Bruno Balz was a successful songwriter in Germany in the early 20th Century. He wrote many popular songs and the score for the first German sound film. He specialized in “Schlager” - catchy instrumental music with pop style happy-go-lucky lyrics.
But he was a homosexual which was forbidden by Germany’s Paragraph 175 which criminalized sex between men. In 1936, Balz was arrested several times and spent months in prison. He was finally released with the requirement that his name was no longer appear in public.
To feign a cure he married a woman. But in 1941 he was arrested by the Gestapo and imprisoned in their Prinz-Albrecht-Straße. He was finally released because of the efforts of Michael Jary, a former musical partner. Jary convinced the Gestapo that Balz could write patriotic songs that would aid the Nazi war effort. Soon he wrote several songs with that affect.
But they also became anthems for homosexuals imprisoned in concentration camps.
But the fall of the Nazi regime did not end his persecution - Paragraph 175 remained in effect after the war. The anti-gay law wasn’t abolished until the 1990’s - after Baltz death. Ironically the law was ended in East Germany years earlier.
In his final years Baltz lived with his partner Jürgen Draeger, an actor and painter. But because of the restrictions put on him during his early arrests, in his will Balz forbid Jurgen from talking about their relationship until 10 years after his death.
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