Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

NullTuples

(6,017 posts)
7. Lesbians were mostly treated as innocents thanks to patriarchy & trans women as gay men.
Sat Jan 28, 2023, 11:06 AM
Jan 2023

There are half-references, nothing solid as those doing the record-keeping made their own assumptions to protect their own word view. But those half references do seem to paint a vague picture after the Nazi's were defeated.

At that time in Germany and many surrounding countries, there were few if any laws against being a lesbian - none in Germany. Most of the lesbians in the camps had been imprisoned for being "socially or politically disruptive". It's almost like social bias was so strong they wouldn't openly admit women could be gay, too, so they had to label them differently.
As always, the holocaust museum is a good start: https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/lesbians-under-the-nazi-regime
Also, an interesting paper here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0022009417690596

Trans people were well known and more understood pre-WWII (vs after WWII, up until 1965 & Dr Harry Benjamin) thanks to Berlin & Magnus Hirschfeld but as is the case today, conservative / authoritarian regimes destroyed anything and anyone that questioned their patriarchal authority and tried to force everyone into a simple, absolute, sex, gender & sexuality binary.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-forgotten-history-of-the-worlds-first-trans-clinic/

As far as I can find, trans people after the camps were liberated were treated as gay men or as women based on their anatomy. The rare mentions of lesbians & those who may have been trans men of course skirt the issue of their identity or sexuality completely, as that was deemed something for society to decide for them, especially in the post-war period that celebrated an assumed binary to reinforce the social hierarchy as men returned from war and needed their jobs back. But I digress...

Recommendations

0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

Latest Discussions»Alliance Forums»LGBT»Germany recalls overlooke...»Reply #7