Karl Maria Kertbeny

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Karl Maria Kertbeny, lithograph by Eduard Kaiser , 1856

Karl Maria Kertbeny , before 1847 Karl Maria Benkert (born February 28, 1824 in Vienna , † January 23, 1882 in Budapest ), was an Austro - Hungarian writer and early activist of the homosexual movement .

youth

Kertbeny was born in Vienna in 1824 as Karl Maria Benkert, the son of the writer and painter Anton Benkert (* 1795 Ofen , † 1846 Pest ) and the equally artistically gifted Charlotte Benkert née. Graf (student of the painter Johann Friedrich Leybold ) was born. His younger brother was the painter Imre (Emrich) Karl Benkert (born March 27, 1825, † January 21, 1855). The family came from Franconia , but also had branches that point to Padua in Italy and the United States ( New York ). The founder of the Hungarian line is Kertbeny's grandfather Sebastian Benkert, son of a mayor of Bamberg , who went on a hike as a butcher and settled in Pest in 1770. There he and his wife Anna von Szalay opened the pub Zum König von Ungarn . Her son Anton traded in corals in Vienna , but returned to his parents' house with his wife and two sons in 1827. After attending the primary and Latin school, Karl Maria was taught in the school of the Cistercian order in Eger (Erlau) . In 1838 he started an apprenticeship with the bookseller Andreas Schwaiger in Győr (Raab) . During this time he made the acquaintance of Prince von Pückler-Muskau .

Kertbeny around 1855/60

Travel and acquaintances

After falling out with his father, an aimless wandering life began. The young man traveled without money via Vienna and Prague to Dresden , where he met Pückler again. He advised him to enter the military. Kertbeny became a cadet in the Hungarian 5th Artillery Regiment. In 1843 he took his leave and decided to become a writer. His mother's connections made it possible for him to socialize in artistic circles in Vienna and Pest. As a journalist and travel writer, he has written over 25 books on various subjects. Above all, he devoted himself to the mediation of Hungarian-German literature, beginning with the publication of a yearbook on the German element in Hungary (1846) with contributions from Johann Ladislaus Pyrker and Ferenc von Pulszky, among others .

When his father, who had lost most of his fortune through speculative transactions, died on October 12, 1846, the son left Hungary again and resumed his wandering life penniless and without a passport. In January 1847 he was received by Heinrich Zschokke in Aarau , in February he stayed in Paris and visited Heinrich Heine . Jacob Venedey introduced him to Béranger , and he made the acquaintance of George Sand , Alfred de Musset and other French authors. Via Hamburg he traveled to London and met Ferdinand Freiligrath , who reacted skeptically to the young man, and Thomas Carlyle , who provided him with a letter of recommendation to Karl August Varnhagen von Ense in Berlin . Benkert was able to tell him about his travels and encounters, as well as about a translation of texts by Rahel Varnhagen into Hungarian by the poet Nina Pongruez; He also donated a Hungarian poem for his patron's collection of autographs .

On Varnhagen's advice, Karl Maria Benkert changed his name from Benkert to Kertbeny, a Hungarian name with an aristocratic sound, in the same year 1847. The aspirations for freedom of the Hungarians in the revolutionary year 1848 , for which many liberal-minded intellectuals were enthusiastic, ensured a great sympathy for Hungarian culture and literature, which benefited the aspirations of the aspiring translator. On New Year's Day 1848, Varnhagen visited Kertbeny in his room, who had just drunk the night with Max Stirner and Friedrich Saß and was still in bed.

Translator and literary intermediary

The March Revolution of 1848 put an end to Kertbeny's stay in Berlin. He turned to Halle and Weimar, where he met Franz Liszt, and in Frankfurt am Main met members of the Paulskirchen Parliament such as Jacob Grimm , Ludwig Uhland , Johann Hermann Detmold and Alfred Meißner , whom he already knew from Paris. In the meantime his first poetry translations have appeared: Poems from foreign languages (Jena 1848) as well as the poems of Alexander Petöfi . The translation of works by Petöfi and other Hungarian poets such as János Arany , Mihály Vörösmarty and Mór Jókai became the main focus and was recognized by Heine, Béranger and Saint-René Taillandier . The most important contact person in German literature was Bettina von Arnim , who wrote him no fewer than 60 letters by December 1850, and in her writings pointed out the political importance of Hungarian poetry.

In the meantime, Kertbeny has provided historical, political and literary-historical sketches for German magazines such as the Nürnberger Courier , the Frankfurter Conversationsblatt , the Weser-Zeitung , the Bremer Beobachter and the magazine for foreign literature. From Leipzig , where he spent the summer of 1851, he prepared an edition of Hungarian folk songs and published the fairy tale Held János von Petöfi. After the suppression of the Hungarian uprising, Kertbeny surrendered to the Austrian authorities and resettled in Pest in 1852. In 1854 Hoffmann von Fallersleben invited him to work on the Weimar Yearbooks .

Writings on homosexuality

From 1867 to August 1868 Kertbeny lived in Hanover , where he visited the gynecologist and social democrat Ludwig Kugelmann , among others . From Hanover on May 6, 1868, Kertbeny introduced the term “homosexual” into public discussion “apparently for the first time” in a letter. He began to write more about homosexuality , motivated, as he said, by an "anthropological interest", a sense of justice and a concern for human rights . In 1869 he anonymously published a leaflet with the subject: “Paragraph 143 of the Prussian Criminal Code of April 14, 1851 and its reconfirmation as Paragraph 152 in the proposed Criminal Code for the North German Confederation. An open and professional correspondence with His Excellency Dr. Leonhardt , the Royal Prussian Minister of Justice. "

A second leaflet on the same subject soon followed. In his writings, Kertbeny claimed that the Prussian sodomy law, section 143, violated human rights. He put forward the classic liberal argument that private and voluntary sexual intercourse should not be a matter of criminal law. Regarding his friend from the days of his bookseller apprenticeship, he claimed that homosexuals are open to blackmail under Prussian law and are therefore often driven to suicide.

Kertbeny also advanced the view that homosexuality is innate and immutable, an argument later called the "medical model" of homosexuality. He contradicted the prevailing view of the time that men committed sodomy out of sheer malice. Homosexual men, he said, are not naturally flabby, and he pointed out - like Heinrich Hössli before him - that many of history's great heroes were homosexual.

First mention of the words “monosexual”, “homosexual” and “heterosexual” in a letter dated May 6, 1868 from Hanover

In his writings, Kertbeny coined the word "homosexual" as part of his system for the classification of sexual types. He called men who are attracted to women " heterosexual ", masturbators "monosexual" and fans of anal intercourse he called "pygists" (Greek pygê = rump ).

Classical scholars have regretted Kertbeny's creation since then: The word " homosexual " combines the Greek adjective homós ("equal") with the Latin noun sexus ("gender") and is thus a combination of Greek and Latin elements. The word "homosexual" also leads to the confusion of the Greek homós with the Latin homo ("human" or "man"). In addition, the ending -sexual tempts the individual to reduce the preferred gender (disposition, feelings) to the sexual act.

Men like Karl Heinrich Ulrichs , who had identified themselves as homosexual, continued to fight for homosexual rights; Kertbeny, on the other hand, withdrew. In 1880 he contributed a chapter on homosexuality to Gustav Jäger's book Discovery of the Soul , but Jäger's editor decided the subject was too controversial and left it out. However, Jäger used Kertbeny's jargon elsewhere in the book.

For his own writings the Austrian sexologist Richard von Krafft-Ebing borrowed Kertbeny's words homosexual and heterosexual from Jäger's book. Krafft-Eving's work, especially his standard work Psychopathia sexualis , which he himself wrote in twelve editions , was so influential that these terms became standard terms for sexual orientation and Ulrich's terms Urning / Urninde / Uranism (for homosexuals) and Dioning ( for heterosexuals) and other terms at issue, such as Hirschfeld notes in 1914.

Last years

Monument to Kertbeny in the Petofi memorial in Albesti

In the late 1950s Kertbeny stayed in Vienna and Munich and wrote his two-volume memoirs, which were published in Prague in 1861 and 1863, mainly as a collection of letters under the title Silhouettes and Relics . Further memoirs related to prominent acquaintances are the memories of Count Stefan Szechenyi (Geneva 1860), memories of Count Ladislaus Teleki (Prague 1861) and the memories of Charles Sealsfield (Brussels and Leipzig 1864). At the end of 1860 he went to Geneva to write a comprehensive history of the city, but only the program booklet was published. A comprehensive German-Hungarian bibliography (Budapest 1860) and numerous political pamphlets are also part of his work.

Kertbeny died in Budapest in 1882 at the age of 58.

His grave was rediscovered in 2001 by the sociologist Judit Takács, who devotes herself intensively to research on Kertbeny. It is located on the Kerepesi temető in Budapest, where many Hungarian celebrities from the 19th and 20th centuries rest. The lesbian and gay movement erected a new tombstone on the grave site, and a wreath has been regularly laid there at gay festivals since 2002.

A monument to Kertbeny can be found in the Petöfi memorial in Albesti near Sighișoara .

Works (selection)

  • Bibliography of KM Kertbeny's works 1846–1860. In: German first prints concerning Hungary. 1454-1600. Communicated by KM Kertbeny. Publishing house of the royal. Hungarian University Printing House, Budapest 1860 (Bibliography of Hungarian National and International Literature Volume 1), Appendix, pp. 1–14.
  • Review of KM Kertbeny's literary activity , Geneva: JW Fick, 1861 (I. Works . - II. Individual journal articles . - III. Some things about Kertbeny ).
  • Silhouettes and relics. Personal memories. 2 vol., JF Kober, Prague 1861–1863. Web resource for Volume 1 ; Web resource on Volume 2
  • Manfred Herzer (Ed.): Karl Maria Kertbeny: Writings on homosexuality research. Verlag Rosa Winkel / Männerschwarmskript, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 978-3-86149-103-3
    Contains the two brochures published anonymously in 1869 and Kertbeny's contributions to Gustav Jäger's book The Discovery of the Soul , as well as a description of Kertbeny's life based on documents and personal testimonies from Manfred Herzer.
    • Section 143 of the Prussian Penal Code of April 14, 1851 and its maintenance as Section 152 in the draft penal code for the North German Confederation. Open, scientific letter to his Excellency Dr. Leonhardt, royal. Prussian State and Justice Minister , 1869 (reprint in the yearbook for sexual intermediate stages with a preliminary remark, 1905) Online in the Google-Buchsuche- USA = archive.org
    • The public harm of section 143 of the Prussian penal code of April 14, 1851 and therefore its necessary deletion as section 152 in the draft penal code for the North German Confederation. As a result of a public request by the Commission for advice on the draft criminal law. Serbe's (Commissions) Verlag, Leipzig 1869 Online in the Google book search
  • Alphabetical list of names of Hungarian emigrants, 1848–1864; including those interned outside Hungary. Collects preliminary biographical references in revisions edited by KM Kertbeny. Kiessling and Comp., Brussels / Leipzig 1864 (web resource)
  • Berlin as it is. A painting of the life of this residential city and its inhabitants, presented in precise connection with history and topography . Natorff, Berlin 1881. (Reprint 1981 at Zentralantiquariat Leipzig)

literature

Web links

Commons : Karl Maria Kertbeny  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ KM Kertbeny: Poems from foreign languages. Maucke, Jena 1848.
  2. ↑ Alexander Petofi: Poems. With appendix: Poems by other Hungarian poets. German by KM Kertbeny. Literary Institute, Frankfurt am Main 1849.
  3. ^ Hungarian folk songs. Metrically translated by KM Kertbeny. Leske, Darmstadt 1851.
  4. ↑ The hero Janós. Folk tales from Petofi. Translated from the Hungarian by KM Kertbeny. E. Hallberger, Stuttgart 1850.
  5. ^ A b Rainer Hoffschildt : Karl Maria Kertbény - the term "homosexuality" is introduced from Hanover. In: Olivia. The hitherto secret history of the taboo homosexuality and the persecution of homosexuals in Hanover . Association for research into the history of homosexuals in Lower Saxony, Hanover 1992, self-published, ISBN 3-9802909-0-5 , p. 22ff. u.ö .; here: p. 22.
  6. ↑ Werner Ettelt among others: Works. Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels. Volume 32: Letters. January 1868 - mid-July 1870, 4th edition, unchanged reprint of the 1st edition 1965, published by the Institute for the History of the Labor Movement, Berlin: Karl Dietz Verlag, 1985, ISBN 3-320-00611-8 , p. 802 (footnote) ; Preview over google books
  7. ↑ a b Magnus Hirschfeld: The homosexuality of man and woman . Louis Marcus Verlag, Berlin 1914, p. 10 ( archive.org )
personal data
SURNAME Kertbeny, Karl Maria
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Benkert, Karl Maria
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian journalist and human rights activist
DATE OF BIRTH February 28, 1824
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH January 23, 1882
Place of death Budapest