This site is now occupied by the Alexa shopping centre, with its size and colour serving as a reminder of the former red behemoth. This means that the Berlin Police Headquarters at Alexanderplatz remains a credible threat of force despite its policy of tolerance towards the gay and lesbian scene. However, the hopes of newly-found freedom are soon dashed by a conservative government that is elected to power. The Scientific-Humanitarian Committee drafts an alternative concept that gained much attention, and in 1928, the criminal justice commission responsible decides to reform Paragraph 175. In 1922, the gay and lesbian' associations briefly unite to form an action group to ensure their voices are heard during an upcoming criminal justice reform. More than six thousand prominent personalities from the German Empire and, later, the Weimar Republic have signed the petition. The Scientific-Humanitarian Committee had been filing petitions since 1897 calling on the Reichstag to abolish the special law against homosexual men. The competing gay and lesbian associations are united in their fight against Paragraph 175 (which criminalises homosexual acts). © Getty Images, Foto: Classen Rafael / EyeEm
