In the mid-20th century, Casablanca was more than just the backdrop of a Hollywood classic, for a small group of courageous people, it became the setting of their rebirth. In 1956, French gynecologist Georges Burou quietly opened a clinic where he performed experimental and illegal sex reassignment surgeries. At a time when gender transition was shrouded in secrecy, stigma, and outright impossibility in most parts of the world, Burou’s discreet Moroccan practice became a beacon of hope. His reputation spread quickly across Europe.
Before long, famous figures such as the French performer Marie-Pierre Pruvot, known to the world as Bambi, the flamboyant British model April Ashley, Belgian dancer Corinne van Tongerloo, German pioneer Jean Lessenich, and Dutch beautician Colette Berends made their way to Casablanca. They were among the first wave of people who risked everything, socially, financially, and physically, to live as women. Their stories, groundbreaking at the time, would go on to inspire future generations.
More than half a century later, Dutch writer Daniëlle Serdijn and filmmaker Michiel van Erp revisited these trailblazers in the book I Am a Woman Now, published as a companion to van Erp’s internationally acclaimed documentary of the same name.
