Hans Holbein (founder)

Hans Holbein (born January 31, 1864 in Apolda , † September 14, 1929 in Weimar ) was a German lawyer , a fellow campaigner of the sexual reformer Magnus Hirschfeld in the first homosexual movement and chairman of the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee .

Life

Holbein was born in Apolda in 1864 as the third child of the lawyer Robert Holbein. He went to the University of Jena to study , where he was awarded a Dr. jur. received his doctorate. After his legal clerkship, he settled in Weimar as a lawyer in 1890. In his hometown of Apolda, he opened a branch of his law firm. He married in 1895, but his homosexual disposition prevented a happy marriage. His wife found a lover and the marriage ended in divorce in 1902.

In 1919, Holbein expressed himself amused that "the word homo- or bi-sexuality" "did not appear at all" in the files of his divorce proceedings, in his eyes evidence of the widespread ignorance of same-sex love. And so it was not least his personal experiences that made him a fighter for homosexual freedom.

Early on, Holbein became one of the "chairmen" of the Scientific and Humanitarian Committee , the world's first homosexual organization founded by Magnus Hirschfeld in 1897. In order not to endanger his professional position, however, he only appeared here under the pseudonym "Sassen". Nonetheless, Holbein also campaigned publicly for the rights of homosexuals. In the Apoldaer Tageblatt he "constantly advocated the abolition of § 175 ", as it was called in an obituary. And as a defense lawyer, he represented numerous homosexuals in court and was “a sought-after lawyer beyond the borders of Apolda and Weimar”.

In order to support the fight against § 175 beyond his death, he set up the "Holbein Foundation" in 1919. A chair at the University of Jena was to be created from their assets, in particular to further research bi- and homosexuality. In his will, Holbein established the university as the sole heir and decreed that a further 100,000 marks should flow into the foundation.

But when Holbein succumbed to cancer on September 14, 1929, the University of Jena refused to set up the chair and turned down the inheritance. The reason given was that the university would otherwise "become a collection point for undesirable elements". Of course, this did not prevent them from appropriating the remaining foundation assets after 1933 in cooperation with the Nazi rulers.

Holbein's last will was ultimately disregarded elsewhere as well. The inscription he wanted was initially placed on his tombstone: "Here in God rests Dr. Hans Holbein, lawyer, fighter for freedom of the third sex". After the Nazi takeover of power, this was "chiseled out".

In May 2019, the scientists Alexander Zinn , Rüdiger Lautmann and Ralf Dose started an initiative to rehabilitate Holbein and to re-establish the Holbein Foundation. The initiative is under the patronage of the Thuringian Prime Minister a. D. Christine Lieberknecht and is supported by over 100 personalities from science, politics and society, including the directors of the Topography of Terror and Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe foundation, the director of the German Resistance Memorial Center and the former Federal Minister of Justice. D. Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger . The aim is to re-establish the Holbein Foundation as an interdisciplinary research institute on the past and present of homosexualities at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena. A demand that is also widely supported in Thuringian politics.

literature

• Alexander Zinn: "Removed from the people's body"? Homosexual men under National Socialism . Campus, Frankfurt am Main 2018, ISBN 9783593508634 . Pp. 343-350, 358, 394-396.
• Ralf Dose : An Unwelcome Gift - Dr. Hans Holbein and the Holbein Foundation. P. 11–30 in: Communications from the Magnus Hirschfeld Society, No. 55/56, December 2016.

Web links

• Short biography of Dr. Hans Holbein on rosa-winkel.de
• Initiative to re-establish the Holbein Foundation