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tv   Arts.21  Deutsche Welle  May 28, 2022 7:02am-7:31am CEST

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ah, ah, but he sort of knows that berlin is like the trans queer city. ah, the term transgender didn't really come into existence until the middle of the 20th century. this been my west. berlin really was a safe haven back then. that's true. you could live here without being bothered with the vibrant cosmopolitan city of berlin, drags l g, b t q i. people from around the world, including trans people. the transgender community has become increasingly visible
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in recent years. a blue trans people have always existed around the globe in every culture. berlin has played a key role in trans history for more than a century. now people come to the city from around the world so they can lead lives unconstrained by gender roles or conservative sexual norms. according to the city authorities, berlin is home to between 2 and 300000 queer people and estimated 8 percent of the population. it's not clear how many of them identify as trans or intersects many places cater for the l. g b t q i. community berlin, square magazines, eagles. soya has collated a map of relevant venues on its online portal. because the euler d e advice centers specialists, doctors,
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hundreds of party locations and cafes as well as cultural resources such as museums and bookshops. we're taking you on a 4 chapter journey through berlin's queer past and present one that explores one why trans asterisk people from around the globe come to berlin to day to how a scientific pioneer challenged prevailing sexual gnomes. more than a century ago. 3, how berlin achieved cult status for its quiz, seen in the 19 seventies and full what life is like for trans people in berlin to day and what problems they encounter. but what does being trans mean? well, 1st off, trans people are part of the queer community. queer is a collective term for people whose gender identity and or sexual orientation does not correspond to the heterosexual norm.
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trans asterisk is an umbrella term for people whose your identity differs from the sex that they were assigned at birth. ah, well then there is a huge range. there are some people who identify themselves, trans man or trans woman. and then recall this. they fit into gender binary and some people don't even defy what male or female gender. and they defend themselves, for example as number and eric chapter one. so why do trans asterisk people from all around the globe flock to bud in? we asked 2 young members of the trans community who have moved to the german capital. felicia maletchko, a tour guide in berlin's gay museum, which focuses on l. g, b, t, q. i, themes and culture. and holden, my dog, a, me,
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an opera singer from the u. s who has put down roots in berlin. it gets high. mike called fun. tish bon is fish out of i'll come to ya. just fancy. my name is holden, the dog, me. and i moved to germany in 2013 because germany has about a 3rd of the world's opera. and i am treasure under. i felt comfortable sort of relaxing myself as a trans person in berlin. hi, my name is felicia my pronouns. are she her? and i'm a transgender activist and tour guide in berlin. i came out in 2016 so 6 years ago and coming out was very mixed experience had a very positive experiences here in berlin, in the communities in space. i was moving in the area i was studying and the friends i had the social circles. i had most of that was very positive. felicia began transitioning in 2015 at the age of 20. she came to berlin because
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she wanted to live in a city where she could come out as trans. holden came to berlin from the united states for work, but it wasn't just a career move. there were also some highly personal reasons for the relocation. i think what attracts it trans and where people internationally to come to berlin is partially that there's a big, big community here already. and everybody sort of knows that berlin has like the trans queer city, like it has that international reputation for it already. when i think also because i don't want to call it a utopia, but it, it because it's not necessarily utopia, but it's like berlin is a really great place to be trans and queer, feels really, really safe. and i think a lot of the world is not safe. and so i think a lot of trans people come here because they know, basically they're going to be safe. and, and if they come from really oppressive countries or oppressive places, bob, it's going to be so much better here. i think that's a major part of it. there are huge opportunities for trans people here. there is
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a chance for community just in places like this is we are at now are in other community spaces all across the city. things trans people in the rest of germany often don't have one, don't have that degree. which is the reason why many trans people moved to berlin in order to live their life. berlin 1st became a queer haven over a century ago. that long history has helped give to days city its colorful and inclusive reputation. but the terms we use now to describe queer people are comparatively new. the term transgender didn't really come into existence until the middle of the 20th century. is not to say that triple weren't experiencing discomfort and marathon gender dysphoria or feeling a desire to express gender more broadly or more or differently than than society. i
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would have wanted or expected. oh, tempted to have a pioneer challenge, sexual norms more than a 100 years ago. berlin became internationally famous in the early 20th century for its hedonistic, decadent night life. but it was also where the 1st groundbreaking research on sexuality and gender identity was conducted. and the 1st sex reassignment surgery, magnus, her spelled, was the driving force. he was a pioneer in sexology and one of the 1st people to scientifically investigate sexual and gender identities. in 1919, he set up the institute for sexual science in berlin. he coined the now outdated term transvestite for people who described themselves as trans asterisk to day. he actually researched the entire spectrum of gender identity and sexuality. he assisted people in his practice as
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a doctor to try to come to terms. he gave people a vocabulary about what they were experiencing, and he offered actual assistance in the case of, for example, of trans men and women. he helped them with, with early on gender confirmation surgery with homeland therapy. with 6 i tree with tactical meshes, like, ah harriman, the fool, so he really didn't make a difference in all of a people's lives. boom. james conway is the translator of berlin's 3rd sex, written by magnus hesh feld. it was published in 1900 and was one of the 1st works about berlin's queer subculture he ish failed, was himself part of this community, and wrote about venues like the queer night club and cabaret el dorado. it was later targeted by the nazis before that berlin was a place of freedom and experimentation in the viola era. you have really elva who
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is known to us through the um, the book and the film, the danish girl, the movie, the danish girl from the year 2015 retails the story of lily albert, the danish trans person, an artist was a media sensation. she was one of the 1st intersects people to undergo gender reassignment surgery. in 1930, she came to germany for the procedure the over came from denmark and consult with bruce levels. his throat found, he guided her through tend to confirmation surgery. magnus, here she failed, wasn't just a doctor and a scientist. he was an activist campaigning for the rights of queer people. this campaign included a revolutionary berlin law from the year 19 o 9 co drafted by hears felled. it granted trans people the right to dress as they pleased in public and in the workplace. they no longer needed to fear arrest for
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public order offences. yes, fed haute mid in pull inside president and deal else. god, it does. the 1st world negotiated a deal with the police chief, which looked like this, an athlete herschel would issue a medical certificate ignore and a diagnosis which red transvestite on 50 me diesel duke nausea git. with this diagnosis, the trans person will go to the police headquarters and get a photo id stating that they are transvestite, interstate, these episodes and plants 15 and possibly that soon, and then the document would be stamped by the police chief div upon spelled out after starter life his company put it side on his the if this trans person walking down the street and the police stopped them, say they could show their transvestite id and the police would refrain from arresting and charging them hooked up an up c, n c fester name, one unsecure the 1st. in other words, to ireland, this was a waiver,
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beating legal persecution help local. and that was an important milestone set at 19 o. 9 on her sh built initiatives. yeah. watson handled knowing what zach gazette sort of has failed to convince her team here spelled was ahead of his time. but not everyone agreed with his ambitious reforms. as far as the nazis were concerned, he embodied every thing they despised about the uncommon weimar republic. when they seized power in 1933, the nazis ransacked the research library at here spelled institute. it was one of the 1st targets of the nazi book burning program. that diesel bishop or pedal for the d vista fall knocked us hills at this book. learning that from the bust of mark masters felt it was carried over the heads of the nazis as they marched towards the bonfire, due to fear. he meant institute miss seizing these trophies from the institute. there was a way of showing that the spirit of the bye mar,
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era must be extinguished, wi symbolically casting them buzzed, and the entire contents of the library into the flames went dusk. isn't the swift good in dust? foiled of walton built? i was almost a pagan ritual to cleanse germany of quote unquote, unclean tendencies. madness her spelled was on an international lecture tour when the nazi came to power and laid his institute to waste. he never went back to germany. after all, he knew that as a gay jewish social democrat, he would never be safe. in the 3rd rush language, his phone died, a broken law. he died on his birth out end of this. it is difficult to that, but he died having seen his life's work literally going up in flames. hash felt reformist, influence was lost during the nazi dictatorship. berlin's
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free spirit disappeared for decades and with it the freedoms that queer people had fought so hard to gain. but then came the 19 sixties and seventies chapter 3, how berlin became a cult location for the queer community in the seventy's when berlin was still divided by a wall, there were places in both parts of the city where transgender and queer people could gather and express themselves, i'll viet in different ways. as of responding madame at south west berlin really was a safe haven back then when that's true, then you could live here without being bothered. you're wrong, we didn't really have any rights, but we could get everything we needed is copyrighted. there was a trans community which meant we could communicate with each other. this is scott, there were already basic networks in place, which is important because you need information. and that existed in west berlin was in this, but the trans community was small as it existed here. and you didn't have to feel
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that you would just on your own, obscene or man was sinister sca food harm yolanda to resign. ah norah occurred as written a book about her life story. as a, as in the time 63 when i came to west berlin in 1973, it was the 1st place i had ever heard of trans people consent to own. i learned there were people who were trans him and that was very important for me because i saw that it was impossible that these people actually did exist as a mentioned to certain god. now there was a nightly drag show, which was also something really special about it. but for me, it was also an opportunity to go and see trans people your transmission to see if not every one on stage was trans. allen, there were also gay man who had made a career of performing and dragged was promoted. but there were also trans women performing and seeing them was very, very special for me because i was able to see that it was possible to live that way . who the best known
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trans performer at the time was ro, me hard was tardies for one of the reasons why disreputable west berlin became a hot spot for misfits and the art community. the dutch national arrived in berlin in the 1970s. before that she'd been a dancer at the famous paris night club alcazar, seeing viner cuz she was an absolute idol. of course, she looked amazing and that alone made her role model. if you were being in 974 ro, me hug, opened her travesty club. she wrote me hug in west berlin. it quickly became a popular venue with those thinking a more open, inclusive night life experience. ah, this was when ro, me hug started dating david bowie, the singer like to play with gender roles and adopted an androgynous look in rebel
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rebel, he sings about a mother who's annoyed by her child's confusion. a boy at the same time dancer marlo la fantastic, was lured by berlin's free spirit and arrived from the united states. she loved the city so much, she ended up staying for 30 years. she also worked with ro, me hard for a time where she was gone coming from berry and she was stanley with a name. and she came to say new. ready work that think oh my came to the quite enjoy of ah, but for shay ro, me hug. there was the she new berlin oldest, clear cabaret, or travesty theatre as they are called, famed throughout europe. it opened in 1958 and closed in 2008.
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i can try to work in cabaret. she knew my be a region, the owner and founder of the capitol and i left on new york. i went to fair lin at the my current job where she knew it was a year. then i and i'm standing working an alert lobsting cavalry at the either mom, a cabaret, and especially cross dressing were in vogue at the time. marlo felt more comfortable and accepted as a trans woman in performer in germany than in the united states. now, hey, jim. and we just i thought i would check and the girls we just
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terminated again. they're battling. but berlin says jennifer. i like it. and jenny was very exciting in a wall there. wrong minded. fantastic people. i love travesty. ah. oh. the night clubs and cabarets shade to west berlin's image around the world. ah, in east berlin, there was also a small connected queer scene in communist east germany. nadia schellenberg lived openly as a trans person and was an activist in the queer community groups. one of her main meeting places was the sun tugs club, which still exists today. ah, as rebellion via spelling was always a melting pot for all kinds of people in east germany for, for intellectuals,
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homosexuals, artists and miss fed them over. there wasn't much information in the eighty's and from one, neither in west germany, nor in the east to go on read also wish. and what you did see in the media was almost always presented in a very negative lights, a man in women's clothing. i think that was something out of the movies on clyde, on the popular infirmary brooklyn, in east berlin sher lotta fun miles door was a pioneer in the trans community. she began collecting every day objects in the 19 fifties and exhibiting them in the boots house. miles door of the manor house became a villa, manian era museum, and a famous meeting place for east berlin's queer community on coming all the topic. i feel after coming out i met shallow and that's how i found the community in via luncheon was already well known in the east german scene. but after german reunification, people's awareness about her grew a lot. 16, a sec law. charlotte of and miles door received the federal order of merit durham
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these highest order in 1092. she passed away in 2002, she to paved the way for 2 days more tolerant to berlin. at the gay museum in berlin, and exhibition is dedicated to the efforts of trans activists like charlotte to fun miles dwarf and nadia schellenberg chapter 4. how do you trans people live in berlin to day and what problems do they face? there are many spaces in berlin, a can act a safe harbors for trans capable, but not universally as video as a whole. is huge dimension of head crimes and violence of discrimination that we experience in the streets in our workplaces and in our social environments. it's difficult to gauge the exact extent of violence against queer people until recently,
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only a fraction of anti l g b t q i crime was recorded by the authorities in 2020, however, berlin became the 1st german state to publish an annual report monitoring the homophobic and transfer bit violence in 2021. the victim support center monet. oh, registered a spike and reports. despite an estimated 80 to 90 percent of incidence going unreported, the center recorded 731 cases of insults, threats, and attacks against transgender people, gays, and lesbians. in this in between phase where like they can't tell if you're a woman or a man, people get really angry. they get angry that they can't figure it out. you know? and so now people would spit at you or had like, um, like boys would like square water. me was quick arms or something like that. you know, like that stuff like a happened time, went on, i was walking home late at night and a boy was riding his bicycle and he was just like harassing me and is really scary . it was really late at night and there was maybe around here and it is not only
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the fear of hate crime that weighs heavily on members of the trans camille. those who hope for fast and uncomplicated medical treatment in berlin may also be disappointed. and if we're talking about germany specifically, then there are the, there is the issue of massive barriers for trans people when they're entering the medical system, looking for gender farming treatments. some of these barriers may include extensive waiting period before access to hormone replacement therapies are and kind of other medical procedures there long waiting periods with discriminating and humiliating processes that are part of that. despite many obstacles, trends, people are becoming more visible in society. in 2021 voters elected the 1st 2 trans women to the german parliament, the bonus tag internationally the spotlighted on hollywood stars, like elliot page or mikaela, j rodriguez, who raise awareness about diversity. there were many decades of activism and
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resistance and risk taking by many people, particularly by people who could not, who could not hide who they were and who can't hide, who they are. oftentimes, it's people who don't fit into the categories and who can't, who don't have the option of hiding. right? it's, it's people who who are trans and present has trans. i think the history off like the queer community in berlin is still important till today because like our cheese and family, our ancestors did a lot of work, like all so and the very harsh condition. and that seeing leg is their work and their passion, which allows us today to have this spaces to have knowledge and to have the idea of what it could mean being trans,
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being queer. and i am very thankful and i think leg is one of the important part of been queered to honor the people. yeah. who have worked for it. was that for it? well suffered for it and a thing, it's important to acknowledge that every single time you're being out and queer. although the struggle for more tolerance and diversity continues, the cities past offers them hope. i think as a transportation and berlin, what i think ice, i see it's becoming more of a sort of interconnected carrying system. so i see things like that getting even better in berlin. berlin is definitely home and i, i would like it to stay as my home. i know ha long clock. he gets hawk da vice small and lot are my newest daughters don't the fall was like munsey. i expect that as an artist, as like a singer. i will probably move a couple of times for jobs,
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but berlin will always be home burned in the rainbow capital. it might not be a trans person's paradise yet. but the city remains the refuge for queer people seeking an open community. just as it has been for over a century. ah with
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