Something Queer at the Library

Something Queer at the Library

Safe harbor to explore LGBTQ+ literature

Queer Germany 1860s-1930s: The Foundation of a Modern Movement

While in the United States, LGBTQ+ politics are largely thought of as originating in the latter half of the 20^th Century, much of the framework for the way LGBTQ+ people would be understood and campaign for their rights was laid a century earlier in the German-speaking world.  Join librarian Samuel for a look at the German Homosexual Emancipation Movement of the late 1800s and early 1900s, a thriving cultural, scientific, and political movement that had lasting impacts around the world before being violently suppressed by Nazi persecution. 

No prior reading is required for this event, but if you are interested in exploring the topic on your own in advance, here are some recommendations from our collection:

Nonfiction:

Queer Identities and Politics in Germany: A History, 1880-1945 by Clayton J. Whisnant

Christopher and His Kind, 1929-1939 by Christopher Isherwood

Homintern : How Gay Culture Liberated the Modern World by Gregory Woods

Fiction:

Jews, Queers, Germans by Martin Duberman

Graphic Novels:

Berlin: Book 1, City of Stones by Jason Lutes

Berlin: Book 2, City of Smoke by Jason Lutes

Berlin: Book 3, City of Light by Jason Lutes

Movies and TV:

Babylon Berlin  also on Hoopla

The Blue Angel

Cabaret