Queer Lives across the Wall: Desire and Danger in Divided Berlin, 1945–1970

Andrea Rottmann

Open Access Published by University of Toronto Press 2023

Queer Lives across the Wall

Desire and Danger in Divided Berlin, 1945–1970

Andrea Rottmann
Funded by: University of Toronto Libraries

Volume 50 in the series German and European Studies

https://doi.org/10.3138/9781487549923

Overview
Contents

About this book

Queer Lives across the Wall draws on personal letters, photo albums, and state records in order to tell the history of East and West Berlin in the early Cold War through an LGBTIQ* perspective.

Author / Editor information

Rottmann Andrea :

Andrea Rottmann is a postdoctoral research fellow in history at the Freie Universität Berlin.

Reviews

Mark Fenemore, Manchester Metropolitan University :
“This book stands as a shining example—to non-queer as well as to queer historians—of how to find creative solutions to archival issues and how to persevere in the face of adversity. In daring to articulate these most hidden aspects of the “love that dare not speak its name,” Rottmann provides us with courageous models and antecedents. The book itself feels like a labor of love.”

Mx. Phoebe:

"I gobbled this book up. It is a quick read with lots of information. If you love history, then add this Queer Lives across the Wall to your list."

Benno Gammerl, Professor of History of Gender and Sexuality, European University Institute:

"A queer history of East and West Germany that seriously engages with gender non-conformity and includes working-class perspectives – all these things have long been called for. Based on interviews, letters, photographs, prison files, and other sources, the study traces bygone queer spaces and subjectivities that very much resonate with our present-day concerns."

Laurie Marhoefer, Jon Bridgman Endowed Professor of History, University of Washington, and author of Racism and the Making of Gay Rights:

"By telling the stories of lesbians as well as gay men, and transgender people as well as cisgender people, Rottmann paints an incredibly rich portrait of queer and trans repression and survival in the shadow of the Berlin Wall, from bars to prisons to apartments to garden cottages, and challenges how we think about queer history."

Craig Griffiths, Senior Lecturer in Modern History, Manchester Metropolitan University, and author of The Ambivalence of Gay Liberation:

"By turns poignant, sexy, and fun, but always sensitive and erudite, Queer Lives across the Wall is a beautifully written book. From train stations to living rooms, from public toilets to queer bars, from prisons to the Berlin wall itself, Andrea Rottmann’s rich study reveals the centrality of diverse spaces – and of gendered expression – in queer history."

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Illustrations Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Abbreviations Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
Introduction: “Mamita Invites You In” Open Access Download PDF	1
1 Homes Open Access Download PDF	22
2 Surveilled Sociability: Queer Bars Open Access Download PDF	65
3 Passing Through, Trespassing, Passing in Public Spaces Open Access Download PDF	104
4 Bubis behind Bars: Prisons as Queer Spaces Open Access Download PDF	134
Conclusion: Changing Queer Constellations Before and After 1970 Open Access Download PDF	160
Notes Open Access Download PDF	165
Bibliography Open Access Download PDF	215
Index Open Access Download PDF	235
GERMAN AND EUROPEAN STUDIES Open Access Download PDF	249

Language: English
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Audience: College/higher education;Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 266
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 21
- Other: 21 b&w illustrations, 1 b&w map
Keywords: queer German history; queer Berlin; Berlin Wall; lesbian history; trans history; urban history; history of sexuality; Weimar Germany; East Berlin; West Berlin; Cold War; gay rights; Magnus Hirschfeld; Nazi Germany

eBook

Published: April 28, 2023
ISBN: 9781487549923