1. Panel – Trans History and Public History
Lament (or, the living transgender spirit in Catullus 63)
A presentation and interpretation regarding the Latin poem Catullus 63 by the famous late republic poet. This poem touches upon themes of gender transition and the inevitability of one’s being interpreted and framed by the larger gendering structures of the political and cultural context (in its case, the Roman imperial ideology of masculinity), no matter what one does in terms of expressing gender. The fluidity of the protagonist, Attis, in contrast with the rigidity of the gendered spaces of Roman masculinity, and the „madness“ of self inflicted femininity, explores themes of transness and „trans-ing“ that are not given space in the public discourse. As such, this interpretation is intended to be an in-community moment and intended to be challenging, partciularly to a cis audience. All participants are transgender.
The presentation is about a historical group called the Galla, a group of real women who castrated themselves to serve as priestesses of Kybele, who venerate Attis as their mythological representation, and who the presenter believe are transgender. The presenter argues that this interpretation is valid and beneficial based on textual and archaeological evidence, and shows that perhaps, in describing closely the subjectivity of this group of women as they undergo transformation, that the poet is expressing something implicit of „his“ own.
Dionysus Gao (he/they) is a master student in the Classical archaeology division of the Archaeology of the Ancient World english program. He completed his undergraduate in Classics, delving into study of text, history and art history. Their interests include ancient religion and representations of queerness. He is also interdisciplinary around the mediterranean, and adjacently participates in Near Eastern studies and Egyptology in regards to those two topics. He has a specific background in ancient history in the Roman Empire.
Trans Geschichte in frauenpolitischen Strukturen?
Im Beitrag soll am Beispiel des Public History-Projektes „FrauenOrte im Land Brandenburg“ diskutiert werden, welche Möglichkeiten und Herausforderungen sich für das Erzählen von trans Geschichte in frauenpolitischen Strukturen ergeben. Das Projekt „FrauenOrte“ macht seit 2010 Frauen-geschichte als Teil der Brandenburgischen
Landesgeschichte sichtbar. Bisher wurden 50 Gedenktafeln zu einzelnen Frauenpersönlichkeiten im Land Brandenburg aufgestellt – jährlich kommen zwei hinzu. Mit einer modernen Webseite, Social Media-Postings, Veranstaltungen und einer Wanderausstellung werden die Biografien darüber hinaus kontinuierlich sichtbar gemacht. Das Projekt ist in dezidiert frauen-politischen Förder- und Vereinsstrukturen im Land Brandenburg verankert.
Elio Gäbelein (they/er/-) ist Politikwissenschaftler und Historiker mit einem Schwerpunkt in queerer und feministischer Geschichte. Zu diesem Themen lehrte er an der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Seit 2023 leitet er das Public History Projekt „FrauenOrte im Land Brandenburg“ und strebt eine Promotion in der trans Geschichte an. Seine Master-Arbeit „Homosexualität_en im Deutschen Kaiserreich um 1900“ erscheint im Juni 2025 im Marta Press Verlag.
Vor diesem Hintergrund soll nach den Möglichkeiten und Grenzen von trans Geschichte in frauenpolitischen Strukturen gefragt werden.
Die Diskussion gliedert sich dabei in drei Bereiche:
- Warum trans Geschichte in frauenpolitischen Strukturen erzählen?
- Welche Biografien können (nicht) erzählt werden?
- Wie sollten diese Biografien (nicht) erzählt werden?
Zunächst stellt sich die Frage nach dem „Warum“? Welche Gründe gibt es, trans Geschichte im Rahmen der „FrauenOrte“ zu erzählen und welche Ziele können in diesem Kontext sinnvoll verfolgt werden? Was spricht dagegen? Anschließend soll erörtert werden, welche Biografien erzählt werden können. Neben der Herausforderung, einen lokalen Bezug zum Land Brandenburg herzustellen, soll dabei insbesondere auf den Umgang mit gender-nonkonformen Biografien eingegangen werden. Zuletzt soll diskutiert werden, welche inhaltliche Ausrichtung das Gedenken haben sollte. Insbesondere wird dabei zu fragen sein,
inwiefern die Dimension „trans“ im Gedenken herausgestellt werden sollte.
FrauenOrte im Land Brandenburg: https://www.frauenorte-brandenburg.de
Erste Beiträge zur queeren Geschichte finden sich unter „FrauenOrte News“
Queer Zine
The zine was our effort to bring visibility to Queer local history and to challenge the assumption that Queerness is a modern concept, and not a part of humanity. The original idea was to highlight 4-5 different key figures in the Berlin Queer-Weimar scene, and in addition to create a map to view former Queer spaces, as a visual aid to readers as to how well-organized and progressive the scene was. Eventually, we decided to focus primarily on Lotte Hahm, a trans*vestite, masc lesbian, as we did not have as much space as we initially realized. Additionally, we wished to center a FLINTA* voice, as at the time, the queer scene was still quite cis-male dominated. We also altered the idea of having the map at the back of the zine, and now instead have it as a QR code that can be scanned, and will take you to a Google My Maps page, allowing us to add or alter locations. The zine also only focused on Charlottenburg, as there was already so much material, but there were dozens of other Queer spaces across the city (at least 180+ from the 1920s-1930s!). Queer Weimar is evidence that queer people have always existed and may and will continue to rebuild and adapt!
Bea Assandri: I use all pronouns and am very interested in queer history. I think it is one of the most important things to highlight for Queer people, especially Queer youth.
Lily Efraty: I use she/her pronouns, and having lived in Berlin, I think it is very important to highlight the local Queer history. I think it is also very important that we make these histories accessible and a part of public consciousness.
Irin Krylova: I am transgender, and sometimes people tell me that my identity is not real, that it is unnatural, or that transgender people did not exist in the past. This has led me to want to learn more about the queer history of the Weimar Republic, notably the experiences of transgender people, and it has been both enlightening and heartbreaking. It is powerful to know we existed, and deeply important to remember this history, especially as we see similar attempts to erase us today.
Maryam Breßler: I was surprised how much queerness Berlin has housed in the past and especially the situation of that opening in the first democracy Germany has ever experienced shows that it’s not a wrong, but indeed a part of the only right way to me.
Lou X Ovo
Genaueres folgt…
„Trans*cestors“ and the Need for a TIN Archive
Together with intersex activist Luan Pertl, the Schwules Museum Berlin and a group of different people, we are working on establishing an independent tin archive. (tin = trans, intersex, non-binary) The first step in this direction is the Trans*cestors project.
Testimonies from those who are traditionally marginalised and erased come in possibly -to traditional archives- unfamiliar formats and with unexpected content. An institution in which marginalisation is inscribed is incapable of relaxing in this respect and recognising the value of this evidence. We have to create new structures together with the old structures and definitely together with various tin communities.
In Trans*cestors we have started to ask tin people what they need in a tin archive.
Tomka Weiß (he/him) is a visual artist and graphic designer, exhibition organizer, trans* activist, co-founder of various artist collectives and, together with Alex Giegold, the duo of installation art Giegold & Weiß. Weiß has been on the board of the Hannchen Multipurpose Foundation for Queer Movements since 2022. Practices of visual art include art in the context of social groups, archives, exhibition production and political education.
Tomka Weiß: Giegold/Weiß, current projects: “Trans*cestors” in Schwules Museum Berlin, “4T – The Trans Body Rights Ar/ctivist Archive” in Queer Museum Vienna.
Brick by Brick by Brick – Trans* Resistance in modern History
In our exhibition “brick by brick by brick – trans* resistance in modern history” we aim to highlight the role that gender nonconformity and trans* people have played in struggles for queer emancipation. As well as in other movements, like the workers movement, which is still central in today’s longing for liberation from patriarchal domination and exploitation that is always depending on your gender. For many trans* people, the current international situation with the rise of the far right and a historic militarization, which comes with a comeback of rigid gender norms, is very much overwhelming. Looking back – it’s not the first time trans* people have felt this way. It’s not the first time that rights that were hardly fought for were taken. It’s not the first time the community had to fight back. In fact there are so many examples of trans* resistance, it was hard for us to set a focus. We picked examples, that all created a feeling of collective power in situations where trans* and queer people came from an everyday feeling of being powerless and oppressed, because we believe that these stories can help us in a different but similar scenario to keep our heads up and think about how movements and collectives are becoming stronger and more resilient, since we deeply need this today!
Maxi Schulz (she/her) is a bachelor student in history and German from Berlin. Her life was always troubled by gender and shaped by being an activist in political movements and workers-union politics. In order to emancipate herself and find a deeper understanding of her transness, she loves to seek answers by studying and researching history.
Oskar van Bezouwen (he/him) studies history in Berlin. Through both his academic work and personal involvement in political activism, he seeks to make silenced and suppressed voices visible within our discourses. To this end, he insists on the recognition of personal feeling and perception – in short: subjectivity as a guiding principle of human thought and emotion that is all too often disregarded.