Stefan Micheler
Zeitschriften und Verbände gleichgeschlechtlich begehrender Menschen in der Weimarer Republik
Ansätze einer Organisationsgeschichte
Magazines and Assoziations of Same Sex Desiring Men in the Weimar Republic
Towards an Organisational History
English abstract
Weimar Germany witnessed new forms of public visibility and new organisational structures for same sex desiring men in the form of associations of friendship and their magazines. The Magazines, associations and also the friendship bars provided an extension of networking possibilities for same sex desiring men in general but also for the "homosexual movement" in particular.
Stefan Micheler traces the history of these associations and their magazines. At the same time, he analyses the personal and political conflicts of the associations' repesentatives. The magazine Freundschaft (friendship) was first published in August 1919 and was the first homosexual magazine not solely directed ad the educated classes. This magazine strongly encouraged the formation of loyal friendship associations, that should combine political struggle with leisure activities. These loyal associations joined forces in 1920 to form the Deutscher Freundschaftsverband (DFV/German friendship association). Apparently, the DFV was not able to gain public visibility during the years of inflation and was entrapped in internal conflicts. In 1922/23 Friedrich Radszuweit (1876-1932) used this situation and the controvery to gain leadership of the association. He renamed the DFV as Bund für Menschenrecht (BFM / League for Human Rights) and made sure it became a publicly recognized associaltion. In the aftermath Radszuweit published a wide variety of different magazines for same sex desiring people and connected his economic interests to those of the movement. Radszuweit claimed leadership of the "homosexual movemeut" and was contested by other representatives not least because of his public ubiquity.
In 1925 the DFV was re-established and published its own magazines again. Hence, the magazines of the different associations and publishing houses competed with each other and were threatened constantly by censorship at the same time. In the beginning of the 1930s the assoziations' activities declined and all magazines ceased their publiaction in the first months of National Sozialist rule. The associations disintegrated as well.