The only Berlin Homosexual group of the 1950ies fighted to abolish § 175, supported by public figures and offered help to homosexuals seeking legal advice. The 1950ies were for many homosexuals an era of new hopes for legalization and abolition of § 175 which was severed by the Nazis. They did not come true with the policies of restoration by Konrad Adenauer; in fact there were as many judical inquiries concerning § 175 during the 1950ies as there had been during the Nazi-era.

The GfRdS tried to go on from the emancipation movement of the Weimar Republic and refered to the works of Magnus Hirschfeld, whom many of the members had known personally. Central object of the GfRdS was the abolition of § 175. In contrast to other groups of this era they also engaged for legalization of consensual sex between men older than 16 year.
This lied in the responsibility of the lawyer Werner Hesse. His office in Berlin-Schöneberg was known far beyond the borders of the city as a place where help was offered homosexuals seeking legal advice (contemporary quotation: „Gibt’s Prozesse, geh‘ zu Hesse!“ – „If there are procedures go to Hesse!“). The GfRdS got support by personalities of sciences, policies and cultural life as the sexual scientist Rudolf Klimmer (Dresden), the cultural philosopher Richard Heinrich Grützmacher and the director Ludwig Berger.

The exhibition depicts the Berlin homosexual scene of the postwar era. Shown are documents like the files of the GfRdS found in the state archive of Berlin, letters and photogaphs, paintings and drawings by Werner Heldt, Renée Sintenis, Herbert Tobias and others.

On the exhibition was published Heft 3 (No. 3) in the series Hefte des Schwulen Museums by Andreas Pretzel by rosa Wunkel press (70 pages and many illustrations).

More about the GfRdS and the 1950s Berlin:

From the WhK to the Gesellschaft für Reform des Sexualrechts e.V. (Registered Society for the Reform of Sexual Laws) 1948 - 1951

The Gesellschaft für Reform des Sexualrechts e.V. (Society for Reform of Sexual Laws registered association) 1951 - 1960

The Struggle for Law and Against Persecution

Gay People - promotion, surveys, self-identity

Gay Locations in Berlin

Ronald Schernikau, who died in October 1991 at the age of 31 years from AIDS, was communist and writer. He was known by his „Kleinstadtnovelle“ (small town novella), which he published at the age of 17 and became a cult-book. He finished his main work „Legende“ (legend) two weeks before his death, the book was published posthumous in 1999. The exhibition presents life and work of Ronald M. Schernikau and gives him a deserved laudatory.

Previous Exhibitions