Sonntags-Club - Verzaubert in Nord-Ost

2009, German, Sonntags-Club,

Original title: "Verzaubert in Nord-Ost: Die Geschichte der Berliner Lesben und Schwulen in Prenzlauer Berg, Pankow und Weißensee" (Enchanted in north-east: The history of the Berlin lesbians and gays in Prenzlauer Berg, Pankow, and Weißensee).

A queer history of the Berlin districts of Prenzlauer Berg, Pankow, and Weißensee. This book wants to enchant and give insights into the hundred-year history of Berlin lesbians and gays in the northeastern districts of Pankow, Prenzlauer Berg, and Weißensee.

The book tells of the beginnings of the imperial era, the Weimar Republic, and the existence-threatening situation during National Socialism. Examples show how the homosexual and transgender scene in East Berlin lived and loved despite repressive measures taken by the Stasi communist secret police.

Lesbians and gays, bisexuals and trans* never let themselves be beaten down, created niches, set brands in art, literature, and theatre, and fought for their rights as people and citizens under whatever form of government. The new administrative district of Pankow, as the third scene center alongside Kreuzberg and Schöneberg in Berlin, still offers a pulsating mixture of "old east" and "new west".

The book includes a 20-page section on Gerda von Zobeltitz, a trans woman from Weißensee. We can find out more about her in a short biography created by Zagria. Based on Zagria's research, Gerda was a scion of one of Germany's old noble families with ties to the Hohenzollern court. However, she pursued a humble life and worked as a women's tailor, and sometimes she was a dancer too. She was a patient of Magnus Hirschfeld, and thanks to his diagnosis she was allowed to wear female clothing legally, which did not prevent her from occasional arrests for public cross-dressing. She survived the Nazi regime, as she married a woman. She died in 1983 in Berlin at the age of 72.  

Available via lili-elbe.de

and Zagria

Photo via spinnboden.de