Photo by Andreas Filla, taken at the Berlin Pride Parade 1994. CC-BY-SA
Hi my trans siblings!
I'm late writing this mega this week, I had hoped to do more research but maybe I can add stuff and re-write this as the week goes on.
This time I'd like to share some information I stumbled across about 20th century trans icon Charlotte von Mahlsdorf. She was born in the Weimar Republic in 1928 and survived Nazi Germany to make it as the most prominent trans woman that I'm aware of in the DDR (GDR or East Germany). There she ran the GrΓΌnderzeit museum, dedicated to the founding period of the German Empire and the period of its industrialization. The museum ended up becoming a popular hotspot for the gay and I presume trans and queer scene in the DDR.
She was politically active, having been an unofficial informant of the Stasi which ideally I'd love more information on. Was she helping them identify Nazis? Surely being a trans woman would've lured a lot of reactionaries out from behind their masks in her presence. In fact, after the DDR was taken over by the BRD (West Germany) in 1990, it only took about one year before one of the parties she threw at the museum was the target of a neo-Nazi attack, at which point she announced she was considering leaving Germany. She eventually moved to Sweden in 1997, where I believe she lived the rest of her life.
She died of natural causes at the age of 74 during a visit to Berlin in 2002.
This has been more or less a summary of the Wikipedia article on her where I did check some sources, but I really want to learn more about her. I only learned of her in the past couple days, and there is a film about her from 1992 called I Am My Own Woman, by Rosa von Praunheim.
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As a reminder, please do not discuss current struggle sessions in the mega. We want this to be a little oasis for all of us and the best way to do that is not to feed into existing conflict on the site.
Also, be sure to properly give content warnings and put sensitive subjects behind proper spoiler tags. It's for the mental health of not just your comrades, but yourself as well.
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spoiler
. I know it takes a lot to deconstruct masculinity, especially when its enforced on you against your will, but fucking goddamn people need to deconstruct harder. But we're never taught how to deconstruct our own internal stuff in this culture and its difficult and painful so people dont want to try and dont want to learn (at least, I know I didn't).
o-oh let me just get that door for y-
grabs wrist No, no, no. That's not how this goes. Now be a good girl and let me open this door for you.
very nice, very nice
where I write them. Gonna head to a botanical garden tomorrow for inspiration write it like she's besides me to give a feel how it'll be when we go there together
