Homosexual movement in Wroclaw 1919–1945

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The homosexual movement in Breslau from 1919 to 1945 fell into the heyday of the first German homosexual movement.

The history of homosexuality in Wroclaw

The time of the Weimar Republic is considered to be the heyday of the first German homosexual movement. The doctor Magnus Hirschfeld (1868–1935), who had previously studied in Breslau, founded the Scientific and Humanitarian Committee (WhK) in Berlin in 1897. His WhK was the first homosexual political organization in the world and was committed to the emancipation of homosexuals through self-organization, political action and education of the professional world as well as the general population. Breslau chairman of the WhK was the lawyer Erich Bohn (1874–1948).

In Wroclaw , then the capital of Silesia, the issue of homosexuality was kept silent. Information on individual fates is only very sparse; In the context of gay and lesbian historical research, areas such as the former Silesia , Pomerania and East Prussia still lead a shadowy existence. The sociologist Norbert Elias (1897–1990), the opera singer Hans Grahl (1895–1966) and the publisher Gerhard Prescha (1909–1996), who published magazines for homosexuals in the post-war period , are known today as homosexuals .

Friends' Club

Around 1919 the first “Club of Friends” was formed in Wroclaw, which published articles in the magazine “Die Freundinnen” and was looking for “like-minded people” “who want to cultivate beauty and love for friends in an ideal community without shallow indulgence”. Only two places in Breslau were known for “true friends”: the “Neumann-Diele” restaurant and the “Alte Heidelberger-Diele”. Several other restaurants for gay audiences followed suit. From 1922 the friendship association "Sagitta" became known. Discretion was the top priority for the club. The first general assembly "Sagittas" took place in February 1922. Colorful evenings, excursions and celebrations were organized. In 1923 disputes arose in the association and the name "Sagitta" was dropped. From now on, reports were only given by the "Wroclaw Local Group", which was one of 30 groups in the German Reich.

In the social climate of Wroclaw in the 1920s, various short messages in FREUNDSCHAFT and other newspapers of the time attracted special attention . Extortions, robberies and suicides have been reported repeatedly here. Presumably Ernst Bellenbaum published an article under a pseudonym in FREUNDSCHAFT in which he criticized not only the state, but also the homosexual scene: “In the bars people dance and rage like crazy, mean jokes are cracked and sometimes you think it's hell gave all inmates a vacation […] How cozy could it be in the restaurant at Bahnhofstrasse 10 if the guests stayed in their seats and talked to nice music. Nobody could take offense and everyone in Wroclaw could spend a few hours there undisturbed among like-minded people. "

In June 1923 there was an appeal by Ernst Bellenbaum to found a press conference under the name "Sexual Reform". The project failed because no one reported who wanted to do ideal cooperation. The Breslau group fell into a deep crisis until 1927. At the end of the 1920s there was a lively social life among homosexuals in the city of Wroclaw and starting and shooting help was offered in setting up other Silesian local groups, for example in Liegnitz . There were also contacts to Lusatia and Czechoslovakia , Dresden , Dortmund and America .

Prohibition of homosexuality by law

Little is known today about the smashing of the homosexual subculture and the persecution of its followers. This also applies to the interweaving of the city's club activists with homosexual Nazi giants such as the Silesian Gauleiter Helmuth Brückner or the SA leader Edmund Heines . He was arrested and shot on June 30, 1934 for allegedly participating in the " Röhm Putsch ". In view of its semi-public excesses, this was viewed with a certain satisfaction, especially among the people of Wroclaw. Brückner, since March 1933 also chief president of the province of Lower Silesia with his seat in Breslau, was also associated with §175 RStGB ; he was imprisoned by the Gestapo in connection with the Röhm affair . He was sentenced to 15 months in prison for three cases of joint masturbation with a lieutenant colonel, dismissed from civil service and expelled from the NSDAP .

After Section 175 was tightened, many more trials against homosexuals took place in the entire German Reich in 1935 than in previous years. There were seven times more cases in the Wroclaw Higher Regional Court in 1936 than in 1931.

literature

  • The friendship: monthly magazine for ideal friendship . Berlin, Phoebus-Verl. 1919-1933.
  • Raimund Wolfert :
    • In the footsteps of the "inverted" in Breslau in the twenties and thirties , in: Fachverband Homosexualität und Geschichte eV (Ed.): Invertito - 9th year , Männerschwarm, Hamburg 2007, ISBN 3-939542-16-4 , p. 93 -135
    • "Specialist for psychological limit states": Erich Bohn, Breslau chairman of the WhK , in: Mitteilungen der Magnus-Hirschfeld-Gesellschaft No. 43/44 (Nov. 2009), pp. 35–42.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 1936: 292; 1931: 38 cases.