The Circle (gay magazine)

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The circle = Le cercle = The circle

description aesthetic and political magazine for male homosexuals
Area of ​​Expertise male homosexuality
language German, French, English, (from 1951)
publishing company The district, Zurich
First edition January 1943
attitude December 1967
Frequency of publication bi-monthly
Sold edition Max. 2000 copies
Editor-in-chief "Rolf", pseudonym of Karl Meier
Article archive www.e-periodica.ch/digbib/volumes?UID=kre-003
ZDB 586160-3

The circle was a trilingual, internationally acclaimed gay magazine that appeared in Zurich from 1943 to 1967 . The head of the editorial team was the actor Karl Meier , who operated under the pseudonym "Rolf".

precursor

The immediate predecessor magazines Friendship Banner (1932), Swiss Friendship Banner (1933–1936) and Menschenrecht (1937–1942) were founded by Laura Thoma and August Bambula and carried out together with Anna Vock . They were aimed at lesbian women and homosexual men alike. Her greatest success was her contribution to the extensive decriminalization of male homosexuality from 1942 in the new Swiss penal code . The publishing house was almost entirely in the hands of Anna Vock ("Mammina"). After the latter withdrew in 1942, Karl Meier ("Rolf") took over the publication, transformed it into a purely gay magazine and changed the name to Der Kreis .

history

From the first year under "Rolf" s direction, the magazine appeared in two languages ​​under the title Der Kreis - Le Cercle . Eugen Laubacher ("Charles Welti") was responsible for the French-language contributions . The magazine was now aimed exclusively at men.

During and for a few years after the end of the Second World War (1945), the circle was the only gay magazine in the world. He was therefore able to win new readers in Germany, France, Great Britain and the USA. The most important innovation from 1951 onwards was the publication of English-language articles, which Rudolf Jung (“Rudolf Burkhardt”, also “Christian Graf”) took over. As a result, the magazine changed the title to Der Kreis - Le Cercle - The Circle .

The number of subscribers peaked at around 2000 in 1959, 700 of whom lived outside Switzerland. Its subscribers actually formed an association whose festivals drew guests to Zurich from all over Europe. At these festivals, entertainment was offered at a high level. "Rolf" staged himself, while the pianist Nico Kaufmann (" Lysis ") was responsible for the musical side . All participants had club names and only “Rolf” and “Charles Welti” could access the address file. Some pseudonyms of authors and artists have only recently been resolved or have still not been discovered.

With the emergence of more revealing magazines in Scandinavia from the beginning of the 1960s, the rather conservative circle lost a significant proportion of its subscribers and thus its financial basis. In 1967 the magazine had to cease publication. Former subscribers founded Club 68 magazine the following year , but it was no longer able to match the level previously achieved.

Content and authors

The magazine consisted of six issues per year with an average size of 36 pages. German-language contributions accounted for half of these, while French and English-language contributions divided the rest. It was by no means just a matter of translations from German, but of independently developed texts. Reports and comments on political events were printed, insofar as these were relevant from a homosexual point of view. The literary texts in prose and poem form, some of which came from well-known authors and some from specially organized short story competitions, were popular. Book reviews and necrologists were published regularly . In a so-called small sheet , which was enclosed loosely, personal ads were published.

Various authors made it well known among homosexuals. In addition to the three editors, in the German-speaking part u. a. Rolf Italiaander , Heinrich Eichen ("Heinz Birken"), Kurt Hiller ("Keith Llurr"), Johannes Werres ("Jack Argo"), Erich Lifka , Hugo Marcus ("Hans Alienus") Ernst Penzoldt and Heinrich Wolfgang Horn (" Wolfgang Cordan »). From the French-speaking area, André Baudry ("André Romane"), R. Gérard ("RGD") and "Bichon" took part. The English-speaking authors include a. James Fugaté (“James Barr”), Richard Plant (“Orlando Gibbons”) and Samuel M. Steward (“Phil Andros”, “Ward Stames”).

The erotic, but never very revealing photos were an important part of every issue. Well-known photographers contributed to the success of the magazine, including Karlheinz Weinberger ("Jim"), George Platt Lynes ("Roberto Rolf") and Allison Delarue . Selected photos were published again between 1952 and 1962 in four volumes under the title The Man in Photography . In addition, illustrations by the painters and draftsmen Enrique Puelma ("Rico"), Jean Cocteau , Paul Cadmus and George Quaintance were printed.

meaning

The circle was the leading medium of the homophile movement in Europe and North America. For readers in the post-war sexual and political restorative period, he was a mouthpiece of their own being and, as a subscriber association, also a catalyst for friendships that were otherwise difficult to build. It served as a model for similar magazines and associations in Switzerland (Bern, «Isola-Klub» in Basel), Germany (Kameradschaft «die Runde» in Reutlingen), France ( Arcadie magazine ), the Netherlands ( «Cultuur- en Ontspannings Centrum »COC ), Denmark (« Kredsen af ​​1948 ») and the USA (« Mattachine Society »).

The circle became known to a larger audience through two exhibitions that took place in 1999 in the Schwules Museum Berlin and in 2000 in the Swiss National Museum in Zurich. The estate of "Charles Welti" in which, contrary to the confidentiality requirements of the county were important documents, was ordered by former subscribers after his death and the gay archive in the Swiss Social Archive passed in Zurich.

In 2012, Ivan Madeo was planning a movie about the association with re-enacted scenes and eyewitness accounts, which should be released in the cinemas in autumn 2013. The film with the title “ The Circle ”, directed by Swiss director Stefan Haupt, premiered in Berlin in February 2014.

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Patrik Schedler: Karlheinz Weinberger or the ballad by Jim . Zurich: Limmat Verlag, 2018
  2. ↑ Helene Arnet: When the city police agitated against gays. In: Tages-Anzeiger, July 28, 2012.
  3. ↑ The circle swissfilms.ch, accessed on October 8, 2014