Gay Berlin: Birthplace of a Modern Identity

by Robert Beachy

An unprecedented examination of the ways in which the uninhibited urban sexuality, sexual experimentation, and medical advances of pre-Weimar Berlin created and molded our modern understanding of sexual orientation and gay identity.Known already in the 1850s for the friendly company of its “warm brothers” (German slang for men who love other men), Berlin, before the turn of the twentieth century, became a place where scholars, activists, and medical professionals could explore and begin to educate both themselves and Europe about new and emerging sexual identities. From Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, a German activist described by some as the first openly gay man, to the world of Berlin’s vast homosexual subcultures, to a major sex scandal that enraptured the daily newspapers and shook the court of Emperor William II—and on through some of the very first sex reassignment surgeries—Robert Beachy uncovers the long-forgotten events and characters that continue to shape and influence the way we think of sexuality today. Chapter by chapter Beachy’s scholarship illuminates forgotten firsts, including the life and work of Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, first to claim (in 1896) that same-sex desire is an immutable, biologically determined characteristic, and founder of the Institute for Sexual Science. Though raided and closed down by the Nazis in 1933, the institute served as, among other things, “a veritable incubator for the science of tran-sexuality,” scene of one of the world’s first sex reassignment surgeries. Fascinating, surprising, and informative—Gay Berlin is certain to be counted as a foundational cultural examination of human sexuality.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Queer, LGBT, Germany, Gay, Historical

353 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 18, 2014

Reviews

[Anthony McGill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Impressive, scholarly and well documented history of the early gay movement in Germany from
the mid-19th. Century through to the demise of the Weimar Republic.

Without ignoring the first two thirds of this book, most readers will probably be drawn to the fascinating Weimar period (1919-1933). Reading Christopher Isherwood and/or reliving the many "Berlin Stories/Cabaret" versions only scratches the surface of this incredible period when censorship was abolished and gay and lesbian people enjoyed unbelievable freedoms, especially when compared to the rest of the world!

Access to all sorts of sexual expression (and excesses!) was freely available and Berlin was the sort after mecca for gay folk. Just look at the photos in this book, depicting dozens of gay newspapers and magazines at newsstands and the work of Magnus Hirschfeld and his Institute for Sexual Science.

At times I got more than a little confused in the early sections of the book, with so many different individuals and gay groups being documented, all with their various legal, political and sexual reform agendas but overall, an important and vital study of gay history.

Sadly, all this was to be washed away with the arrival of the Nazis who took full advantage of Germany's political and social chaos of the period.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

An appropriately elevated, informed history of the emergence of the modern "homosexual" as a defined type in Germany from 1867 to 1933. Beachy uses extensive scientific, political, biographical, literary, and social primary sources to make his case that nowhere else in the world at that time were people of same-sex orientation so accepted and understood, even if they were not entirely "legal." It is completely believable that the leading efforts of Karl Ulrichs and Magnus Hirschfeld, along with tacit acceptance by the Berlin Polizei, allowed for the first great flowering of gay identity in the modern era.

The reader may wish Beachy had included a bit more background to what authors such as Isherwood, Mackay, Döblin, and Spender have written so nostalgically about in their famous Berlin memoirs and fictions, but then, this is a well-mannered work of history which may not by convention contain much entertainment. He does, at least, offer us the following amusing 1905 folksong Berliner Pupenjungen. His translation misses the gutter-like playfulness of its Rinnsteinsprache, so here's the original:

Abends von acht bis morgens vier
Ziehn durch die Friedrichstraße wir.
So gehn wir nun seit ein'gen Jahren
Arm in Arm stets auf den Strich,
In dufter Schale wir stets waren,
Denn sonst geht das Geschäft ja nich.

Denn erstens muß ein Pupenjunge
Chik und elegant stets gehn;
Und zweitens muß er mit der Zunge
Gar zu bedächtig nicht umgehen;
Und drittens, will er mal was erben,
Muß er auch mal 'nen Kerl hochnehmen

Truly, indeed, an era long gone...

NYT review at: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/02/boo...

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

I spent some time in Berlin back in the early 2010s, and even as a jaded young gay guy, I was surprised at just how openly queer everything (and everyone) seemed to be. Like, how could a place this gay, exist.

Robert Beachy's Gay Berlin does an excellent job of exhuming the history of nascent gay life and gay identity in the city going back all the way to the 1860s. More than this, he makes a strong case for the urbanization of Berlin, and the work of political advocates and sexologists like Magnus Hirschfeld, as creating the first conditions anywhere in the modern era, in which the concept of a gay identity could develop.

What's most shocking about the history recounted here is not merely the openness (and tacit social acceptance) of queer cultures in a Berlin over 50 years before Stonewall, but the sheer vibrance of it all. There were lavish gay parties, a rich drag queen subculture, hefty amounts of cocaine, blackmailing male prostitutes that put the most toxic guys on grindr to shame, early attempts at understanding and helping what we would today call transgendered individuals, on and on.

Excavating a shadow history this rich is no easy task, and Beachy manages to put together a hugely well-researched book that manages to be formal without being overbearingly academic. Reconstructing the milieus of marginalized and oppressed social groups is one of the major projects of the humanities in our time, and Gay Berlin is a welcome addition to that work. If you have any interest in queer history, this is a must-read.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

really interesting and gripping, though the author clearly knows nothing about transgender people and just plain seem to not care, despite the incredible importance of the hirschfeld institute in trans history (first SRS and hormone therapy) being. there is no trans women, there is only "transvestites" and he uses wrong pronouns for every trans person he talks about. i know this is called gay berlin but come on, its not that hard to acknoledge trans people and not misgender them. this would have been 4 stars if not for the transphobia.

[Yooperprof · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book on gay culture in the German capital from the 1890s to the Nazi takeover in 1933 that I've wanted to read - kudos to Beachy for writing it! He provides the link from the work of pioneering sexologist and publicist Magnus Hirschfeld, through the blackmail scandals of the Wilhelmine era, up to the gaiety of libertine Berlin in the Weimar era. Beachy also helps explain the attraction of some homosexual men to far-right nationalist politics: there's a real connection between Ernst Röhm of the SA to the opportunistic gay Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn (assassinated in 2002) to the greasy Milo Y. of contemporary America.

[Sophy H · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well it's with a heavy heart that I'm leaving this book half read. I've come as far as I can with it.

By all accounts, I was expecting to love this. Gay history books are my thing, and I was especially interested to read about pre-war Berlin so I had high hopes here. The problem is the writing style. Beachy has the most dry and unappealing writing style. Facts are stated in the most dull and dessicated manner. There seems to be no "soul" to the writing'; everything is told in a clinical, methodical way.

I drew snippets of information that were interesting, but chapter after chapter of this droning manner finally wore me down.

Beachy, you need to get some soul in you boy!

[Andy Bird · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic book on this history of sexuality in Berlin. A good reminder to myopic North Americans that there was overt gay/queer culture well before stonewall. It's a mix of social, legal and personal histories in Weimar Berlin & Germany from the 1800s into the modern era. At one point Berlin had 100+ gay bars, multiple advocacy organizations with tens of thousands of members, 30 gay periodicals & official "transvestite" passports that allowed people to dress / live in another gender. Not perfect but a really interesting book.

[Zoe (inactive) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly dense and incredibly interesting, and a piece of german history noone ever told me about. I learned so much!

[Sofia Megh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un libro migliore per addentrarmi nella sottocultura omosessuale berlinese a cavallo tra Ottocento e Novecento non potevo trovarlo. Chiaro, interessante e scorrevole. E' stata una lettura che mi ha affascinata e che mi ha fatto entrare in contatto con personalità e fatti che non avrei potuto conoscere in altro modo (davvero, ho cercato su google alcune personalità descritte e nella maggior parte di casi non ho trovato nulla). Ciò è dovuto al fatto che questo importante pezzo di storia ha iniziato a bruciare e a scomparire da quando il regime nazista ha preso il controllo in Germania. Difatti 5 stelle non sono abbastanza per Robert Beachy, docente universitario di storia, che è riuscito a scrivere un libro così approfondito e dettagliato nonostante, immagino, le difficoltà nel reperire tutte le informazioni.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're looking for the history of homosexuality and its development from the German perspective, then this book is a stunning research tool, exceptionally detailed and documented. However, I was hoping for more about the social/cultural milieu of Berlin in the 20s and early 30s....the stories, the personalities, the dramas...but most of that is confined to a few chapters at most. One of those exceptionally admirable but frustrating books that doesn't quite deliver what it seems to promise on the surface.

[Andre · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a totally recommendable book if you ask me. Even if you disagree with the author's opinion that the modern LGBT movement originated in the Berlin of the German Empire and the Weimar Republic, this book still has lots of interesting facts for you.
The book deals with older notions of sexuality that sees it as fluid and malleable and basically says that guys become gay because they are bored of women, which is pretty much what alot of conservatives still claim today. There are other things like the term "Urning" and "Urnindinen" for gay people, the emerging homosexual subculture due to the relative tolerance of the police in Prussian Berlin, the high number of blackmail cases, the "tours" and drag balls, all fine and interesting stuff.
Actually, for me personally, the more I kept on reading, the more it was highlighted to me how little popular culture is actually concerned with facts in LGBT history, everybody talks about the Stonewall riots and Kinsey's scale, and for all their worth, they were far from the start nor the true big powers. Hirschfeld had a scale long before Kinsey and spoke of millions of combinations in this regard, and he was one of the first activists. Just like Berlin already had several gay magazines that catered all throughout Europe.
This book is informative, well written and short enough to not bore you. Read it!

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

An exhaustive look at the social forces and people who forged the modern gay identity. Not just a Weimar time travel fantasy, although there's plenty of that included.
Magnus Hirschfeld is often all too briefly mentioned in LGBT histories as that cuddly, eccentric uncle who gave us a few antiquated names for use in period dramas, but Beachy reveals him to be nothing short of a visionary and a hero. And while he doesn't exactly come to a happy end, you'll breathe a sigh of relief that his foresight also saved his life.

Now, someone get a holiday named after that man.

[Jānis Lībeks · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit more of an academic book than a popular one, "Gay Berlin" really explores the German nature of the homosexual identity, from the late 19th century to the beginnings of Third Reich in 1933. While, Berlin was the center point of all that activity, this book covers quite a bit of German history, most of the book is not focused on Berlin specifically. It reads a bit dry, a bit repetitive, as if each chapter had been written independently of the others.

[Virgowriter (Brad Windhauser) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Important, well-researched book that casts light on an under-explored area of our history. Chapters organized effectively.

[Dylan Groves · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptionally clearly written and interesting. I would read many more books with the same style and structure: eight chapters clustered around an argument, each chapter a stand-alone essay about an interesting historical angle on the argument.

Beachy argues that Berlin was the real wellspring of the modern understanding of homosexuality (a belief in a innate sexual orientation and acceptability of subjective expressions of sexual personhood), made possible by a unique combination of medical/scientific interest, official permissiveness, and a thriving homosexual sub-culture. Its also a really good picture of how human rights campaigns form and falter.

Chapter 1 - Karl Ulrichs is among the first to publicly assert his homosexuality and campaign against anti-sodomy laws.

Chapter 2- Laws against same-sex intercourse, but not association, gave rise to a homosexual subculture of bars, balls, and male fraternal organizations, which in turn allowed medical professionals, tourists, and journalists to identify, study, and publicize the existence of a gay sub-population.

Chapter 3 - Founding of world's first homosexual rights organization (SHC)

Chapter 4 - (very good) Role of sexual scandal in shaping public awareness and attitudes towards sexuality

Chapter 5 - debate over different concepts of male homosexuality - an "effete" version and a "masculinist" version.

Chapter 6 - (boring) development of Institute for Sexual Science and theories of transexuality

Chapter 7 - male prostitution and sex tourism

Chapter 8 - political tactics and campaigns of Berlin's three major homosexual rights organizations.

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptionally fine history of 'gay' Berlin and what makes it so fascinating is that isn't simply about the 'gay' Berlin of the Weimar years but it places them in context and looks at the history preceding Weimar and it shows that it gay matters (and much else of course) Weimar was a continuation and development of long laid trends.

Many reviewers on GR seem disappointed in this range of view but I can assure it is what makes this volume worth reading.

As I read this book at least seven or eight years ago my review is succinct but honest and accurate in terms of what I think. If I ever get the chance to read iot again, which happily would, I may have more to say.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

fascinating!! narrower in scope than i’d like in some ways but that’s probably a good thing considering how dense/exhaustive this book is on the topics it does discuss. slow read but really interesting.

[Esme Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

A detailed and comprehensive account of a hugely influential time. I only wish more care had been taken with the pronouns of the trans people represented.

[C. B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting history of ideas of homosexuality in Germany from about 1850 to 1939, loosely centred on the Prussian capital Berlin. The main character of the book is Magnus Hirschfeld and the astonishingly progressive Institute for Sexual Science, which he founded in 1919 in Berlin. He's the good-guy of the book, set against the unsettling and deeply misogynistic ideas of Hans Blüher and of the Männerbund. This is basically where the early sexual rights movement clashes with Nazism's rise in Germany. Definitions of Männerbund vary, but in Blüher's context it entails the idea of a union of highly masculine, and by extension anti-feminine, men in a sexual friendship or partnership. This is Blüher's attempt to console his own attraction to men with a traditionally masculine world view, and was developed in opposition to Hirschfeld's inclusiveness towards gender nonconforming people. Despite possibly correct assertions of Hirschfeld's pseudoscience and quackery by some, he was truly a wonderful human. He was a gay man who took every kind of queer person imaginable under his wing, demanding rights and safety for all.
Beachy proclaims that the modern conception of homosexuality was born in Germany and Berlin, and that Hirschfeld was central to this. He makes a convincing argument.

Now, all that stuff I mentioned is rather high culture, for want of a better phrase. I was expecting a book about the nightclubs, cruising, etc, in Weimar era Berlin. This is touched on and is very fascinating when it is discussed, but it makes up a small proportion of the book. I was hoping for something more like Matt Houlbrook's Queer London: an examination of gay urban culture.

Regardless, the book is written in a clear academic style and is very informative. Enjoyable and recommended!

[Richard R]

The main thing that leaps out from this is the extent to which the development of a gay rights in Berlin prior to Nazi rule followed precisely the same course as its later development in the postwar US and UK. During the late 19th century, the activism of Karl Heinrich Ulrichs had a similar pattern to figures like Frank Kameney or Peter Wildeblood: having been outed and fired from their jobs, all three chose to campaign on the issue rather than accept that they had done anything wrong. By the twenties and thirties, the work of Magnus Hirschfield did much here to establish that being gay (or indeed transgender) was an inherent orientation and this did provide a basis for a set of rights movements. The factionalism of these movements similarly preempts later debates. On the one hand, some like Stonewall sought to work with political parties to secure reform and often did so by emphasising the respectable nature of most gay men. Others sought a more radical approach that worked by seeking to out prominent figures in the same way Outrage later did; the main difference was at this point the victims often ended up taking their one lives as a consequence.

There are some notable differences; Berlin was a military city and much of the core of its gay community consisted of soldiers, many of whom gravitated towards Nazi support in spite of their hostile stance towards gay rights. Eventually, this was to lead to the Night of the Long Knivesand the destruction of Berlin's gay community.

[Adrian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Covers queer Berlin (certainly not just gay) from the mid-1800s to, well, the election of Hitler (1933). Given this time span, the author zooms in with good detail on the political work of associations, and the effects and persistence of "Paragraph 175" the German law against certain homosexual acts (not against homosexuality as such). Occasional forays into bars and personal lives are present, but that is not the goal of the book - it is much more of a history of how the struggle for rights evolved in that era, and how "ahead of its time" Berlin was in that respect. It ends at at fitting time, given the total destruction imposed in 1933 onward. The text is academic, but clearly written and readable for an academic book. I would quibble with some repetition between chapters, which could use better organization (they are vaguely chronological but also thematic), and with a desire to know more about the personal lives of the main players. But those details may be lost to the past - no doubt Paragraph 175, which was only truly repealed in the 1990s despite a near pass at doing so in the 1920s described in the book, made recording such details a risky endeavour.

[Eddie Clarke · Rating 5 out of 5]

This brilliant history was on target to get 4 stars from me -the extra star is for the magnificent last chapter and epilogue outlining the interaction and in some respects weird symbiosis between the rise of the Nazis and the various competing strands of gay liberationism in Berlin. Quite shockingly, a poll of gay men in Berlin at the time found that 30% supported Hitler - but Beachy gives convincing explanations of how such mistakenly self-destructive support came about. It is very sobering to consider Berlin's legendarily permissive sexual scene with a vibrant gay press, cultural and political organisations, 100s of gay bars, was all wiped away and buried so far by the Nazis that little memory of it all exists. Beachy deserves congrats for bringing it back to light and doing it such justice.

[Nicolas Chinardet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beyond the evocation of late 19th/early 20th century Berlin, this is first and foremost a history of the emergence of homosexuality as an identity and the true beginnings of the LGBT rights movement, decades before Stonewall. A rather fascinating and highly informative read in the company of the unrecognised giants (on whose shoulders we most definitely stand) that are Karl Heinrich Ulrichs and Magnus Hirshfeld.

[Kristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

A comprehensive overview of the role that Berlin played in the creation of homosexual identity. Clearly very well-researched, and some historical documents cited are absolute gems. I would have loved just a little bit more analysis of the facts described but overall a great read. Thank you "Bad Gays" for the recommendation :)

[Michael Ritchie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good academic book about the roots of modern gay identity theory and the gay liberation movement. Not really a book about Berlin, but about the many German figures involved in the creation of the modern idea of homosexual identity.

[Joel Wall · Rating 5 out of 5]

An engaging and truly insightful view into Queer history and the huge significance of Berlin to the development of global LGBTQ+ rights and sense of identity.

[Bronwyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really interesting and very thorough. Starting with Karl Ulrichs, the book goes through until the 1930s, post WWII being discussed briefly in the epilogue. I really liked learning about all the competing organizations that were campaigning for gay rights. Of course there’s weird masculinity stuff and anti-semitism, but it’s really fascinating to see how those things applied to gay circles. (Also goes to show that my theory seems true, that all these super male influencers will eventually say that being gay is the most manly thing because nothings more manly than another man.) I did get bogged down in a lot of the details, but I really appreciate just how detailed it is and how necessary this is (right now was not the best time to be reading some of the later chapters…).

[Liam · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I first picked up the book I was expecting it to delve more into the cabaret scene but was happily surprised that it wasn’t. Instead they talked about the movement to of gay rights that started in Germany and ended with the Nazis. A very important read

[Asher · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a lot of good history in it, and it was amazing to learn so much about the lgbt community of Berlin. However, I'm not a fan of a lot of the personal opinions of the author, or the way he presents certain information.

[Porter · Rating 5 out of 5]

“In many aspects, Berlin’s queer culture is the city’s most essential and distinguishing element - the coagulant and the zest. It was thus in the twenties and in pre-1989 West Berlin, and remains so today.” (241)