Created and curated by mirrorwitch
Books I want to read to understand the original rise of Nazism, in comparison with the current one. Topics of particular interest are women, queerness, the wild youth bands, violent resistance, anarchists, Roma. Of reduced interest are "great men" straight male authors.
This is a personal to-read list but more suggestions are welcome!
Edition of Kitty with the censored pages, letters and photos, in German translation.
Christopher and His Kind by Christopher Isherwood
Christopher and His Kind is a 1976 memoir by Anglo-American writer Christopher Isherwood, first printed in a 130-copy edition by …
The less fictionalised, more direct author's rewriting of Goodbye to Berlin (aka "Cabaret", aka "I Am a Camera"). La bohème memoirs under the fascist creep, now 200% gayer.
Marxist analysis of the new class of white collar workers, burying their heads in the sand with the "distraction industry". 3 years later they all would embrace Hitlerism arms wide open. So basically the OG Gamergate.
Der Skorpion by Anna Elisabet Weirauch
'This trilogy—putatively the only work of Weirauch's to center on a lesbian theme—was so immensely popular both in lesbian circles …
Lauded as one of the first modern lesbian novels that portrays lesbianism positively. First of a trilogy. The "scorpions" were an early butch culture. Not otherwise openly political (author was prolific during the Reich, mostly by keeping her head low and joining the Reichsschrifttumskammer).
Nach Mitternacht (German Texts) by Keun, Irmgard Keun
5 stars
"Sanna and her ravishing friend Gerti would rather speak of love than politics, but in 1930s Frankfurt, politics cannot be …
Contemporary fiction reporting on women's lives under the Reich. Author faked her own death to slip back into Germany and fight it from the inside.
The Lights Go Down by Erika Mann
"Fine study—part fiction, part factual—of what life is like in an average German town under the Nazis." Only surviving edition …
Erika is a fascinating lesbian antifascist from the notorious antifascist family. This book was lost in the original German; the current German is a retranslation of this English (which only exists in the rare 1940 edition, but a PDF is available online).
El café sobre el volcán by Francisco Uzcanga Meinecke
El Berlín de entreguerras fue un hervidero artístico. Y su epicentro se situaba en el Romanisches Café. No es extraño …
Written by a modern professor of Germanistics. Reviews describe it as well-researched yet easy to read; negative reviews in fact say it's too superficial/nostalgic. Adding it mostly because I want to practice my Spanish.
Eine Frau zu sehen by Annemarie Schwarzenbach
Ein kurzer Text–knapp 60 Seiten, großzügig mit viel Weißraum gesetzt–das ist diese tagebuchartige Erzählung von Annemarie Schwarzenbach. Ihr Großneffe erklärt …
Schwarzenbach was in the same antifa clique as the Manns—she was in fact very into Erika Mann, but after a brief cling Erika left her for Therese, but she would long for her her whole life and… oh yeah, sorry. Book. It's a short memoir of being gay for girls in the mountains. Only published in 2008.
This one looks copiously well researched yet readable. In particular, it gives due attention to the lesbian and transvestite scenes.
Berlins lesbische Frauen by Magnus Hirschfeld, Ruth Margarete Roellig
Gilt als der erste Leitfaden zum lesbischen Nachtleben. Mit einem Vorwort von Magnus Hirschfeld.
Obwohl sie queer ist, die Autorin …
Author wrote propaganda novels for the Nazis after 1933. Her early stuff remains of historical interest for the documentation of the queer female scene—both lesbian and transvestite. Very difficult book to find, though.
