Rudolf Brazda, who was believed to be the last survivor of the Holocaust who was specifically targeted because of his sexual orientation, died yesterday, at the age of 98. Brazda was interned for three years at the Buchenwald concentration camp and made to wear a Pink Triangle to represent his "crime" - his reason for being taken prisoner. When the camp was liberated in 1945, Brazda moved to France. He and his partner, who passed away in 2002, made their lives together there. Brazda had been raised in Germany, born there in 1913. Brazda has been selective in his choices of to whom and where to speak out about his internment. In 2008 he spoke with the French media outlet Têtu in a video interview below. He reflected on his post-internment life:
I had found freedom. I started a new life. Of course, I was a homosexual and I wanted to find a new boyfriend. And that's how I met Edouard. He had been kicked out of Yugoslavia, since his parents were Germans. And he didn't have a home. So he stuck with me, he was so young. He must have been 18 or 19 years old, and I was 18 years older. But we were good for one another, and we started a new life together. It was going well, we each had a job, and we managed to live just like everyone else.Make the jump here to read the full post
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