Stefan Kosinski about his experiences as a gay man during the war
Stefan Kosinski on meeting Willi G.
Stefan recalls the evening of November 4, 1941, when leaving the theater where he worked in Torun, Poland, he encounters a German soldier who turns out to be a man named Willi, his first real romance.
Foreign words in this video clip:
- Ersatzkaffee (German): substitute coffee
Stefan Kosinski on meeting Willi G.
Language: English
Stefan recalls the evening of November 4, 1941, when leaving the theater where he worked in Torun, Poland, he encounters a German soldier who turns out to be a man named Willi, his first real romance.
Foreign words in this video clip:
- Ersatzkaffee (German): substitute coffee
Willi breaks the news that he must go to the Eastern front
Language: English
After several months together, Willi must break the news to Stefan that he is being transferred to the Eastern front.
Stefan and his friend help out escaped prisoners
Language: English
On the way to show his friend Zygmund the shed where Stefan and Willi would regularly meet, the two encounter three men who had just escaped the Stutthof concentration camp.
Foreign words in this video clip:
- pedo (Polish): derogatory word for a gay person
Stefan Kosinski on writing to Willi and his own subsequent arrest
Language: English
After time goes by without receiving a letter from Willi, Stefan decides to write the German soldier himself. His decision to put down his return address on the envelope seals his fate. Not long after, September 19, 1942, the Gestapo bring Stefan in for questioning.
Foreign words in this clip:
- Haftbefehl (German): arrest warrant
- Handschenkel (meant to say Handschellen) (German): handcuffs
- Verhöre (German): police interrogations
Stefan recalls the jail conditions and his trial
Language: English
After his arrest in September 1942, Stefan Kosinski was incarcerated while awaiting his trial. In this clip, he recounts the conditions in the jail and his memory of seeing his mother out the window of his jail cell keeping vigil. She is also present during his trial before the Nazi court, which sentences Stefan to five years hard labor.
Foreign words in this clip:
- pedo (Polish): derogatory term for a gay person
- schwul (German): gay, homosexual
- Zuchthaus (German): penitentiary