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The first homosexual movement thrived in Germany from the late nineteenth century until 1933. The movement began in Germany because of a confluence of factors, including the criminalization of sex between men (
Paragraph 175 Paragraph 175 (known formally a§175 StGB also known as Section 175 in English) was a provision of the German Criminal Code from 15 May 1871 to 10 March 1994. It made homosexual acts between males a crime, and in early revisions the provision ...
) and the country's relatively lax censorship. German writers in the mid-nineteenth century coined the word ''homosexual'' and criticized its criminalization. In 1897,
Magnus Hirschfeld Magnus Hirschfeld (14 May 1868 – 14 May 1935) was a German physician and sexologist. Hirschfeld was educated in philosophy, philology and medicine. An outspoken advocate for sexual minorities, Hirschfeld founded the Scientific-Humanitarian Com ...
founded the world's first homosexual organization, the
Scientific-Humanitarian Committee The Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (, WhK) was founded by Magnus Hirschfeld in Berlin in May 1897, to campaign for social recognition of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and against their legal Violence against LGBT people, pers ...
, whose aim was to use science to improve public tolerance of homosexuality and repeal Paragraph 175. During the
German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...
, the movement was restricted to an educated elite, but it greatly expanded in the aftermath of
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and the
German Revolution German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
. Reduced censorship and the growth of homosexual subcultures in German cities helped the movement to flourish during the
Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...
. Between 1919 and 1933, the first publicly sold, mass-market periodicals intended for a gay, lesbian, or
transvestite Transvestism is the practice of dressing in a manner traditionally associated with the opposite sex. In some cultures, transvestism is practiced for religious, traditional, or ceremonial reasons. The term is considered outdated in Western c ...
readership were published, although they faced censorship lawsuits and bans on public sale after the 1926 . The first mass organizations for homosexuals, the German Friendship Society and the League for Human Rights, were founded in the aftermath of the war. These organizations emphasized human rights and
respectability politics Respectability politics or the politics of respectability is a form of moralistic discourse used by some prominent figures, leaders or academics who are members of various marginalized groups to consciously set aside and undermine cultural and mor ...
, and they excluded prostitutes and
effeminate Effeminacy is the embodiment of traits and/or expressions in those who are not of the female sex (e.g. boys and men) that are often associated with what is generally perceived to be feminine behaviours, mannerisms, styles, or gender roles, rath ...
homosexual men, who were considered harmful to the movement's public image. The homosexual movement had limited success with the general public, because many Germans believed that homosexuality could be spread as a communicable disease. The movement began to wane in 1929 with the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, an increasingly hostile political climate, and the failure of the movement's main goal, the repeal of Paragraph 175. It effectively ended within a few months of the
Nazi takeover Adolf Hitler's rise to power began in the newly established Weimar Republic in September 1919 when Hitler joined the '' Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (DAP; German Workers' Party). He rose to a place of prominence in the early years of the party. Be ...
in early 1933, and the relative tolerance of the Weimar era was followed by the most severe persecution of homosexual men in history. The Weimar Republic has held enduring interest for many LGBT people as a brief interlude in which gay men, lesbians, and transvestites took advantage of unprecedented freedoms. The movement had a strong influence on later
LGBT movements Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movements are social movements that advocate for LGBT people in society. Some focus on equal rights, such as the ongoing movement for same-sex marriage, while others focus on liberation, as in the ...
.


Background

Homosexuals have faced persecution throughout
German history The Germani tribes i.e. Germanic tribes are now considered to be related to the Jastorf culture before expanding and interacting with the other peoples. The concept of a region for Germanic tribes is traced to time of Julius Caesar, a Roman gen ...
. The 1532
Constitutio Criminalis Carolina The Constitutio Criminalis Carolina (sometimes shortened to Carolina) is recognised as the first body of German criminal law (''Strafgesetzbuch''). It was also known as the '' Halsgerichtsordnung'' (Procedure for the judgment of capital crimes) of ...
, the first penal code of the
Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...
, called for the execution of homosexuals by
burning at the stake Death by burning (also known as immolation) is an execution and murder method involving combustion or exposure to extreme heat. It has a long history as a form of public capital punishment, and many societies have employed it as a punishment f ...
. It is unclear how much laws against homosexuality were enforced prior to the modern era. In some parts of Germany, homosexuality was decriminalized or punishment lessened from death to imprisonment as a result of the
Napoleonic wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
. After the
unification of Germany The unification of Germany (, ) was the process of building the modern German nation state with federalism, federal features based on the concept of Lesser Germany (one without multinational Austria), which commenced on 18 August 1866 with ad ...
in 1871,
Prussian law Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...
was adopted by the
German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...
, including
Paragraph 175 Paragraph 175 (known formally a§175 StGB also known as Section 175 in English) was a provision of the German Criminal Code from 15 May 1871 to 10 March 1994. It made homosexual acts between males a crime, and in early revisions the provision ...
that criminalized sex between men. The law was difficult to enforce because it required proof that the accused had participated in penetrative sex with another man, although case law was inconsistent about exactly which acts were illegal. Some authors influenced by Enlightenment ideas began to criticize the criminalization of consensual sexual conduct. In the 1830s, the Swiss writer
Heinrich Hössli Heinrich Hössli (6 August 1784 – 24 December 1864), sometimes written as Hößli, was a Swiss hatter and author. His book ''Eros Die Männerliebe der Griechen'' (2 vols., 1836, 1838) surveyed references to same-sex love in ancient Greek liter ...
was one of the first to voice this sentiment. German-language writer
Karl Maria Kertbeny Károly Mária Kertbeny (or Karl Maria Benkert) (28 February 1824 – 23 January 1882) was a Hungarian journalist, translator, memoirist and human rights campaigner. He is best known for coining the words ''heterosexual'' and ''homosexual'' as ...
coined the word ''homosexual'' in 1869 and anonymously published pamphlets advocating against the criminalization of homosexuality. By the 1880s, ''homosexual'' was in broad circulation.
Karl Heinrich Ulrichs Karl Heinrich Ulrichs (28 August 1825 – 14 July 1895) was a German lawyer, jurist, journalist, and writer who is regarded today as a pioneer of sexology and the modern gay rights movement. Ulrichs has been described as the "first gay man in ...
, a lawyer, began to publicly defend homosexuals ("Urnings" in the terminology he invented) under his own name in the 1860s and 1870s. In 1867, he attempted to argue for the decriminalization of homosexuality at a conference of the in Munich, but was shouted down. Ulrichs argued that homosexuality is inborn and Urnings were a kind of
hermaphrodite In reproductive biology, a hermaphrodite () is an organism that has both kinds of reproductive organs and can produce both gametes associated with male and female sexes. Many Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrate ...
, who developed from a rare variation in sexual development leaving them with the body of one sex but the soul of the other. Both Ulrichs and Hössli argued that homosexuals were a fixed minority comparable to an
ethnic group An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
—especially the Jews—and consequently deserving of legal protection. In contrast, Kertbeny was skeptical that homosexuality was innate, and instead argued for decriminalization based on liberal principles. The second half of the nineteenth century saw scientific research into homosexuality. Around 1850, French psychiatrist Claude-François Michéa and German physician
Johann Ludwig Casper Johann Ludwig Casper (11 March 1796 – 24 February 1864) was a German forensic scientist, criminologist, pathologist, pediatrician, pharmacologist, professor and author. Casper was born in 1796 in Berlin, Germany. He studied pharmacology and m ...
independently suggested that homosexuality was caused by a physical difference from heterosexuals; the exact nature of this purported physical difference became a sought-after target of medical research. At the same time, many psychiatrists believed that homosexuality was a product of environmental factors such as bad habits or seduction. Austrian psychiatrist
Richard von Krafft-Ebing Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing (full name Richard Fridolin Joseph Freiherr Krafft von Festenberg auf Frohnberg, genannt von Ebing; 14 August 1840 – 22 December 1902) was a German psychiatrist and author of the foundational work ''Psychopathi ...
was one of the most influential advocates of the theory that various maladies, including homosexuality, could be blamed on the degeneracy of modern life; he was also a friend of Ulrichs and, by the end of his life, came to the conclusion that homosexuality should not be criminalized and that it was not a disease or degeneration. By the late nineteenth century, the most influential works in psychiatry considered homosexual orientation an innate disease and disagreed with its criminalization. At the same time, a widespread belief among Germans that homosexuality could be spread as a communicable disease fueled the arguments of opponents of homosexual emancipation in interwar Germany and limited the potential of the first homosexual movement.


Organized activism in the German Empire

The homosexual movement in Imperial Germany was numerically tiny but it had a high profile and powerful allies. Homosexuality among men was the subject of especially wide-ranging debate involving not just parliamentary and political discussions but also medical and sexological research. According to historian Edward Ross Dickinson, the homosexual movement was extremely radical because of the deep-seated prejudice against homosexuality among educated Germans, so that challenging Paragraph 175 "potentially called every other sexual taboo into question". By 1900 the homosexual scene in Berlin was increasing in size and visibility, which may have played a role in softening public attitudes towards homosexuality. The homosexual movement was one of many social and political movements that emerged around 1900 in Germany because of the expansion of the
right to vote Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...
, urbanization, the rise of mass media, and other social changes. In his book '' Gay Berlin'', historian
Robert Beachy Robert Beachy (born in Aibonito, Puerto Rico) is associate professor of history at the Underwood International College at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea. Was raised in Mennonite communities in Puerto Rico and Indiana. He formerly taug ...
argues that a confluence of factors, including the criminalization of homosexuality, relatively loose censorship compared to other European countries, and the influence of psychiatry meant that Germany was the place where a sense of homosexual identity was developed since the mid-nineteenth century, and ultimately catalyzed the first homosexual movement.


Magnus Hirschfeld and the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee

The
German-Jewish The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (''circa'' 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish ...
sexologist
Magnus Hirschfeld Magnus Hirschfeld (14 May 1868 – 14 May 1935) was a German physician and sexologist. Hirschfeld was educated in philosophy, philology and medicine. An outspoken advocate for sexual minorities, Hirschfeld founded the Scientific-Humanitarian Com ...
was the most important spokesperson for homosexual rights in the early twentieth century, although he never publicly acknowledged his homosexuality. A trained physician, he became involved in activism after the death of one of his homosexual patients by suicide. Hirschfeld hoped that science could improve public tolerance for homosexuality and lead to legal reform. In an 1893 pamphlet, he argued that sexuality could "neither be acquired through environmental factors or suggestions, nor extinguished through medical treatment or psychological conditioning", which in his view made criminalizing it legally and morally untenable. Hirschfeld initially borrowed heavily from Ulrichs's arguments. Later, he developed the theory of sexual intermediaries, positing that there are no true men or women but rather every person has a combination of masculine and feminine characteristics. In 1897, Hirschfeld founded the world's first homosexual organization, the
Scientific-Humanitarian Committee The Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (, WhK) was founded by Magnus Hirschfeld in Berlin in May 1897, to campaign for social recognition of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and against their legal Violence against LGBT people, pers ...
(WhK), with
Max Spohr Johannes Hermann August Wilhelm Max Spohr (November 17, 1850 in Braunschweig – November 15, 1905 in Leipzig) was a German bookseller and publisher. He was one of the first publishers worldwide who published LGBT publications. Later Adolf Bran ...
, , and
Franz Joseph von Bülow Franz Vollrath Carl Wilhelm Joseph von Bülow (11 September 1861 – 18 October 1915) was a German author, soldier and homosexual activist. Life Franz Vollrath Carl Wilhelm Joseph von Bülow was born on 11 September 1861 in Frankfurt am Main ...
. Initially the founders contributed their own money; later, they were supported by a few wealthy donors. The committee wanted to present a petition against Paragraph 175 to the Reichstag in 1898 with as many signatures as possible and in the longer term to use research in
sexology Sexology is the scientific study of human sexuality, including human sexual interests, behaviors, and functions. The term ''sexology'' does not generally refer to the non-scientific study of sexuality, such as social criticism. Sexologists app ...
to advocate for the repeal of Paragraph 175 and increase societal tolerance for homosexuals. The WhK's petition had more than 900 signatures by 1898, but found little support in parliament. By 1914, the petition had accumulated the signatures of more than 3,000 doctors, 750 university professors, and thousands of other Germans, including Krafft-Ebing, poet
Rainer Maria Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), shortened to Rainer Maria Rilke (), was an Austrian poet and novelist. He has been acclaimed as an idiosyncratic and expressive poet, and is widely recogni ...
, and prominent
Social Democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...
(SPD) politicians. None of the WhK's petitions were successful. The WhK argued that homosexuality was natural and found in all human cultures, supporting its arguments by comparison with countries (such as France) where homosexuality was not illegal, scholarly works on
homosexuality in ancient Greece In classical antiquity, writers such as Herodotus, Plato, Xenophon, Athenaeus and many others explored aspects of homosexuality in Greek society. The most widespread and socially significant form of same-sex sexual relations in ancient Greece amo ...
, and
ethnographies Ethnography (from Greek language, Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view ...
of non-Western cultures. In 1899, the WhK began to publish the journal ''
Jahrbuch für sexuelle Zwischenstufen The (''Yearbook for Intermediate Sexual Types'') was an annual publication of the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (german: Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee, WhK), an early LGBT rights organization founded by German sexologist Magnus Hirs ...
'' ("The Yearbook for Sexual Intermediaries"). It also published booklets intended for a popular audience, such as ''Was soll das Volk vom dritten Geschlecht wissen?'' ("What should the
erman Erman Rašiti may refer to: Given name * Erman Bulucu (born 1989), Turkish footballer * Erman Eltemur (born 1993), Turkish karateka * Erman Güraçar (born 1974), Turkish footballer * Erman Kılıç (born 1983), Turkish footballer * Erman Kunter (b ...
people know about the third sex?"), which had at least 50,000 copies printed by 1911. Many of these booklets were distributed free of charge; Hirschfeld claimed to have distributed 100,000 booklets by 1914. In 1911, amateur ethnographer Ferdinand Karsch-Haack published '' Das gleichgeschlechtliche Leben der Naturvölker'' ("The same-sex life of natural peoples") in which he collected all known examples of same-sex desire and
gender nonconformity Gender variance or gender nonconformity is behavior or gender expression by an individual that does not match masculine or feminine gender norms. A gender-nonconforming person may be variant in their gender identity, being transgender or non-bina ...
in Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas to prove that homosexuality was innate and natural. Hirschfeld was able to persuade some psychiatrists (including
Paul Näcke Paul Adolf Näcke (born 23 January 1851 St. Petersburg, Russian Empire – died 18 August 1913 Colditz) was a German psychiatrist and criminologist. Näcke is known for his writings on homosexuality, and coining the term narcissism in 1899 to des ...
and
Iwan Bloch Iwan Bloch (April 8, 1872 – November 21, 1922), also known as Ivan Bloch, was a German dermatologist, and psychiatrist, psychoanalyst born in Delmenhorst, Grand Ducal Oldenburg, Germany, and often called the first sexologist. Together with M ...
) to soften their opinion on homosexuality by introducing them to the homosexual scene in Berlin. He was also able to secure the acquittal or mitigation of the sentence of prosecuted homosexuals with his expert witness testimony. In 1909, he persuaded the Berlin authorities to accept
transvestite pass A transvestite pass (german: Transvestitenschein) was a doctor's note recognized by the governments of Imperial Germany and the Weimar Republic – under the support of sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld – identifying a person as a transvestite. ''T ...
es allowing people to cross-dress without fear of police harassment or arrest. Hirschfeld also spent much time fundraising for the WhK and setting up its organizational structure, including branches in other German cities. The WhK included women, some of whom identified as homosexual, and sponsored research into female homosexuality, although its main focus continued to be abolishing Paragraph 175.


Masculinists

From the beginning of the movement, the majority of activists both inside and outside the WhK endorsed the idea that homosexual men belonged to a kind of
third sex Third gender is a concept in which individuals are categorized, either by themselves or by society, as neither man nor woman. It is also a social category present in societies that recognize three or more genders. The term ''third'' is usually ...
with male bodies and female souls. Dissent came from an opposing faction that took inspiration from
pederasty in ancient Greece Pederasty in ancient Greece was a socially acknowledged romantic relationship between an older male (the ''erastes'') and a younger male (the ''eromenos'') usually in his teens. It was characteristic of the Archaic Greece, Archaic and Classical G ...
in combination with modern ideas of
Nietzscheanism Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) developed his philosophy during the late 19th century. He owed the awakening of his philosophical interest to reading Arthur Schopenhauer's ''Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung'' (''The World as Will and Represe ...
,
antimodernism Anti-modernization (also known as anti-modernisation or retraditionalisation), Rumer, Boris (2005).''Central Asia at the End of the Transition''(via Google Books). Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe. . is "a societal and cultural reaction to the uns ...
,
misogyny Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women. It is a form of sexism that is used to keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the societal roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practiced fo ...
,
illiberalism An illiberal democracy describes a governing system in which, although elections take place, citizens are cut off from knowledge about the activities of those who exercise real power because of the lack of civil liberties; thus it does not con ...
, and in many cases
antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...
. They believed that the roots of male same-sex desire were cultural rather than biological, that any man was potentially homosexual, and that it was equally or more masculine than heterosexuality. None of these arguments was remotely acceptable to contemporary bourgeois opinion, leading the masculinists to be marginalized. Despite the antagonism between the masculinists and the WhK, both groups published in each other's newspapers and cited the same classical figures for inspiration. Many homosexual men saw value in both visions of homosexuality or hybridized their ideas. In 1896, 21-year-old
Adolf Brand Gustav Adolf Franz Brand (14 November 1874 – 2 February 1945) was a German writer, egoist anarchist, and pioneering campaigner for the acceptance of male bisexuality and homosexuality. Early life Adolf Brand was born on 14 November 1874 in Be ...
launched ''
Der Eigene ''Der Eigene'' was one of the first gay journals in the world, published from 1896 to 1932 by Adolf Brand in Berlin. Brand contributed many poems and articles; other contributors included writers Benedict Friedlaender, Hanns Heinz Ewers, Erich M ...
'' ("The Special One"), initially an anarchist-leaning literary journal that was refounded two years later as one of the first periodicals in the world oriented to a homosexual readership. It was published irregularly due to financial and legal obstacles. In 1903, he founded the literary organization
Gemeinschaft der Eigenen The german: label=none, Gemeinschaft der Eigenen ("Community of Free Spirits") was a German homosexual advocacy group led by anarchist Adolf Brand. The group opposed the country's preeminent advocacy group, Magnus Hirschfeld's Scientific-Humanita ...
(GdE), not intended as a competitor to the WhK. Brand's publications, which were not influential and never had a circulation above 150, often featured naked teenage boys and made allegations about high-profile figures. Brand joined the WhK because he shared its goal of decriminalizing homosexuality, but he increasingly criticized Hirschfeld's views on the third sex. He supported the ''
Wandervogel ''Wandervogel'' (plural: ''Wandervögel''; English: "Wandering Bird") is the name adopted by a popular movement of German youth groups from 1896 to 1933, who protested against industrialization by going to hike in the country and commune with n ...
'' youth groups and '' völkisch'' nudist associations. Another masculinist was
Hans Blüher Hans Blüher (17 February 1888 in Freiburg in Schlesien – 4 February 1955 in Berlin) was a German writer and philosopher. He attained prominence as an early member and "first historian" of the Wandervogel movement. He was aided by his taboo br ...
, known for his controversial theories relating all male relationships to
homoeroticism Homoeroticism is sexual attraction between members of the same sex, either male–male or female–female. The concept differs from the concept of homosexuality: it refers specifically to the desire itself, which can be temporary, whereas "homose ...
and his promotion of all-male associations (). In 1906, Benedict Friedlander led a split from the WhK, arguing that sexuality was not a medical or psychological issue. Instead, Friedlander believed that homosexual emancipation should be achieved by a mass
coming out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...
of homosexual and bisexual men who rejected conventional morality, which he saw as imposed by Christianity and women. Brand had unsuccessfully proposed mass self-outings in the WhK. Friedlander attracted many WhK donors at a time that homosexual activists were struggling, but his initiative collapsed after his death in 1908.


Political debate

At the end of the nineteenth century there was debate over the Lex Heinze, a law that increased penalties for various sexual misdemeanors. August Bebel, the leader of the SPD and one of the first supporters of the WhK's petition, brought up Paragraph 175 in parliament, possibly to show the hypocrisy of the proposed law. Bebel argued that homosexuality was so prevalent that if everyone breaking the law was arrested, Germany's prisons would overflow. The law could only function if applied arbitrarily, leading poorer men to be jailed for the same actions for which wealthier men went unpunished. Bebel and other social democrats were persuaded by the writings of Marxist journalist
Eduard Bernstein Eduard Bernstein (; 6 January 1850 – 18 December 1932) was a German social democratic Marxist theorist and politician. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), Bernstein had held close association to Karl Marx and Friedric ...
, who condemned the prosecution of
Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
. Although homophobia was also prevalent among working-class Germans and some SPD politicians continued to support criminalization, the SPD was the most consistent ally of the anti-175 movement. Hirschfeld considered it a victory that the Reichstag discussed Paragraph 175 in 1898 and again in 1905, by which point the SPD had adopted many of his own talking points. In late 1906,
Maximilian Harden __NOTOC__ Maximilian Harden (born Felix Ernst Witkowski, 20 October 1861 – 30 October 1927) was an influential German journalist and editor. Biography Born the son of a Jewish merchant in Berlin he attended the '' Französisches Gymnasium'' u ...
published several articles in ''
Die Zukunft ''Die Zukunft'' ("''The Future''") has been the name of three newspapers. ''Die Zukunft'' was a German social-democratic weekly (1892–1923) founded and edited by Maximilian Harden. It published allegations of homosexuality of Philipp, Prince o ...
'' in which he accused
Philipp, Prince of Eulenburg Philipp, Prince of Eulenburg and Hertefeld, Count of Sandels (german: Philipp Friedrich Karl Alexander Botho Fürst zu Eulenburg und Hertefeld Graf von Sandels; 12 February 1847 – 17 September 1921) was a diplomat and composer of Imperial Germ ...
, and his associates of homosexual relationships and connected this to Eulenburg's advocacy of less antagonistic foreign relations.
Kuno von Moltke Lieutenant General Kuno Augustus Friedrich Karl Detlev Graf von Moltke (13 December 1847 – 19 March 1923), adjutant to Wilhelm II of Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm II and military commander of Berlin, was a principal in the homosexual scandal known as t ...
subsequently sued Harden for libel, and court cases continued for more than two years. Hirschfeld testified as an expert witness in Moltke's trial, initially claiming that he was likely homosexual, although he changed his statement at the
retrial A new trial or retrial is a recurrence of a court case. A new trial may potentially be ordered for some or all of the matters at issue in the original trial. Depending upon the rules of the jurisdiction and the decision of the court that ordered ...
. Hirschfeld hoped that exposing the fact that some prominent Germans were homosexual would show that Paragraph 175 was hypocritical. In a separate case, Brand was jailed for libel after claiming that Chancellor
Bernhard von Bülow Bernhard Heinrich Karl Martin, Prince of Bülow (german: Bernhard Heinrich Karl Martin Fürst von Bülow ; 3 May 1849 – 28 October 1929) was a German statesman who served as the foreign minister for three years and then as the chancellor of t ...
was homosexual. The affair was a disaster for the homosexual movement. Many German opinion makers began to believe that the affair harmed Germany's international image and blamed homosexuals for it. In the wake of the affair, the WhK's income dropped by two-thirds and its membership by half. During the affair, the German government began to consider reforms to the penal code. Instead of abolishing Paragraph 175, the parliamentary committee proposed to increase penalties for male prostitution and abuse of authority. A 1909 draft version of the penal code argued that homosexuality was a "danger to the state, since it is suited to damage men most severely in their character and in their civil existence, to wreck family life, and to corrupt male youth". This draft proposed criminalizing homosexuality also for women, which was ridiculed even by conservatives and drew the opposition of the
women's movement The feminist movement (also known as the women's movement, or feminism) refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for radical and liberal reforms on women's issues created by the inequality between men and women. Such is ...
. Although a few women's activists supported the proposal as it would have equalized the legal situation of male and female homosexuality, most rejected it as the proposed law would have exposed many women who lived together for economic reasons to false accusations and blackmail. The
Bund Deutscher Frauenvereine The Bund Deutscher Frauenvereine (Federation of German Women's Associations) (BDF) was founded on 28/29 March 1894 as umbrella organization of the women's civil rights feminist movement and existed until the Nazi seizure of power in 1933. Its crea ...
passed a resolution calling for the decriminalization of sexual acts that did not harm non-consenting parties. In 1911, the WhK and the campaigned against the reform; their partnership lasted until 1933. More repressive versions of Paragraph 175 continued to be debated until
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, which ended the plan to reform the penal code.


World War I

Many homosexuals, like other Germans, volunteered to join the
German Army The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...
and Imperial Navy after the outbreak of World War I. In April 1915, the WhK reported that more than half its membership was serving in the German Empire's military. There was little organizing during the war. Although some German servicemembers were charged with violating Paragraph 175, the military authorities did not aggressively investigate homosexual incidents. In 1918, Germany lost the war and signed an armistice, sparking the
German Revolution of 1918–1919 The German Revolution or November Revolution (german: Novemberrevolution) was a civil conflict in the German Empire at the end of the First World War that resulted in the replacement of the German federal constitutional monarchy with a dem ...
. After the war, it was a widespread belief that homosexuals, along with socialists, Jews, women, and others, had stabbed Germany in the back and caused its defeat. Homosexual activists cited their participation in the war as evidence of their patriotism and right to exist as free and equal citizens.


Weimar Republic

After the revolution, the
Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...
was founded with one of the most modern and progressive
constitutions A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princip ...
in the world. Traditional values seemed to have lost their hold on society during the era of revolutionary change. Many homosexuals believed that they too would be able to enjoy greater freedom as a result of the war and the revolution, and made bolder claims to public space. There was a shift from science to human rights and citizenship in the discourse of the homosexual movement. The magazine '' Die Freundschaft'' was launched a year after the revolution and was the first homosexual publication to sell in
kiosk Historically, a kiosk () was a small garden pavilion open on some or all sides common in Iran, Persia, the Indian subcontinent, and in the Ottoman Empire from the 13th century onward. Today, several examples of this type of kiosk still exist ...
s to a mass audience. Its editor proclaimed, "The hour of liberation is now or never, for us... We, the ostracized, persecuted, and misjudged, are set aglow by a new age of equal respect and equality."


Homosexual scenes

The homosexual scenes in different German cities, although already in development during the nineteenth century, increased in visibility during the Weimar era. By the mid-19th century, homosexuals were gathering in specific bars in Berlin, and in 1880 the first specifically gay-oriented establishment was opened. Male prostitutes were noticeable in some German cities; most were under the age of 25 but above the age of consent, and many had migrated to cities looking for a job but lacked other economic opportunities. The beginning of the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
in 1929 further worsened the prospects of working-class men and led to an increase in homosexual prostitution. Hiring a prostitute put older homosexuals at risk of theft and blackmail. Conversely, homosexual men were seen by the opponents of the homosexual movement as preying on vulnerable youths and seducing them into becoming homosexual with monetary payments—a theory often cited by proponents of keeping Paragraph 175. By 1923 there were nearly a hundred gay and lesbian establishments in Berlin, segregated by class and other factors. Although most establishments were rather sedate, Berlin drew in
internal migration Internal migration or domestic migration is human migration within a country. Internal migration tends to be travel for education and for economic improvement or because of a natural disaster or civil disturbance, though a study based on the full ...
of gay, lesbian, and gender divergent Germans as well as international
sex tourists Sex tourism refers to the practice of traveling to foreign countries, often on a different continent, with the intention of engaging in sexual activity or relationships in exchange for money or lifestyle support. This practice predominantly oper ...
such as
Christopher Isherwood Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood (26 August 1904 – 4 January 1986) was an Anglo-American novelist, playwright, screenwriter, autobiographer, and diarist. His best-known works include '' Goodbye to Berlin'' (1939), a semi-autobiographical ...
. The bars were known for throwing elaborate balls. Other German cities, including
Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...
,
Hannover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German States of Germany, state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germa ...
, Düsseldorf, and
Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
also enjoyed thriving gay scenes during the Weimar era, although Catholic Southern Germany was much less hospitable. In
Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
the police shut down any homosexual establishment that became known to the authorities, seized homosexual publications, and surveilled known homosexual meeting places. , a prominent homosexual activist in the Weimar era, got his start in activism after a café frequented by homosexuals in Munich was shut down and the authorities refused his request to register a local friendship association in 1921. The hard-won visibility of the homosexual movement was a double-edged sword as it made it easier for the police to target homosexuals, especially in Catholic parts of Germany. Paragraph 175 was not consistently enforced. Lesbian subcultures became much more visible and larger in the Weimar Republic than they had been previously.


Associations

Groups of friends who shared homosexual feelings were organizing in German cities into more formal associations. In the nineteenth century, such associations were rare, but their popularity increased exponentially in the Weimar years. Unlike the WhK, their primary purpose was not educational or political but providing social interaction and a sense of community for their members. The societies organized meetups, dinners, and parties, soon drawing thousands of Germans; by the mid-1920s there was at least one society in every German city. On 20 August 1920, several of these societies united under the ''Deutsche Freundschafts-Verband'' (German Friendship Society, DFV). At this time, the word ''friend'' was a common euphemism for ''homosexual''. In 1923, Berlin-based businessman Friedrich Radszuweit persuaded the organization to rename itself the Bund für Menschenrecht (League for Human Rights, BfM), and took control of it, establishing a centralized organization. By the end of the decade, membership had increased from 2,000 in 1922 to an estimated 48,000. The BfM's membership was mainly middle-class young men in their twenties and thirties, although it also appealed to some working-class men. Radszuweit also attempted to rescue the Theater des Eros, a homosexual theater group, by folding it into the BfM, but this was unsuccessful. These friendship associations and eventually the BfM were the first mass organizations for homosexuals. Their operation was very similar to the "Urning Union" that Ulrichs had proposed decades earlier, combining politics, entertainment, and practical support. The organization offered legal services to members facing employment disputes, blackmail, or criminal charges as part of its membership fee. Radszuweit's leadership, perceived as domineering, led to conflicts. In 1925 some members seceded and reestablished the DFV. Although smaller than the BfM, the DFV helped increase the diversity of Weimar's homosexual publications. Despite its grassroots origins, the BfM relied on Radszuweit's media empire for growth, but unity was difficult to achieve because regional groups wanted to run their own affairs according to local conditions. To keep better-educated homosexuals who might have been turned off by his more lowbrow publications, in 1925 Radszuweit purged ''Blätter für Menschenrecht'' of advertisements and sent it without an additional cost to all members of the BfM. Radszuweit collected names to send them promotional material and encouraged people to leave the ''Blätter für Menschenrecht'' in streetcars or other public places to recruit more people into the movement.


Lesbian and transvestite organizations

By the second half of the 1920s, there were women's friendship associations (associated both with the BfM and DFV) in various cities throughout Germany and in
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
in
Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
. Although women were in the minority in the friendship associations, Radszuweit encouraged their participation. He set up a separate lesbian organization in the mid-1920s, and when this venture failed, put Lotte Hahm in charge of a separate women's division within the BfM in 1927. Hahm's Damenklub Violetta in Berlin offered theater performances, dances, auto tours, fashion shows, and a moonlight cruise for its members; it also had a reading room and discussion groups. Other lesbians organized independently of both the DFV and BfM, for example the magazine '' Die BIF'' and its associated organization. While political organizations for lesbian women were not successful, social clubs enjoyed greater success. Literature scholar Janin Afken argues that "lesbian clubs and their membership systems can be considered a first step toward an organized lesbian movement" but apart from the clubs and lesbian-oriented publications, there was no collective political mobilization among lesbians in the Weimar Republic. The Weimar Republic saw some of the first
transvestite Transvestism is the practice of dressing in a manner traditionally associated with the opposite sex. In some cultures, transvestism is practiced for religious, traditional, or ceremonial reasons. The term is considered outdated in Western c ...
organizations and publications in the world. The term "transvestite" encompassed both those who liked to dress in the clothing of the opposite sex and those who wanted to live as the opposite sex, who would later be called
transsexual Transsexual people experience a gender identity that is inconsistent with their assigned sex, and desire to permanently transition to the sex or gender with which they identify, usually seeking medical assistance (including sex reassignment ...
or
transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...
. Transvestites of both birth sexes frequently joined lesbian social groups, but this caused friction especially in the case of male-to-female transvestites. Radszuweit encouraged this grouping as he wanted to keep feminine men out of homosexual male groupings. Both the DFV and BfM set up dedicated groups for transvestites in 1927 and 1930; these groups struggled to attract and retain members. As it was considered "gross public indecency", transvestism was illegal and could lead to arrest.


Print media

Mass media aimed at a homosexual audience had been impossible in Imperial Germany because of censorship, although scientific publications were generally allowed. The German revolution abolished censorship. Publishers took advantage of the opportunity to sell a plethora of new media dealing with different aspects of sexuality. The first mass publication for a homosexual audience was ''Die Freundschaft'', appearing weekly with an initial print run of 20,000 copies. It aspired to be a "world parliament" for homosexual men and women, but its editors lacked the business acumen to make this possible and its personal ads led to a ban in 1923 and 1924. By the end of the 1920s, more than 20 publications for gay, lesbian, and gender divergent audiences were published in Germany. Among those taking advantage of new business opportunities was Radszuweit, who built a publishing house that catered to gay and lesbian readers. Unlike the nonprofit organizations that preceded him, Radszuweit ran his publishing house like a business, seeing the pursuit of profit and the pursuit of homosexual rights to be compatible. By selling to as many readers as possible, Radszuweit wanted to both make money and promote the cause of homosexual equality. His publications used plain language and salacious images of naked young men to attract readers. Radszuweit combined entertainment and politics in his magazines. He used his magazines to promote the BfM and advertise its events as well as encourage
pink capitalism Rainbow capitalism (also called pink capitalism, homocapitalismGlobal homocap ...
by advising his readers to patronize businesses owned by homosexuals. Although critics decried the lowbrow nature of his publications, Radszuweit maintained that only by reaching a large audience could the cause of decriminalization be achieved. His awareness of different content preferences among German homosexuals and exploitation of
market segmentation In marketing, market segmentation is the process of dividing a broad consumer or business market, normally consisting of existing and potential customers, into sub-groups of consumers (known as ''segments'') based on some type of shared characte ...
with multiple publications enabled Radszuweit to increase circulation. In 1926 he claimed a total circulation of 5,140,000 copies for all his titles. Radszuweit's magazines had subscribers outside Germany, some as far away as Brazil. In the Weimar years, there was the first attempt to compile a
canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...
of homosexual literature and find historical figures who were claimed to be gay. Relaxation of censorship led to an explosion of
lesbian pulp fiction Lesbian pulp fiction is a genre of lesbian literature that refers to any mid-20th century paperback novel or pulp magazine with overtly lesbian themes and content. Lesbian pulp fiction was published in the 1950s and 60s by many of the same pa ...
, 30 novels being available to German-speaking readers as well as the first lesbian guidebook. The most famous work of lesbian literature was the play ''Gestern und heute'', later made into the 1931 film ''
Mädchen in Uniform ' ("Girls in Uniform") is a 1931 German romantic drama film based on the play ' (''Yesterday and Today'') by Christa Winsloe and directed by Leontine Sagan with artistic direction from Carl Froelich, who also funded the film. Winsloe also wrote ...
''.


Censorship

Censorship advocates, who ranged from pro-democracy moderates to the far right, believed that exposure to the wrong media would turn young people to promiscuity or homosexuality instead of heterosexual family relationships. In the aftermath of a devastating war, there was a
moral panic A moral panic is a widespread feeling of fear, often an irrational one, that some evil person or thing threatens the values, interests, or well-being of a community or society. It is "the process of arousing social concern over an issue", usua ...
about sexualized media, which they perceived to be a threat to the German nation. Censorship advocates prioritized homosexual publications because they believed that the publications could turn male adolescents into homosexuals. Censorship was a major threat to the homosexual movement, which depended on these publications to exist and grow. While conservatives feared that a book or magazine would suddenly transform a person's sexuality, lesbians described reading as part of a process in which they discovered their sexuality. For homosexuals who were afraid to come out, lived in less tolerant parts of Germany, or could not afford to participate in other aspects of the subculture, the magazines provided their only connection to like-minded people and fostered a sense of community and identity. There was a trial of ''Die Freundschaft'' for violating the anti-obscenity statue, Paragraph 184, in 1921. The court convicted the defendants, and the conviction was upheld on appeal to the
supreme court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
. The ruling nevertheless was considered a victory for homosexual publications as the court set limits on what content could be considered obscene that expanded free expression compared to the prewar period. The court decision banned erotic material defined broadly (one passage deemed obscene discussed two men kissing). Adapting to this decision, homosexual publications tried to avoid any sexual content, including in their personal ads. Hirschfeld, one of the only sexologists in Germany who argued that homosexuality was exclusively innate, testified for the defense at many censorship trials. In the early 1920s, Brand also faced lawsuits over his publications, especially their personal ads. In 1926, the Reichstag passed the , which targeted publications considered immoral and aesthetically worthless; affected publications could not be publicly displayed or sold to minors. Almost all homosexual publications publicly sold between 1927 and 1933 ended up on the lists of restricted publications at some point. Faced with a listing, editors of homosexual publications had a difficult decision to make: publish under a different name, wait out the ban, or keep selling to subscribers only despite losing advertising revenue. Radszuweit implemented
self-censorship Self-censorship is the act of censoring or classifying one's own discourse. This is done out of fear of, or deference to, the sensibilities or preferences (actual or perceived) of others and without overt pressure from any specific party or insti ...
to get his publications off of the restricted list. In contrast, ''Die Freundschaft'' sold only by subscription after 1927 to avoid censorship. Radszuweit's attempt to promote his publications as respectable backfired, as he was unable to persuade those charged with enforcing the censorship law. Part of the motivation for targeting homosexual publications with the law was to smother the homosexual movement, which could not exist without them. The regulators recognized that the periodicals were not commercially viable without the content objected to by morals campaigners.


Respectability

Both the DFV and BfM "were oriented toward integration rather than sexual liberation for its own sake", according to historian Marti Lybeck, and defined themselves in opposition to the libertine nightclub culture. Their publications, in both political and literary writings, promoted monogamous relationships in conformity with bourgeois norms and a form of masculinity outwardly indistinguishable from broader society's. Effeminate men were unwelcome in the associations as they were seen as detrimental to the political goals of the movement, and male prostitutes were excluded entirely. Both effeminacy and prostitution were decried in homosexual publications. In the context of political organizing, neither Hirschfeld's model of homosexuality—which assumed that homosexual men have some characteristics of women—nor that of the masculinists was satisfactory, because both effeminacy and pederasty were socially reviled. By the 1920s, many homosexual magazines had adopted the belief that homosexuality is innate, and that homosexual men are not effeminate. The military service of many homosexual and transvestite men during World War I was often cited in Weimar-era publications, and Radszuweit criticized the
Reichswehr ''Reichswehr'' () was the official name of the German armed forces during the Weimar Republic and the first years of the Third Reich. After Germany was defeated in World War I, the Imperial German Army () was dissolved in order to be reshaped ...
for dismissing any soldier found to be homosexual. In editorials, Radszuweit promoted
respectability politics Respectability politics or the politics of respectability is a form of moralistic discourse used by some prominent figures, leaders or academics who are members of various marginalized groups to consciously set aside and undermine cultural and mor ...
, but his respectable image was undercut by eroticized images of youths that he printed to increase sales. These images allowed his audience to fantasize about their own lives. Historian Javier Samper Vendrell states, "This position may have been pragmatic, but it was nonetheless a flawed, conformist, and repressive demand for rights." The most-represented group in transvestite organizations were those who considered themselves cross-dressing heterosexual men, while homosexual cross-dressers were marginalized both in transvestite and homosexual associations. Cross-dressing male prostitutes and criminals were seen as a threat to transvestite respectability; accordingly, they were banned and described in the transvestite media as "scum of humanity". Lesbian and transvestite associations encouraged respectability in their publications, urged others to keep a low profile in public, and excluded prostitutes from their associations. Working-class lesbians, who often gathered in separate spaces, tended to have less interest in respectability and were more likely to support the
Communist Party of Germany The Communist Party of Germany (german: Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands, , KPD ) was a major political party in the Weimar Republic between 1918 and 1933, an underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and a minor party in West German ...
(KPD). Cross-dressing male prostitutes and other excluded groups may not have embraced respectability politics, but they have left little trace in the historical record.


Film

In 1919, Hirschfeld collaborated with
Richard Oswald Richard Oswald (5 November 1880 – 11 September 1963) was an Austrian film director, producer, screenwriter, and father of German-American film director Gerd Oswald. Early career Richard Oswald, born in Vienna as Richard W. Ornstein, began h ...
on the film ''
Different from the Others ''Different from the Others'' (german: Anders als die Andern) is a silent German melodramatic film produced during the Weimar Republic. It was first released in 1919 and stars Conrad Veidt and Reinhold Schünzel. The story was co-written by Richa ...
'', the first German feature film to cover homosexuality. Featuring actors
Conrad Veidt Hans Walter Conrad Veidt (; 22 January 1893 – 3 April 1943) was a German film actor who attracted early attention for his roles in the films ''Different from the Others'' (1919), '' The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' (1920), and ''The Man Who Laugh ...
,
Reinhold Schünzel Reinhold Schünzel (7 November 1888 – 11 November 1954) was a German actor and director, active in both Germany and the United States. The son of a German father and a Jewish mother, he was born in St. Pauli, the poorest part of Hamburg. Despite ...
, and Anita Berber, it portrayed a successful violinist who committed suicide after being blackmailed. The film was widely viewed and positively evaluated by critics, generating immense discussion. Some viewers perceived the violinist as embodying negative stereotypes of effeminate and limp-wristed homosexuals. His ambiguous relationship with his younger student fanned fears of homosexual seduction. Screenings of the film were disrupted by morality campaigners, nationalists, and ''
Freikorps (, "Free Corps" or "Volunteer Corps") were irregular German and other European military volunteer units, or paramilitary, that existed from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. They effectively fought as mercenary or private armies, regar ...
''. Partly in response to ''Different from the Others'',
film censorship Film censorship is carried out by various countries to differing degrees, sometimes as a result of powerful or relentless lobbying by organizations or individuals. Films that are banned in a particular country change over time. Rating systems A ...
was reinstated in 1920 and the film was banned.


Political activism

The homosexual movement was part of a broad coalition of sexual reformers along with feminists, and was generally backed by the SPD and the KPD, who supported an approach to sexuality that was based on rationality rather than religion. This coalition was opposed by the Center Party, the conservative women's movement, Protestant morality campaigners, and right-wing conservatives from the
German National People's Party The German National People's Party (german: Deutschnationale Volkspartei, DNVP) was a national-conservative party in Germany during the Weimar Republic. Before the rise of the Nazi Party, it was the major conservative and nationalist party in Wei ...
(DVNP)—backing the exclusive role of heterosexual marriage against "immorality", which included not just homosexual emancipation but also gender equality, female prostitution, extramarital sex, sexualized media, birth control, and abortion.


Different strategies

On 1 July 1919, Hirschfeld opened the Institute for Sexual Science (), the first institution dedicated to the study of sexuality, to an audience of prominent Germans including politicians, medical professionals, and intellectuals. Conservatives condemned the institute as a symbol of everything they disliked about the Weimar Republic. The institute carried out some of the first sex reassignment surgeries. Hirschfeld called the institute "a child of the revolution", hoping that through scientific research and
public education State schools (in England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand) or public schools (Scottish English and North American English) are generally primary or secondary schools that educate all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in pa ...
, he would be able to persuade Weimar politicians to change their stance on homosexuality. Hirschfeld was increasingly sidelined by the end of the 1920s because of antisemitism and the competing theory that homosexuality was communicable. Hirschfeld's collaborator,
Kurt Hiller Kurt Hiller (17 August 1885, Berlin – 1 October 1972, Hamburg) was a German essayist, lawyer, and expressionist poet. He was also a political (namely pacifist) journalist. Hiller came from a middle-class Jewish background. A communist, he ...
, was skeptical of the strategy focusing on research and education. Hiller advocated for the creation of a homosexual political party modeled on ethnic minority parties, calculating that if homosexuals were one percent of Germany's population and voted together, they could elect several Reichstag deputies according to the new system of
proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...
. Radszuweit also considered establishing a homosexual party, but eventually decided against the idea. Hiller also supported a mass self-denunciation of homosexuals, which Hirschfeld dismissed as impossible. Hiller, who gained increasing influence within the WhK and took over the leadership in 1929, emphasized human rights over science. From a
neo-Kantian In late modern continental philosophy, neo-Kantianism (german: Neukantianismus) was a revival of the 18th-century philosophy of Immanuel Kant. The Neo-Kantians sought to develop and clarify Kant's theories, particularly his concept of the "thin ...
perspective, he argued that the state had no justification for banning self-expression "unless the activity of the individual collides with the interests of another individual, or perhaps of the whole, the society". Unlike Hirschfeld, Hiller directly compared homosexuals and Jews, arguing that the former had it worse. After 1923, the BfM increasingly distanced itself from the WhK; Radszuweit was a critic of Hirschfeld's theory of intersexuality. The BfM encouraged its members to come out to friends, family, or coworkers to increase public acceptance of homosexuality. The BfM officially backed the SPD but welcomed homosexuals of any political affiliation. Although the majority of its members supported either the SPD or KPD—which shared the SPD's commitment to repealing Paragraph 175—others, especially from the middle and upper classes, backed right-wing parties. The BfM also lobbied on behalf of its members, sending brochures to parliamentarians, ministers, judges, and even President
Paul von Hindenburg Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg (; abbreviated ; 2 October 1847 – 2 August 1934) was a German field marshal and statesman who led the Imperial German Army during World War I and later became President of Germany fro ...
; in 1924 it sent more than 200,000 pamphlets. Brand and his GdE continued to exist after World War I, but the masculinists were increasingly sidelined. They rejected the values of the German revolution, and their anti-feminist attitudes and refusal to make alliances with other groups calling for sex reform alienated others. Hirschfeld, Radszuweit, and others considered them a liability because of their conflation of homosexuality and pederasty.


Paragraph 175 reform

In the aftermath of the German revolution, many homosexual activists expected that Paragraph 175 would soon be repealed. Initially, the WhK sought unity within the movement and in 1920 was cooperating with both the DFV and the GdE under the name "Action Committee for the Elimination of Paragraph 175". These efforts fell through. Both Hirschfeld and Hiller later blamed the movement's failures partly on the lack of solidarity and other qualities necessary for successful political organizing among homosexuals. The WhK continued to solicit the signatures of prominent Germans for its petition to abolish Paragraph 175, adding 6,000 in 1921 alone. President
Friedrich Ebert Friedrich Ebert (; 4 February 187128 February 1925) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the first President of Germany (1919–1945), president of Germany from 1919 until his death in office in 1925. Eber ...
pledged his support for the repeal effort.
Gustav Radbruch Gustav Radbruch (21 November 1878 – 23 November 1949) was a German legal scholar and politician. He served as Minister of Justice of Germany during the early Weimar period. Radbruch is also regarded as one of the most influential legal philoso ...
, who served as
justice minister A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
for the SPD from 1921 to 1922 and again in 1923, wanted to rewrite the criminal code in "the spirit of modern criminological thinking" and proposed a new criminal code without Paragraph 175. Economic problems and the issue of
World War I reparations Following the ratification of article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles at the conclusion of World War I, the Central Powers were made to give war reparations to the Allied Powers. Each of the defeated powers was required to make payments in eith ...
prevented reforms. The repeal effort was also hampered by divisions within the movement: the WhK and the BfM did not agree on the issues of age of consent and male prostitution. The WhK held that the age of consent should be sixteen, the same as heterosexual relationships. Hirschfeld also opposed the criminalization of male prostitution, instead advocating that its economic causes be addressed. Female prostitution was legalized in 1927, and it was feared that cracking down on male prostitution would lead to police raids on gay bars and meeting places. The WhK worked with other sex reformers to produce a new draft of the penal code, largely written by Hiller and published in 1927, that eliminated Paragraph 175 and also reformed provisions dealing with abortion, rape, seduction, incest, and child molestation. Only the KPD supported this proposal in its entirety. While Brand and the GdE disagreed with Hiller's proposal and instead preferred to abolish the age of consent, the BfM held the opposite position, opposing male prostitution and supporting a higher age of consent of eighteen years. Radszuweit endorsed homophobic ideas (namely that male adolescents could be seduced into homosexuality) in the hopes of placating conservatives. The left-wing victory in the 1928 German federal election opened another opportunity to repeal Paragraph 175, but within this coalition there was ambivalence on the issue. (
DVP DVP may refer to: * ''decessit vita patris'', "died in the lifetime of his father", term used by genealogists to denote a child who pre-deceased his or her father and did not live long enough to inherit the father's title or estate. * Delivery versu ...
) promoted a compromise position wherein consensual homosexual sex would be decriminalized, but the age of consent would be set higher and penalties for having sex with a younger man or prostitution would increase. The law's language would be changed to remove the restrictive standard of proof for Paragraph 175. Under the proposed law, men could be jailed for mutual masturbation or even kissing if their partner was younger than twenty-one. The repeal of Paragraph 175 passed the Reichstag's Criminal Law Committee by 15 to 13 votes on 16 October 1929. The increased criminal measures, Paragraph 297, passed the next day opposed only by the KPD. The supporters of Kahl's compromise hoped that it would put an end to the public visibility of homosexuals (as Radszuweit explicitly promised). Radszuweit's magazines celebrated the outcome, even though it would have worsened the situation of many BfM members. Historian
Laurie Marhoefer Laurie Marhoefer is a historian of queer and trans politics who is employed as the Jon Bridgman Endowed Professor of History at the University of Washington. In January 2021, together with Jennifer V. Evans, they facilitated the Jack and Anita Hes ...
argues that the reform was "intended foremost as a crackdown on seduction and selling sex". Some in the WhK, including Hiller and Linsert, opposed the compromise. In the end, the proposed law reform was abandoned and Paragraph 175 was not changed before the
Nazi takeover Adolf Hitler's rise to power began in the newly established Weimar Republic in September 1919 when Hitler joined the '' Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (DAP; German Workers' Party). He rose to a place of prominence in the early years of the party. Be ...
in 1933.


Decline and aftermath

The homosexual movement waned after 1929. Despite its initial optimism in the aftermath of the German revolution, the main goal—decriminalization—was not achieved, and the failure fueled infighting. The BfM's membership, hard-hit by the Great Depression, lost enthusiasm; funding for reform efforts also dried up due to economic deprivation. By the end of the year, Hirschfeld resigned from the WhK leadership after more than thirty years after losing the support of Linsert and Hiller, who argued that the strategy of using science for reform was a dead end. Hirschfeld received the most criticism because his approach had not proven successful, but Radszuweit was equally ineffective at persuading stakeholders or German society at large that homosexuals were not a threat to youth. The resurgence of conservative and far-right forces and the waning of Weimar's democracy closed the opportunity for legal and social change. By 1930, both Hirschfeld and Radszuweit believed that repealing Paragraph 175 was no longer possible. Hirschfeld focused his efforts on lecture tours abroad. In 1932, Chancellor
Franz von Papen Franz Joseph Hermann Michael Maria von Papen, Erbsälzer zu Werl und Neuwerk (; 29 October 18792 May 1969) was a German conservative politician, diplomat, Prussian nobleman and General Staff officer. He served as the chancellor of Germany i ...
deposed the Prussian government and started a crackdown on homosexual nightlife in Berlin, involving police raids and refusal to issue permits to homosexual events. Some but not all of the homosexual activists in the early 1930s understood that Nazism was an existential threat. Although he criticized the Nazis' anti-homosexual stance, Radszuweit wrote that the Nazis' primary dispute was with the Jews. The first homosexual movement's infrastructure of bars, clubs, associations, and publications was shut down in March 1933, shortly after the Nazi seizure of power. The previous month, a Reich decree had ordered the closing of all homosexual establishments and seizure of all publications. Brand initially celebrated the destruction of Radszuweit's and Hirschfeld's organizations. To his chagrin, the police raided his house five times and stole all his photographs, six thousand magazine issues, and many books. Radszuweit's company was subjected to similar raids. Hirschfeld was abroad during the Nazi takeover on a
lecture tour A public lecture (also known as an open lecture) is one means employed for educating the public in the arts and sciences. The Royal Institution has a long history of public lectures and demonstrations given by prominent experts in the field. In t ...
for the
World League for Sexual Reform The World League for Sexual Reform was a League for coordinating policy reforms related to greater openness around sex. The initial groundwork for the organisation, including a congress in Berlin which was later counted as the organisation's first, ...
. The Institute for Sex Research was raided on 6 May by the SA in coordination with German students. Books from the institute's library were publicly burned on 10 May in
Opernplatz The Opernplatz (Opera Square) is a central city square in Frankfurt, Germany, located in the district of Innenstadt (Inner City) and within the central business district known as the Bankenviertel (Banking District). The Opernplatz is the most ...
. The WLSR and the Institute for Sex Research's offices were both destroyed. The WhK voted to dissolve itself on 8 June. Many homosexual organizations attempted to destroy membership lists and other information that the Nazis could use to target dissidents, and activists made agreements to keep quiet about their activities to protect their former members. Catholic and Protestant churches praised the Nazis' anti-gay crackdown. In twelve years, 50,000 men were convicted under Paragraph 175 and thousands were imprisoned in
Nazi concentration camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as concen ...
. The
persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany Before 1933, homosexual acts were illegal in Germany under Paragraph 175 of the German Criminal Code. The law was not consistently enforced, however, and a thriving gay culture existed in German cities. After the Nazi takeover in 1933, the ...
is considered the most severe persecution of homosexual men in history.


Legacy

Attempts to revive the pre-Nazi homosexual rights movements after World War II were unsuccessful. Many of the Weimar-era activists were no longer alive, and the task of advancing
LGBT rights in Germany Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights in Germany have evolved significantly over the course of the last decades. During the 1920s and early 1930s, lesbian and gay people in Berlin were generally tolerated by society and many bars ...
was taken up by younger men and women. The first homosexual movement, in particular Hirschfeld, did influence later movements for LGBT rights. In a reaction to the introduction of an anti-homosexual law in 1911, the was founded on the model of the German WhK. The first homosexual movement invented the concept of biologically based homosexuality and developed tactics deployed by later activists, such as the assertion of respectable citizenship. Later activists had to deal with similar dilemmas such as compromising over claims to public space. The human rights discourse, the idea of homosexuals as a minority group, and the analogy of homophobic discrimination to racism have all been adopted by LGBT rights movements after 1945 and remain in use to this day. This model has proven effective in obtaining recognition of LGBT rights. The Weimar Republic has held enduring interest for many LGBT people as a brief interlude in which gay men, lesbians, and transvestites took advantage of unprecedented freedoms. Nevertheless, popular views of the Weimar era as one of sexual licentiousness are not entirely accurate. Although one theory holds that Nazism rose to power as a backlash against the relative sexual freedoms of Weimar-era Germany, Marhoefer argues that the rise of Nazism had little to do with sexual politics. Marhoefer argues that the achievements of the first homosexual movement "were more in keeping with a relatively narrow tradition of activism that shied away from radical claims to public space and, in addition, rejected a broader form of sexual freedom that would have included more people". As Germany became more accepting of LGBT people in the twenty-first century, the number of Germans taking pride in their country's role in the first homosexual movement increased. The Memorial to the First Homosexual Emancipation Movement, which had been proposed by LGBT groups since 2013, was inaugurated on the Magnus-Hirschfeld-Ufer next to the
Spree Spree may refer to: Geography * Spree (river), river in Germany Film and television * ''The Spree'', a 1998 American television film directed by Tommy Lee Wallace * ''Spree'' (film), a 2020 American film starring Joe Keery * "Spree" (''Numbers' ...
in
Berlin-Moabit Moabit () is an inner city locality in the borough of Mitte, Berlin, Germany. As of 2016, around 77,000 people lived in Moabit. First inhabited in 1685 and incorporated into Berlin in 1861, the former industrial and working-class neighbourhood ...
in September 2017.


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{LGBT in Germany 1933 disestablishments in Germany 19th-century establishments in Germany LGBT history in Germany Social movements in Germany