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This book explores the queer history of the easternmost provinces of the German Reich-regions that used to be German, but which now mostly belong to Poland-in the first third of the twentieth century, a period roughly corresponding to the duration of Germany's first queer movement (1897-1933). While the amount of queer historical studies examining entire towns and cities in the German Reich has grown to an impressive size since the 1990s, most of that research concerns, firstly, the usual, large metropoles such as Berlin, Hamburg or Cologne, and, secondly, municipalities located in Germany 'proper'; that is, within its modern borders, not those of the German state in the first half of the twentieth century. Smaller cities (not to mention rural areas) in particular have received very little scholarly attention. This book is therefore one of the first to examine queer history-that of spaces, culture, sociability and political groups specifically-from this geographical perspective.
List of contents
Introduction.- 1. Queer Spatiality and the Question of Metronormativity.- 2. The National Queer Movement of Wilhelmine and Weimar Germany.- 3. Realities of Queer People in Wilhelmine and Weimar Germany.- 4. Local Queer Self-Organising in Weimar Germany.- 5. Spaces of Queer Contact and Pleasure in Weimar Germany.- 6. Queer Sociability and Events of Queer People in Weimar Germany.- 7. Spatial Contingencies of Queer Sexual Practices and Identities.- Conclusion.
About the author
Mathias Foit received his PhD from the Free University of Berlin, Germany.
Summary
This book explores the queer history of the easternmost provinces of the German Reich—regions that used to be German, but which now mostly belong to Poland—in the first third of the twentieth century, a period roughly corresponding to the duration of Germany's first queer movement (1897-1933). While the amount of queer historical studies examining entire towns and cities in the German Reich has grown to an impressive size since the 1990s, most of that research concerns, firstly, the usual, large metropoles such as Berlin, Hamburg or Cologne, and, secondly, municipalities located in Germany 'proper'; that is, within its modern borders, not those of the German state in the first half of the twentieth century. Smaller cities (not to mention rural areas) in particular have received very little scholarly attention. This book is therefore one of the first to examine queer history—that of spaces, culture, sociability and political groups specifically—from this geographical perspective.
