May 10, 1933

On that day the Institute for Sexual Research in Berlin run by Magnus Hirschfeld was raided and the books and all the research that was being conducted there. It was all burned.

I am writing this back on September 20, I attended an awards ceremony at the Elihu Burritt Library, Central Connecticut State University. A friend got an award Elihu Burritt Library Donor Recognition Evening. There were a number of old LGBTQ+ activists there and of course the talk turned to politics, what would happen if Trumps wins? My friend in his acceptance speech mentioned this day in 1933 and the talked turned to what you do if Trump makes us criminals?

On this day in 1933 (From  Museum’s Holocaust Encyclopedia)…

Beginning on May 10, 1933, Nazi-dominated student groups carried out public burnings of books they claimed were “un-German.” The book burnings took place in 34 university towns and cities. Works of prominent Jewish, liberal, and leftist writers ended up in the bonfires. The book burnings stood as a powerful symbol of Nazi intolerance and censorship.

1. The Nazi university student association created blacklists of works by literary and political figures such as Bertolt Brecht, Erich Maria Remarque, and Ernest Hemingway that were to be thrown into the flames.
2. In the aftermath of the book burnings, the Nazi regime raided book stores, libraries, and publishers’ warehouses to confiscate materials it deemed dangerous or “un-German.”
3. The Nazi book burnings provoked international criticism from intellectuals and the press. They saw it as a barbaric act that was out of keeping with a modern, civilized society.

I’m going to be saying this a lot during this post… “Does any of this sound familiar?”

This is what went up in flames.

"Synchronizing" Culture with Nazi Ideology
In 1933, Nazi German authorities aimed to synchronize professional and cultural organizations with Nazi ideology and policy (Gleichschaltung). Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Minister for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda, began an effort to bring German arts and culture in line with Nazi goals. The government purged cultural organizations of Jewish and other officials alleged to be politically suspect or who performed or created art works which Nazi ideologues labeled “degenerate.”

Fascists need scapegoats… Tag we’re it.

When I am writing this I don’t know who will win the elections, I hope it Harris. We are sitting at a table 4 senior LGBTQ+ activists talking about the “What if.” What would we do if Trump won? One said stick it out. One said Scandinavia to my grandparents home town. I agree with another… Canada.

Scientific America wrote…

The Forgotten History of the World's First Trans Clinic
The Institute for Sexual Research in Berlin would be a century old if it hadn’t fallen victim to Nazi ideology
By Brandy Schillace
May 10, 2021

Late one night on the cusp of the 20th century, Magnus Hirschfeld, a young doctor, found a soldier on the doorstep of his practice in Germany. Distraught and agitated, the man had come to confess himself an Urning—a word used to refer to homosexual men. It explained the cover of darkness; to speak of such things was dangerous business. The infamous “Paragraph 175” in the German criminal code made homosexuality illegal; a man so accused could be stripped of his ranks and titles and thrown in jail.

Hirschfeld understood the soldier’s plight—he was himself both homosexual and Jewish—and did his best to comfort his patient. But the soldier had already made up his mind. It was the eve of his wedding, an event he could not face. Shortly after, he shot himself.

They say that history repeats itself, well this sure looks like it is repeating.

Charlottesville

Book banning.
Oppressive laws.
Violence and bias crimes increasing.

So we asked ourselves where would we flee to or would you stay? It is a sad commentary when we have to think of a safe place to hide from the pogrom. 

 

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Now we know, "...talked turned to what you do if Trump makes us criminals?" I wrote that back in November after the election

It turned out not to be  idle gossip, but reality. There is all type of talk about fleeing the country, there are people actually leaving Republican states, there have been talk about interment camps like there were for WWII and the Japanese. And now we are asking for real, "So we asked ourselves where would we flee to or would you stay?"

There was a post the other day on Facebook, a Pride center here in Connecticut was looking for a home for a family from Texas with a trans child.

The other day I was a Community Conversation With Hate Crimes Investigative Unit in the West Hartford town hall and afterwards I was talking to an appellate judge, he said he was worried that Trump is ignoring judges orders.

The right have been stirring up hate against us to what end? Where are we on the cycle of hate? Will the pendulum ever return to normalcy or will this become the new norm? Will we become like Russia and China, and Hungary? Is an authoritarian oligarchs the lowest common denominator that we sink to? Are we entering a new global dark age?