Malmö -- The ILGCN's Orfeo Iris 2021 award diploma has been handed over to the winner, Dr. Joanna Ostrowska, of Warsaw, Poland, on her visit to the southern Swedish city of Malmö. The award from the International Rainbow Culture Network honors reseach and information about the Nazi and neo Nazi persecution of LGBT people.
The award was handed over by Malmö resident, Swedish film-maker, Jenifer Malmqvist, who has earlier received an ILGCN "Wings" award for her film work -- including her prize-winning "On Suffocation" about the execution of young gays in the Middle East.
The award diploma honors Joanna Ostrowska for "crucial, often-ignored research with books and numerous articles on the fate of LGBT people in the Nazi death camps. and for confirming that the inclusion of these LGBT prisoners does in no way diminish the importance of the other categories of prisoners, but reveals the inhumanity of those who would exterminate categories of human beings."
Combating Emergence of Neo-Nazi Homophobia Hatred
It also "underlines the importance of this research to combat those in many countries -- including Sweden -- who insist that the Holocaust never took place, and that new groups of violent, homophobic neo-Nazis are appearing today in many countries."
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The Orfeo Iris 2021 award is shared with Barbara Fröhlich and the anti-fascist committee of HOSI-Wien, Austria, working with information about the persecution of LGBT people by the Nazi regime and harassment by neo Nazi elements. It has gone over the years to outstanding rainbow researchers, writers, journalists and others in Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, U.K., Poland, and other countries.
The award is named after "Iris" -- the rainbow -- and the ancient Greek musician, Orpheus, whose powerful music could charm even the demons of the underworld, and who was proud of his male lovers, including Calais -- a fellow sailor on the famous ship, the Argo.
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| the entrance of Auschwitz. |
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| Joanna Ostrowska (right) and Jenifer Malmqvist at the Malmö ceremony |
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| the drawing of the ancient Greek image of Orpheus and his lover Calias, |
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| the rainbow |
