Description: A volume examining queer lives caught between empowerment and stigmatization in early twentieth-century Germany.
The contributions in this volume present the story of queer lives in Germany during the first half of the twentieth century--from the first emancipation movements around the turn of the century via attempts at self-empowerment in the Weimar Republic to the destruction of queer subcultures under the National Socialist regime and the continued discrimination against LGBTIQ* persons in the postwar period. Since the late nineteenth century, increasing numbers of people have self-assuredly championed the recognition of queer lifestyles. These pioneers formed collectives, made their voices heard, and questioned dominant gender categories politically, scientifically, and artistically. Through essays, interviews, and artworks, the authors and artists illustrate this struggle for recognition which was forcefully prevented and destroyed following the seizure of power by the National Socialists and almost forgotten after 1945.Brief description: Karolina Kühn is a literary scholar and curator at the Munich Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism.