stated, based on: P. Chruścielski, Disciplinary punishment of Kriegsmarine sailors in Stutthof concentration camp - SAW category prisoners, "Stutthof Muzeum Notebooks" 2024, no. 12 (22), pp. 13-47. Information of a general or synthesising nature also comes from this study.