During the Nazi era, homosexuals were declared "enemies of the state". Their persecution was massively intensified and was no longer aimed only at specific sexual acts, but at the "eradication" of homosexuality per se. After 1945, many hoped for an end to the persecution, but it was soon intensified again in both West and East Germany. The GDR now discredited homosexuals as "remnants of the capitalist social order." In contrast to the Nazi regime, however, it no longer relied solely on criminal law to combat homosexuality, but increasingly also on educational measures. Using Saxony as a case study, the study examines the regional effects of this policy in a German state and asks about differences to other regions.