QWIEN - Center for Queer History

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The QWIEN center in Vienna's fourth district was founded in 2009 under the name QWIEN - Center for Gay / Lesbian Culture and History . In 2019, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the founding, the name was changed to QWIEN - Center for Queer History . In addition to the establishment of an archive and a library , which mainly contains written and material evidence of queer life, the task of the center is to carry out scientific research with lectures and publications. As part of the educational program, city walks are offered that focus on communicating the history of LGBTI people in Vienna.

history

QVIEN

QWIEN emerged from the Ecce Homo association, which until 2003 organized the queer culture and entertainment festival Vienna is the other way around. After the 2004 festival, Vienna is set the other way around.

As early as 1998, Andreas Brunner , an Austrian historian, exhibition curator and Vienna city guide, and Hannes Sulzenbacher, an Austrian historian, exhibition curator and sole artistic director of Vienna is the other way round , published a Vienna travel guide entitled Schwules Wien. Travel guide through the Danube metropolis . In addition to walks through the city and an extensive service section, the two editors tried for the first time to describe the history of male homosexuality in Vienna from the Middle Ages to the present on over 100 pages . Since there was little university research on this topic and there were no institutions collecting material on homosexual history up to this point in time, the establishment of an archive for gay or gay and lesbian history was considered even then. Role models for this included the keyword women and lesbian archive in Vienna, the gay museum in Berlin and the IHLIA (formerly HomoDoc) in Amsterdam.

Exhibition "a secret: life"

In 2005 Ecce Homo organized the exhibition “ Secret thing: live: Gays and lesbians in Vienna in the 20th century” , with over 700 objects the first major exhibition on the history of homosexualities in Austria. The exhibition documented the scientific debate and the media representation of homosexuality in Austria in the 20th century, the gay and lesbian (sub) culture of Vienna, but also the criminal prosecution and social ostracism of homosexual men and women, especially in the Nazi regime. Time.

Exhibition "Paul Pichier - The Negative Work"

In the course of the Vienna Pride 2007 Ecce Homo organized the exhibition Paul Pichier - The Negative Work in the Nestroyhof in cooperation with fotoK-Fotocololleg. Paul Pichier's photographs, which are preserved on over 750 glass plate negatives in the picture archive of the Austrian National Library , show genre scenes, nature photography and boys' nudes and were presented as slide projections.

working area

QWIEN's areas of activity include: collecting - preserving - researching - remembering - conveying.

Collect and preserve: library and archive

Library

Library QWIEN

With the exception of those holdings that cannot or only partially be viewed for reasons of personal rights , all collections of the QWIEN Center are open to the public and are available for free use during opening hours upon prior registration.

The QWIEN library currently comprises around 5,000 volumes. These include publications on homosexual history and historiography, sexuality and sexology , AIDS , sociology , psychology , the women's and lesbian movement , exhibition catalogs and publications on queer art and biographies. Furthermore, fiction from gay coming-out novels to lesbian thrillers and pornography . The holdings are supplemented and expanded through private donations, purchases and through acquisitions or exchanges with other gay / lesbian libraries and archives.

Qwien magazines

In addition, since the takeover of the magazine archive of HOSI Vienna , the library has housed the most extensive collection of journals and magazines for homosexual men and women in Austria. The basis for this was the acquisition of the partial estate of the Austrian writer Erich Lifka and that of the HOSI Vienna magazine archive. It includes all relevant Austrian journals since the 1970s, but also rare older editions as well as numerous international publications. These journals include all Austrian journals since the 1970s, rare journals from the 1950s and 1960s such as Der Kreis , Der Weg , eos , Arcadie , Vennen , as well as over 100 German-language and international magazine titles in full or partial collections.

archive

Archive QWIEN

The task of the archive is to store written and material evidence of gay and lesbian life, but also of trans- and intersexuality, and to make them available to an interested public. The basis of the archive is the secret thing for the exhibition : life. Gays and Lesbians in Vienna in the 20th Century , which opened in 2005, compiled material. The archive contains the archives of the Aidshilfe Wien, the former scene magazine Bussi , the Austrian League for Human Rights (permanent loan) and bequests such as those of the writer Erich Lifka . Most recently, among other things, a part of the Vorlass of the Austrian activist, author and show master Hermes Phettberg was viewed and processed.

The archive houses a small photo archive with historical photos of subculture bars , the Rainbow Parade and other gay / lesbian events as well as a poster collection with around 1,000 posters from the 1980s to the present. The archive is supplemented by gray literature on the history of the homosexual movement since the 1970s and by brochures, leaflets, flyers and memorabilia. There are also over 50 archive boxes with newspaper clippings on the subject of homosexuality since the 1970s. In 2019, the processing of the archive of the Austrian League for Human Rights , which is kept on permanent loan at the QWIEN Center, began.

Explore: Scientific projects and exhibitions

Research at QWIEN

As a research center for the queer history of Vienna and Austria, QWIEN has carried out numerous scientific projects since its inception. A central area of ​​research is research into the National Socialist persecution of homosexuals and trans people in Vienna, which includes the memory of the victims of this persecution. In addition to projects on queer city ​​history , social science issues are dealt with. Extensive archives on the Viennese lesbian and gay movement also enable research into the history of movement and emancipation.

The scientific projects include:

Stonewall in Vienna (1969–2009) : Chronology of lesbian-gay-transgender emancipation : In collaboration with the Greens, Vienna and the queer TV magazine Queer Lounge of the independent city broadcaster OKTO TV, QWIEN developed on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots an oral history project on the history of lesbian-gay-transgender emancipation in Austria. These interviews were partially transcribed and published in a free print publication with contributions on the historical development of the LGTBI movement. Summaries of thirteen of the total of 25 interviews are available on a YouTube channel. The long versions of all conversations are available at QWIEN.

Wieden 800 (2011): On behalf of the Wieden district council, QWIEN published a magazine in 2011 on the occasion of the 800th anniversary of Vienna's 4th district. 800 years of district history were told in thematic walks, with the subject of homosexuality being presented as an integral part of the regional history.

Violence among gay men (2012) is a cultural-historical study on a tabulated topic. The final report now compiles the most important literature and is intended as a starting point for a broader discussion of violence among male homosexuals. The literature researched for the 50-page report is to be used in the library of Zentrum QWIEN for scientific purposes.

The recording of names of homosexual and trans people victims of National Socialism in Vienna (2012–2018): The aim of the project was to record all available sources on the history of National Socialist persecution and to evaluate them in a database. The largest stock of files, the largely preserved criminal files of the regional courts I and II as well as the special court of Vienna, which are preserved in the Vienna City and State Archives, have now been digitized and most of them included in the database. In addition to the personal data, information about the persecution (police investigations, investigating officers, court staff, process data, etc.) was also recorded, since the entire process of the persecution should be documented in all its sub-steps. This information includes the first investigations and the circumstances of a possible arrest, interrogations, house searches by the criminal police or the Gestapo, the course and outcome of the criminal process, all authorities and institutions involved in the process as well as the possible transfer of a convicted person to a concentration or labor camp. A first, rough evaluation of the data took place in 2018. After the recording was completed, the research database can be used for a wide variety of historical questions.

Specialist conference: Remembrance rethought - Vienna remembers forgotten victims. Historical, social, queer and artistic dimensions of commemoration of homosexual and transgender Nazi victims (2014): In the conference organized by the Vienna Anti-Discrimination Agency for Same-Sex and Transgender Lifestyles (WASt) and QWIEN, the foundations for a planned memorial for homosexual and transgender victims of the Nazi era discussed in 2015 in the publication Too Spät? were documented.

The criminal prosecution of homosexual acts by the Nazi military judiciary in Vienna (2015): 400 boxes with court files of the German Armed Forces from the holdings of the Austrian State Archives were looked through after conviction in accordance with Section 175 , around 100 relevant cases were digitized and evaluated in the victim database.

"Warm" in court. On self- and external images of homosexuals during the Nazi era in Austria (2016): Based on the previous projects of “Name Registration” and criminal prosecution by the Nazi military judiciary, the project “Warme” was devoted to   the self-image and external image of men in court who were persecuted as homosexuals during the Nazi era. The focus of the project was on the research question of which images of self and others can be distilled from the criminal files of those persons who were persecuted as homosexuals and which conclusions can be drawn from this about the identity constructions of the persecuted on the one hand and the external attributions by the National Socialist persecutors on the other.

Sex in Vienna. Lust. Control. Disobedience (2016): An exhibition organized in cooperation with the Wien Museum used numerous examples from the 19th century to today to tell how this constant struggle for prohibition and freedom shaped and shapes every moment of a sexual encounter - from the “first glance” to the “cigarette after that".

From homoerotic to homophobia. On the deconstruction of stereotypical images of sexuality and masculinity from the "Orient": The project primarily takes up the debates of the last few years about the "otherness" of oriental (and here especially: male Muslim) sexuality as well as the resulting possible " Threat to our culture ”as an opportunity to deconstruct historical and current“ orientalist ”images of masculinity and sexuality in what is now Germany and Austria. By showing their dependence on the prevailing gender and sexuality concepts within the “Western” cultures, corrective perspectives from a men's historical perspective should be brought into the current social discourse, which is often shaped by stereotypes and prejudices. The planned project thus picks up on a focal point that is becoming increasingly acute in public perception, not least because of the current refugee and migration movements.

Convey

QWIEN Guide: City walks

The focus of the Queer City Walks is on the worlds of homosexual people between the 18th century and today, and not on scandalous and suggestive anecdotes. The tourism work of the QWIEN association makes it possible to make its own research and research work accessible to the public and to act as a cultural mediator.

Rainbow tours at the University of Vienna

In cooperation with the University of Vienna , "QWIEN Guide" has been offering rainbow tours in the main building of the university since 2009, which illuminate the history of homosexualities and the academic and social discourse on the subject of homosexualities at the university.

Queer History Day

Queer History Day has been held annually since 2014. The event is intended to deal with historical topics and questions of queer history and is aimed at low-threshold students, teachers, pupils and everyone interested in the topic.The organizer QWIEN, in cooperation with the Institute for History, would like to draw attention to new research areas, questions and new ones Provide suggestions in the field of historiography. A broad audience should be made aware of queer history.

literature

  • Manuela Bauer, Andreas Brunner, Hannes Sulzenbacher, Christopher Treiblmayr: " Warm" in court. On self- and external images of male homosexuals during the Nazi era in Austria . In: Austrian Journal of History 29/2018/2, ed. by Elisa Heinrich and Johann Karl Kirchknopf. ISBN 978-3-7065-5683-5 .
  • Andreas Brunner, Hannes Sulzenbacher: Gay Vienna: Travel guide through the Danube metropolis . Promedia, Vienna 1998, ISBN 3-85371-131-6 .
  • Andreas Brunner, Hannes Sulzenbacher (Ed.): You just like men. The gay reader Austria . Löcker, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-85409-347-0 .
  • Andreas Brunner, Ines Rieder, Nadja Schefzig, Hannes Sulzenbacher, Niko Wahl (eds.): Secret Matter: Life: Gays and Lesbians in Vienna in the 20th Century [on the occasion of the exhibition Secret Matter: Life. Gays and Lesbians in Vienna in the 20th Century, October 26, 2005 to January 8, 2006, Neustifthalle, Vienna], an exhibition by Ecce Homo . Löcker, Vienna 2005, ISBN 3-85409-435-3 .
  • Andreas Brunner, Hannes Sulzenbacher, Wolfgang Wilhelm (eds.): TOO LATE! Dimensions of remembrance of homosexual and transgender victims of National Socialism. Documentation of the conference “Remembrance rethought - Vienna remembers forgotten victims. Contemporary, social, queer and artistic positions ”. Zaglossus, Vienna 2015, ISBN 978-3-902902-35-1 .
  • Andreas Brunner, Frauke Kreutler, Michaela Lindinger, Gerhard Milchram, Martina Nußbaumer, Hannes Sulzenbacher (eds.): Sex in Vienna. Lust. Control. Disobedience . Metro, Vienna 2016, ISBN 978-3-99300-276-3 .
  • Andreas Brunner: Gay Vienna. The guide to art, culture & the scene . Metro, Vienna 2016, ISBN 978-3-99300-245-9 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ceremony Ten Years of QWIEN (2009–2019) - QWIEN - Center for Queer History. In: qwien.at. Retrieved May 29, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Archive Library. In: qwien.at. Retrieved August 20, 2019 .
  3. ↑ About us. In: qwien.at. Retrieved August 20, 2019 .
  4. ↑ City tours QWien. In: qwien.at. Retrieved May 29, 2019 .
  5. ^ Andreas Brunner, Hannes Sulzenbacher: Schwules Wien: Travel Guide through the Danube metropolis . Promedia, Vienna 1998, ISBN 3-85371-131-6 .
  6. ^ Andreas Brunner, Johann Hofmann: Secret thing: Life: Gays and lesbians in Vienna in the 20th century, an exhibition by Ecce Homo . Löcker, Vienna 2005, ISBN 3-85409-435-3 .
  7. ↑ The complete works. In: derstandard.at. May 21, 2007, accessed May 30, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Opening times of the QWIEN Center. In: qwien.at. Retrieved June 13, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Archive & Library - QWIEN - Center for Queer History. In: qwien.at. Retrieved June 6, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Archive of Human Rights (since 2018). In: qwien.at. Retrieved August 20, 2019 .
  11. ^ Stonewall in Vienna. In: qwien.at. Retrieved June 15, 2019 .
  12. ↑ Zentrum QWIEN on YouTube , accessed on August 26, 2019.
  13. ^ Andreas Brunner, Hannes Sulzenbacher, Sylvia Studnitzka, Peter Hiller, Guido Prodinger: Wieden 800 - A district celebrates its 800th birthday. Retrieved August 25, 2019 .
  14. ^ Hannes Sulzenbacher: Zentrum QWIEN celebrates its birthday with the Wieden. Retrieved August 25, 2019 .
  15. ↑ Completed projects. In: qwien.at. Retrieved June 15, 2019 .
  16. ↑ Registration by name (since 2016). In: qwien.at. Retrieved August 20, 2019 .
  17. ^ Specialist conference 2014 "Remembrance rethought - Vienna remembers forgotten victims". In: wien.gv.at. Retrieved August 20, 2019 .
  18. ^ Andreas Brunner, Hannes Sulzenbacher, Wolfgang Wilhelm (eds.): TOO LATE! Dimensions of remembrance of homosexual and transgender victims of National Socialism. Documentation of the conference “Remembrance rethought - Vienna remembers forgotten victims. Contemporary, social, queer and artistic positions ” . Zaglossus, Vienna 2015.
  19. ↑ Sex in Vienna. In: wienmuseum.at. Retrieved August 25, 2019 .
  20. ↑ Andreas Brunner, Frauke Kreutler, Michaela Lindinger, Gerhard Milchram, Martina Nussbaumer, Hannes Sulzenbacher (eds.): Sex in Wien. Lust. Control. Disobedience . Metro, Vienna 2016.
  21. ↑ From homoerotic to homophobia (since 2018). In: qwien.at. Retrieved August 25, 2019 .
  22. ↑ Guided tours (guide). In: qwien.at. Retrieved August 25, 2019 .
  23. ↑ Rainbow tours. In: event.univie.ac.at. Retrieved August 25, 2019 .
  24. ↑ Queer History Day 2018 - QWIEN - Center for Queer History. Retrieved June 11, 2019 .
  25. ^ Queer History Day. In: University of Vienna. University of Vienna, April 30, 2017, accessed on June 11, 2019 .
  26. ↑ Virginia Hagn, Johanna Taufner, Christopher Treiblmayr: Where queer history is preserved. In: derstandard.at. May 24, 2019, accessed August 25, 2019 .