pastmalebeauty: ADOLF BRAND (1874 - 1945) and Der EigeneDer Eigene, the first gay magazine in histor
pastmalebeauty: ADOLF BRAND (1874 - 1945) and Der EigeneDer Eigene, the first gay magazine in history, was first published in Berlin in March 1896 . It was published until 1932. Many great names wrote for it like Nobel prize winners Gerhart Hauptmann and Thomas Mann. Other contributors were Mann’s son Klaus, sociologist Franz Oppenheimer, and artists like Sascha Schneider. The magazine first appeared quarterly and then monthly, it was however to have a troubled history.The editor was Adolf Brand, a multi-faceted character, writer, photographer, gay activist, who came out as homosexual at the end of the 19th century. He was one of the leaders of the bohemian and naturist circle of the Friedrichshagen area of Berlin. Der Eigene, would mean something like The Self. The magazine concentrated on the arts and culture, especially from a gay viewpoint. The sub-title of the magazine evolved over time, always being a vindication of homosexuality. “A publication for the masculine culture” or “Magazine for the freedom and the friendship” were two during the Twenties.Brand believed that society was an enemy of homosexuality, as he wrote in 1898: “Every regulation wants us dead, threatens our sacred way of thinking and feeling, and is against our nature.”Brand advocated the abolition of the infamous Paragraph 175 of the German Penal Code that punished homosexual relations. He wrote in the magazine that the then German Chancellor Bernhard von Bülow was homosexual. This led to Brand being convicted for defamation and sentenced to 18 months in prison. Publication of Der Eigene stopped in 1907 and Brand did not resume his work until 1919, after the First World War. He served in the war, and even married a nurse.Brand pursued his case against Paragraph 175 during the Weimar Republic by soliciting political support from everyone, including the Nazi Party. When Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, Brand’s residence was ransacked five times. Der Eigene had been out of print for a year, and Brand’s began a fight against National Socialism.The role of Brand during the Nazi period has sparked heated discussions between historians and gay activists. Brand gave up homosexual activism in the early 1930s, after constant harassment from the Nazis who silenced Der Eigene, destroyed his life’s work, and left him in financial ruin. He finally sent a public letter to his followers announcing the end of the movement. He and his wife died in 1945 in Berlin during an Allied bombing raid. He was seventy years old. -- source link