Hlas
Hlas sexuální menšiny (voice of the sexual minority), Hlas for short , since 1932 Nový hlas: List pro sexuální reformu (New voice: magazine for sexual reform), from 1936 to 1937 again as Hlas , 1938 as Hlas přírody , was a magazine for homosexual men and Women from Czechoslovakia, published with several interruptions from 1931 to 1938. It was the first homosexual magazine in a Central or Eastern European country . In addition to texts by Czechoslovak authors, she has also published German-language texts, including by renowned authors such as Magnus Hirschfeld , Karl Giese and Rolf . From 1933 it was the only homosexual magazine in the world alongside the Swiss Friendship Banner.
history
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Hlas (1931-1932)
Hlas was founded in 1931 by Vojtěch Černý with the help of his brother František. Vojtěch was a former soldier who was dishonorably discharged from the army around 1918 due to a conviction under § 129 (the Czech equivalent to German § 175 ). Hlas appeared every two weeks, but had to be reinstated in 1932 due to financial problems.
In 1932, under the direction of the painter Štefan L. Kostelníček, another homosexual magazine called Kamarád appeared in Brno , which should accompany the establishment of an independent homosexual organization. Due to Kostelníček's imprisonment, she could not get beyond one issue. In the magazine Kostelníček referred explicitly to Hlas and asked his readers to subscribe to both Kamarád and Hlas , which he characterized as “two identical magazines”.
Novy hlas (1932-1934)
After a short break, the magazine was taken over by Antonín Steimar and renamed Nový hlas: List pro sexuální reformu , from now on the magazine was published monthly. The editors were Jiří Karásek ze Lvovic , the lawyer František Čeřovský as well as "Eduard Weingart", a pseudonym of the journalist Jana Mattuschová , and Lída Merlínová as an author especially for lesbian topics . Vladimír Vávra, who acted as editor-in-chief, was later added. The magazine was not an official organ of an organization, but was close to the Československá Liga pro sexuální reformu (Czechoslovak League for Sexual Reform, CLSR) and the homosexual organization Osvětové a společenského sdružení Přátelství (Enlightened Society "Friendship", OSSP).
Both Hlas and Nový hlas saw themselves closely connected with the German sexologist and homosexual activist Magnus Hirschfeld , who was already known to them through the CSLR as the Czechoslovak branch of Hirschfeld's World League for Sexual Reform . Hlas already reported regularly about Hirschfeld, interviewed him and published texts by him.
After Hirschfeld had to flee Germany in 1933 and his Institute for Sexology in Berlin was destroyed, his partner Karl Giese contacted the Nový hlas editorial team at the end of 1933 . After the destruction of the homosexual press in Germany, Hirschfeld and Giese intended to make Nový hlas a new mouthpiece. In a greeting, Hirschfeld wrote: “The flame that went out in the land of Goethe, Kant and Nietzsche will be in the land of a Huss, Comenius and Masaryk light up in new splendor and once again throw their rays back to where the light originated. Thanks to you, Czechoslovak comrades and torchbearers! ”As a result, the 1934 editions of the year were supplemented with a supplement in German and both Karl Giese and Magnus Hirschfeld published texts in Nový hlas . The intention of Gieses and Vávras to develop this supplement into an independent magazine in German failed, however, as Nový hlas had to stop its publication in October 1934 due to a lack of subscribers.
In addition to Giese and Hirschfeld, the Swiss Karl Meier published in Hlas , who later became the editor of the important homophile magazine Der Kreis as "Rolf" .
Hlas (1936–1937) / Hlas přírody (1938)
In 1936 one of the founders, Vojtěch Černý, took up the magazine again, and by 1937 seven more issues had appeared.
After a short break, the magazine Hlas přírody appeared in September 1938 , it came from the ranks of the League for Sexual Reform “under new management” and referred to Hlas and Nový Hlas as predecessors, who had failed partly because of the publishers and partly because of the lack of subscribers . She reported the death of Vojtěch Černýs, who died a “tragic death” in April 1938 in Prague. In an obituary it becomes clear that Černý was obviously a problematic, controversial and often hostile personality.
In the only edition of Hlas přírody , it was once again promised that if there were enough German-speaking subscribers there could also be a separate German edition. In order to interest them in the magazine, Hlas přírody contained original articles in German, including a text by Kurt Hiller and a greeting in German.
With the occupation of Czechoslovakia by the German Wehrmacht from October 1938, the conditions for a continuation of the magazine were no longer given, and no further issues were published.
Content
The magazine reported on developments of a social and legal nature that were of concern for homosexuals, bisexuals and occasionally also transvestites, in a kind of press review it also printed excerpts from other magazines that were considered interesting for the readers. Furthermore, a kind of feature section was written about homo-erotic literature and art. In advertisements, homosexual clubs and pubs, mainly from Prague, advertised for guests. Articles dealing specifically with lesbian women only appeared occasionally, Lída Merlínová also wrote at least one article on male and female transvestism.
A few articles appeared in German, so Hlas also consciously addressed an international German-speaking audience, a strategy that was later successfully adapted by the Swiss magazine Der Kreis .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Lukasz Szulc: Transnational Homosexuals in Communist Poland: Cross-Border Flows in Gay and Lesbian Magazines , 2017, ISBN 3319589016 , p. 82
- ↑ a b c d Karla Huebner: The Whole World Revolves Around It - Sex Education and Sex Reform in First Republic Czech Print Media in: aspasia, 4th year, 2010, pp. 37-39
- ↑ a b Antonin Skladal: In memoriam Vojty Cerneho. in: Hlas přírody, orgán ligy pro sexuální reformu , Vol. 1, Issue 1, 1938, pp. 8–9
- ↑ a b c d Hans P. Soetaert: Hirschfeld's torch bearer in Czechoslovakia (and in Switzerland?) In: Capri magazine for gay history , No. 49, 2015
- ↑ a b queerpamet .cz: Digitální knihovna , accessed on June 16, 2020
- ↑ Anonymous (Štefan L. Kostelníček?): Co vykonáte, předplatíte-li si "Kamarád" a "Nový Hlas"? in: Kamarád, časopis věnovaný zájmům přátelství uznaným vědou a kulturními státy , vol. 1, issue 1, 1932, p. 7
- ↑ a b Anonymus: Vazeni pratele! / To our German comrades and conspecifics! / Reverendissimi amici! in: Hlas přírody, orgán ligy pro sexuální reformu , vol. 1, issue 1, 1938, pp. 1–2