I hope it’s not just an upsetting reminder of something bad, but rather a celebration of the amazing lives people lived and an awareness of how freedom turned into tyranny.
Fritz Kitzing was first arrested for simply wearing gender non-conforming clothing. Josef Kohout’s “crime”? Mailing a Christmas card to his boyfriend.
Kitzing and Kohout were among thousands of LGBT people imprisoned by the Nazis in World War II concentration camps during the Holocaust. While they both survived, many others died after facing horrific living conditions and torture at the hands of their captors.
Now their stories – and faces – live on through the talent of painter Bry Sharland, ’07, who is creating portraits of the victims.
“I hope it’s not just an upsetting reminder of something bad, but rather a celebration of the amazing lives people lived and an awareness of how freedom turned into tyranny,” said Sharland, who studied fine arts and secondary education at Bridgewater State and teaches middle school art in East Bridgewater.
Sharland named his initiative the Pink Triangle Portraits, a reference to the uniform patches that gay prisoners had to wear in concentration camps. He has painted about 60 portraits, many of which are on display through January at the Bridgewater Public Library.
Sharland uses bright, vibrant colors because, as he writes on his website, he is “giving color and dignity to those who had it stripped away.” Though he is predominately working from arrest records and mug shots, Sharland paints most individuals in street clothes rather than prison uniforms.
“The project became less about just documenting the people and more about celebrating the stories of their lives,” he said.
Sharland writes short narratives that accompany the portraits. These biographies offer a comprehensive view of their lives, rather than solely focusing on their incarceration.
He is not sure how he became interested in this lesser-known aspect of the Holocaust. But he remembers a high school history teacher letting him speak about the other minority groups who were targeted by Nazis alongside Jewish people.
In college, Sharland created artwork depicting scenes from concentration camps. He appreciated how his Bridgewater professors challenged him to explore new art mediums.
“I felt like it was always a supportive place,” Sharland said, recalling how he first made connections on campus as president of his high school’s Gay-Straight Alliance. “It was always a welcoming environment for queer people.”
He praised faculty for helping him hone his research and writing skills. He even studied German, something that is useful as he scours archives for photos and biographical information.
Sharland has gathered information on about 500 people, although that represents just a fraction of the victims. The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum estimates that 5,000 to 15,000 homosexual men were imprisoned in concentration camps and approximately 50,000 men served prison terms as convicted homosexuals. Sharland is committed to telling as many stories as possible.
“It’s taking the narrative away from the Nazis and giving it back to the queer individual,” he said.
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