Gay Identity in Nazi Germany

Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society

History Hit

Society, Sex, Scandal, Education, History

4.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 22 August 2023

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Berlin in the early 1930s was a place of incredible liberation for its queer community.

There were over 100 gay clubs, and Magnus Hirschfeld’s Institute for Sexual Science - the first sexology research centre in the world - developed pioneering gender assignment surgery.

Sadly, with the Nazis rising to power, dark days were to come.

What was it like for the gay community during this time? How did the Nazis react to a high ranking officer being openly gay and part of this community? And what was the legacy of Magnus Hirschfeld’s work?

In today’s episode, Kate is joined by Robert Beachy, historian and author of Gay Berlin: Birthplace of a Modern Identity, to find out.

This episode was edited and produced by Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello my lovely betricksters, it's me Kate Lister. We are here together once again to listen to this fabulous podcast.
0:09.0	I'm so glad that you're here, but before we can get going with it, you know what's coming, we have to make sure that you're okay. I'm okay. We're all okay.
0:18.0	This is your fair dues warning.
0:21.0	This is an adult podcast spoken by adults to other adults about a range of adulty subjects and you should be an adult too.
0:29.0	Now, if you are an adult and you want to keep on listening and you have to get offended, I'm afraid that one is on you.
0:36.0	Because fair dues, you will want.
0:46.0	Well hello betricksters, fancy seeing you here. Do you come here often?
0:52.0	Where are we? Well, it's the early 1930s and we just so happen to be in the fabulously glamorous surroundings of the Eldorado Club.
1:01.0	One of over a hundred gay bars in Berlin's thriving queer scene. And of all of the clubs, this one is the best.
1:10.0	Look around us. You'll see artists and authors and celebrities rejoicing in the flamboyant cabaret of the amazing performers here, which includes openly trans people.
1:23.0	On one table, we can see Magnus Hirschfeld, the celebrated sexologist whose Institute of Sexual Sciences pioneered gender reassignment surgery and all manner of research into queer culture and queer life.
1:39.0	However, on the other side of the club sits a patron whose very presence is a signifier of the awful things that are to come.
1:49.0	Ernst Rom, a leading member of the Nazi party. Rom is an open homosexual. He doesn't try to hide it at all, but he will also go on to lead the Nazi party's thuggish police division, the essay.
2:03.0	In just a few years, the Nazi party will rise to full power and will tighten its ugly grip on the whole of German society.
2:12.0	The Eldorado and other clubs like it will be forced to close for good. But what became of the proud queer community in Berlin?
2:21.0	What was it like to live in a time of such freedoms but also such increasing threats? I am ready to find out if you are.
2:34.0	What do you look for a man? Oh, money of course.
2:37.0	You're supposed to rise when an adult speaks to you.
2:39.0	I make perfect copies of whatever my boss needs. I just turn him enough and push him a lot.
2:51.0	Yes, social courtesy does make a difference.
2:54.0	Goodness, my parents look down. Goodness, there's nothing to do with it during.
3:03.0	Hello and welcome back to Betwix, the Sheet, the history of sex scandal in society with me, Kate Lister.
	...

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