Laura Thoma

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Laura "Fredy" Thoma (born October 15, 1901 in St. Gallen ; † April 7, 1966 in Zollikon , ZH ) was a Swiss activist of the first lesbian movement and a writer .

Life

Laura Thoma was the youngest of 17 children and came from a humble background. Her family moved from St. Gallen to Zurich , where she grew up; she probably didn't learn a trade.

Thoma found herself turned towards women since childhood, but the nature of their affection remained unclear to her for a long time. At the age of twenty she met a woman with whom she had a close female friendship for five years, but neither understood this friendship as a lesbian love. When Thomas' girlfriend got married, the friendship broke up and Thoma also got married in the expectation that their problems would be solved. However, the marriage turned out to be unhappy and they divorced on March 21, 1930. Shortly afterwards she met a woman who gave her a copy of the Berliner Frauenliebe ; only with this reading was she able to identify as a woman who loved the same sex.

Act

After Thoma first found out about Berlin's lively lesbian subculture through reading Frauenliebe , she decided in 1931 to travel to Berlin for several weeks. There she got in contact with the successor magazine of Frauenliebe, the Garçonne , in which she repeatedly published texts until 1932. These texts also included calls to the Swiss readers of the Garçonne to organize themselves.

After her return to Zurich, in August 1931, she met several women who had responded to her calls, and together they founded the “Ladies Club Amicitia”, the first organization of lesbian women in Switzerland, of which she became president. In the same year, the women's club and the gay “Excentric Club Zurich” (ECZ) under the direction of August Bambula merged into the umbrella organization “Swiss Amicitia Friendship Association”. On January 1, 1932, Thoma and Bambula published the first lesbian and gay magazine in Switzerland, the friendship banner , based on the Garçonne model on behalf of the association ; In 1933 Anna Vock took over editing and publishing. Thoma continued to write regularly for the magazine, which had been renamed several times - both texts on movement politics and works of fiction in which she formulated lesbian lifestyles. Nothing is known about her further life until her death in 1966.

Publications (selection)

  • In a small pastry shop. In: Frau ohne Herz , No. 35/36, 1995.
  • A voice from Switzerland. In: Garçonne, No. 8, April 1931.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ fembio.org: Laura Thoma , accessed April 11, 2020
  2. ^ A b c Madeleine Marti: Laura Fredy Thoma (1901–1966): writer and pioneer of the Swiss lesbian movement. In: Frau ohne Herz: feminist lesbian magazine, 34/1994, pp. 12-15.
  3. ↑ Fredy Thoma: A voice from Switzerland in: Garconne 8/1931, p. 1
personal data
SURNAME Thoma, Laura
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fredy
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss activist of the lesbian movement
DATE OF BIRTH October 15, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH St. Gallen
DATE OF DEATH April 7, 1966
Place of death Zollikon , Canton of Zurich