German pianist, poet and activist Robert T. Odeman was BOTD in 1904. Born Martin Hoyer in Hamburg, he trained as a carpenter, before pursuing a career as a classical pianist, taking the name Robert T. Odeman. After suffering a hand injury, he was forced to give up piano playing, and became an actor. Openly gay since forever, he met his first boyfriend, Martin Eppendorf, in 1922, remaining together until Eppendorf’s death in 1932. The following year, Odeman became musical director of the Neuen Theaters (New Theatre) in Hamburg, staging a politically subversive cabaret. In 1936, the theatre was closed down by the Nazis, and he was placed under police surveillance. The following year, the Gestapo persuaded Odeman’s boyfriend to inform on him, and he was arrested for homosexual offences under Paragraph 175 of the German penal code. After a two-year prison sentence, he was released in 1940, though placed under house arrest and prevented from working. He formed a relationship with the singer Olga Rinnebach, possibly to avoid further persecution, though was arrested again for homosexual offences. He was sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp outside Berlin, where he was assigned an office job. In 1945, he and the surviving camp prisoners were sent on a forced march towards the Baltic Sea, during which he managed to escape. After the war, he returned to Berlin, completing formal acting training and working as an actor and director. He became well-known as a poet and songwriter, many of which were published in book form and spoken word records. He formed a relationship with Günter Nöring, who became his life partner, legally adopting Nöring to make him his next-of-kin. They remained together until Odeman’s death in 1985, aged 80.