the Austrian film director Richard Oswald also released the first gay movie in film history : Anders als die Andern (“ Different from the Others ”). An older musician is blackmailed by a younger hustler . At some point , the musician refuses to pay . The hustler turns him in , and the homo ends up in court for violating Paragraph 175 . In the ensuing court proceedings , Dr . Magnus Hirschfeld ( who plays himself ) makes a two-minute plea ( to be read in white on black ) for acceptance and tolerance that defies all conventions . The blackmailed gay man is sentenced according to Paragraph 175 . The resulting shame will lead to his suicide .
In 1920 – founding of the NSDAP ( National Socialist Party ) in the Hofbräuhaus in February – the film was already banned .
It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse , But the Society in Which He Lives (“ Nicht der Homosexuelle ist pervers , sondern die Situation , in der er lebt ”) was the programmatic title of Rosa von Praunheim ’ s film that gave impetus to the German student gay movement of the 1970s : “ Out of the toilets , into society ” was the new battle cry . The emphasis was on visibility and attacking bourgeois society . The so-called “ homophiles ” of the post-war period were said not to have the balls for this . Maybe they really had lost them as a result of “ voluntary ” castration under Hitler . The homophile movement of the 1950s and 1960s had until then consisted of men who had suffered persecution and terror and continuous criminalization on their own bodies .
History is full of black holes . Great Freedom ( directed by Sebastian Meise ) is full of black holes . The pitch dark solitary confinement cells , which in prison jargon are called “ the hole ”, act as wormholes into different times zones : 1945 – the war is over , but not for homosexuals ; 1957 – love is banned ; and 1969 – first men land on the moon and homosexuals still land in jail .
“ I ’ ve been on the run all my life !” Such lines sound edgy in a prison movie , but actually , they are the brutal reality . Even today , with homosexuality being punished by repression or death , depending on geography . In one out of three countries , homosexuality is still illegal .
The film ’ s protagonist Hans Hoffmann is a cipher . A synonym for the persistence of the oppressed . Hans is the fusion of countless real persons who gave their lives in cells and concentration camps and who also gave their voices in diaries , books , interviews , or their bare existence .
Worldwide , the suicide rate among adolescent homosexuals is as high as ever .
Because freedom is not only something filigree , but vital .
Literature :
Beachy , Robert ( 2015 ). Gay Berlin : Birthplace of a Modern Identity . New York : Random House
Betsky , Aaron ( 1997 ). Queer Space . Architecture and Same-Sex Desire . New York : William Morrow and Company
Dobler , Jens ( 2010 ). Von anderen Ufern : Geschichte der Berliner Lesben und Schwulen in Kreuzberg und Friedrichshain . Berlin : Bruno Gmünder , 2003
Gergen , Mary ; Gergen Kenneth ( 1973 ). “ Deviance in the Dark ” scientific study ( In Psychology Today , October 1973 , New York , pp . 129-30 ) Gove , Ben ( 2000 ). Cruising Culture , Promiscuity , Desire and American Gay
Literature . Edinburgh : University Press Hirschfeld , Magnus ( 2001 [ 1914 ]). Die Homosexualität des Mannes und des
Weibes . Berlin / New York : Walter de Gruyter
Micheler , Stefan ( 2010 ). “... und verbleibt weiter in Sicherheitsverwahrung – Kontinuitäten der Verfolgung Männer begehrender Männer in Hamburg 1945-1949 ”. ( In : Ohnmacht und Aufbegehren . Homosexuelle Männer in der frühen Bundesrepublik , Hamburg : Männerschwarm )
Steinmann , Bernhard ( 2016 ). “ Darkroom – eine Raumgeschichte vom Abseits zur Sehenswürdigkeit ”. Diploma Thesis , Technische Universität Wien Zinn , Alexander ( 2015 ). Das Glück kam immer zu mir ” Rudolf Brazda – Das Überleben eines Homosexuellen im Dritten Reich . Frankfurt / New York : Campus
Films :
Anders als die Andern / Different from the Others ( 1919 ). Directed by
Richard Oswald Un chant d ’ amour / Song of Love ( 1950 ). Directed by Jean Genet Nicht der Homosexuelle ist pervers , sondern die Situation , in der er lebt / It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse , But the Society in Which He Lives ( 1971 ). Directed by Rosa von Praunheim Große Freiheit / Great Freedom ( 2021 ). Directed by Sebastian Meise
5 . Thomas Reider - Screenwriter of the film Great Freedom overview
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