Wolfgang Lauinger
About Wolfgang Lauinger
Wolfgang Lauinger was born in Zurich in 1918 and grew up in Frankfurt. He experienced the rise of National Socialism there as a teenager. From an early age, he courageously opposed any injustice that he had to suffer due to his Jewish background. He was particularly influenced by school, which he changed several times and eventually left without his A-levels. In 1940, Lauinger joined a group of swing kids in Frankfurt, which quickly attracted the attention of the Gestapo. In addition to being accused of arguing against the state and listening to enemy radio stations, his homosexuality was also at the centre of the investigation. After several months in prison, Lauinger went into hiding and eventually found a job in a factory in Pforzheim through his mother's partner. After the end of the war - the future finally seemed open - he was once again persecuted for his homosexuality on the basis of old Gestapo files and arrested in 1950. It was a late humiliation for Wolfgang Lauinger, who campaigned tirelessly for the rehabilitation of homosexuals until his death in December 2017, without ever being compensated himself. Nevertheless, the activist never lost his zest for life!
"I want to tell you exactly what helped me: The person helped."
A picture to live on
When asked what helped Wolfgang Lauinger to carry on after the war, he answered directly: "People helped." He was referring in particular to his friends. In his experience, a circle of friends stays with you longer than your family. Once your parents die, you need people around you again with whom you can be who you are. The most important thing for Mr Lauinger is to be with people with whom he gets on well, with whom he can talk and who are more or less on the same page mentally. He was often marginalised because of his religion and sexuality. That is why he and his friends founded the youth organisation "Freies Bildungswerk" after the war in 1964. There he created a place where he could express himself without being marginalised. Mr Lauinger was director there for 25 years, but he continued to visit the organisation until his death.
His commentary picture summarises his conclusion: It shows his circle of friends, which for him was security, freedom and support.
Our encounter
On 5 December 2016, a group of four volunteers made their way to the Budge Foundation in Frankfurt am Main, where Mr Lauinger had been living since 2013. We were greeted at the door by a 99-year-old, friendly and casually dressed old gentleman who immediately invited us into his home. You could tell straight away that this was his familiar environment, where he felt at home. Without further ado, we got straight into it, with Mr Lauinger telling us stories and asking questions about the club. At the beginning, it seemed as if we weren't interviewing him, but the other way round. His openness and relaxed manner made it seem like small talk rather than an interview. During the conversation, I was always impressed by how mentally fit he still is.
Wolfgang Lauinger is very pragmatic about the discrimination he experienced during his life as a homosexual "half-Jew" - "That's just the way it was." You had the option of submitting to it or fighting back, and he opted for the latter. In the mid-1990s, he began to take action against Paragraph 175 of the German Criminal Code. This states that homosexual acts are a punishable offence. Wolfgang Lauinger demanded that all those convicted and accused be acquitted. He himself was also sent to solitary confinement for several months in the 1950s on the basis of this paragraph, but without charges and only on the basis of files from the Nazi era.
I will never forget this special encounter with Wolfgang Lauinger. Impressed by his pragmatic and open manner, I still think back fondly today to our meeting with this impressive and strong person. He never let himself get down and always fought for his rights.
Author: "Zweitzeuge" Steven Hensel