#Selli Engler

[yourdailyqueer]

Selli Engler (deceased)

Gender: Female

Sexuality: Lesbian

DOB: 27 September 1899 

RIP: 30 April 1972

Ethnicity: White - German

Occupation: Writer, activist, club owner

Note 1: Was a leading activist of the lesbian movement in Berlin from about 1924 to 1931

Note 2: In addition to her work as a writer, she organized ladies' clubs to allow lesbian women to gather without distraction. From 1926 to 1927, she ran the weekly "Damen-BIF-Klub", and in September 1929, she opened the ladies' club Erâto on the premises of the Zauberflöte, a well-known gay and lesbian venue.

[weimarlesbianisms]

Die Freundin (The Girlfriend: The Ideal Friendship Journal)

Die Freundin, the first magazine aimed at an explicitly female audience, was published from 1924 to 1933 by Friedrich Radszuweit.1 Despite a male publisher, there were several female contributors—including Selli Engler and Lotte Hahm—were well known among the lesbian scene of Berlin or even publishers of lesbian-oriented magazines themselves. The covers of this magazine, seen above, included nude women and advertisements for lesbian clubs in Berlin, such as Violetta.

Endnotes:

1. Whisnant, Queer Identities and Politics in Germany, 114.

Images:

1. April 30 1930 edition of Die Freundin. Wikimedia Commons.

2. 1929 edition of Die Freundin. Originally Figure 12 in Whisnant, Clayton John. Queer Identities and Politics in Germany: A History, 1880-1945. New York, NY: Harrington Park Press, 2016. 114.

[umasabirah]

Sappho as Muse in Nazi Germany

Did you write for Sellie Engler?

Did you whisper in her ear,

Did you speak to Lotte Hahm

Things she would maybe need to hear?

.

Did you strike fear in the Stasi,

Of woman loving woman, 

An offence to the Nazis

They'd try to silence one by one.

.

Did you visit Violetta,

Dance with ladies in Berlin,

Were you there when love was shattered

Like the glass they trampled in.

.

Are you here with us this day

As all the terrors rise again,

Will you be there as we’re taken,

Give us strength to rise within.

[weimarlesbianisms]

Lotte Hahm

Lotte Hahm was a one of the most visible lesbian activists active in Weimar Germany and owner of several bars.1 She was the owner of the Violetta club advertised in Die Freundin. in 1928, she joined forces with Fredreich Radszuweit’s BfM (Bund für Menschenrecht or Federation for Human Rights).2 Other well-known figures had also joined this group, including Selli Engler. Hahm strongly identified with transvestites and lesbians, forming a group for male and female transvestites in 1929.3 By 1931, she had BfM and opened a new club called Manuela.4 She was arrested in 1933 after the father of her girlfriend denounced her.5 She was held in the Moringen concentration camp until 1938.6 Upon her release, she remained active in the gay scene, opening another club.7

Photo: Lotte Hahm. Spinnboden Lesbenarchiv und Bibliothek e.V. via website.

1. Lybeck, Desiring Emancipation, 151;  Whisnant, Queer Identities and Politics in Germany, 111.

2. Whisnant, Queer Identities and Politics in Germany, 111. 

3. Whisnant, Queer Identities and Politics in Germany, 111.

4. Lybeck, Desiring Emancipation, 166.

5. Lybeck, Desiring Emancipation, 187; Whisnant, Queer Identities and Politics in Germany, 230.

6. Lybeck, Desiring Emancipation, 187; Whisnant, Queer Identities and Politics in Germany, 230.

7. Lybeck, Desiring Emancipation, 187.

[weimarlesbianisms]

Die BiF (Die Blätter Idealer Frauenfreundschaften, or Papers on Ideal Female Friendships)

Die BiF was a lesbian magazine published by Selli Engler between 1925/6 and 1927. One of Engler’s goals with this magazines was to encourage her readers to get involved in activism in support of gay rights.1 This short lived magazine was the only one among its competition to be entirely run by women, but unfortunately it only had 3 issues. The cover of the final issue is pictured above.

Photo: Cover of issue 3 (last one) of "Die BIF - Blätter Idealer Frauenfreundschaften", 1927 via Wikimedia Commons.

1. Lybeck, Desiring Emancipation, 164.

[weimarlesbianisms]

Selli Engler

Sellma ‘Selli’ Enlger was the founder of the lesbian magazine Die BiF (Die Blätter Idealer Frauenfreundschaften), this first lesbian magazine for women by women in Weimar Germany.1 After her magazine’s last edition in 1927, she continued writing for other magazines, such as Die Freundin. As a very public figure in the activist movement, she used her magazine to encourage her lesbian readers to join organizations dedicated to fighting for gay rights.2 Despite this, she also advocated for lesbians and other women loving women to restrict this attraction to private spaces and adherence to rigid expression of identity.3 After her magazine ended she also attempted to establish a club, Erato, but this was also short lived, closing after a few months.4 In 1933, Engler reappears in the historical record. She penned a play titled “Heil Hitler!” and sent it directly to the Fürher.4 The motivation behind this is unclear, as is her degree of commitment to the Nazi party.5 She died in relatively obscurity in Berlin in 1927.6

Photo: Selma ‘Selli’ Engler. Die Freundin, 5. Jgg, Nr. 16, 16.10.1929 via Wikimedia Commons.

1. Whisnant, Queer Identities and Politics in Germany, 116.

2. Lybeck, Desiring Emancipation, 152, 164.

3. Lybeck, Desiring Emancipation, 194.

4. Lybeck, Desiring Emancipation, 153.

4. Lybeck, Desiring Emancipation, 187.

5. Lybeck, Desiring Emancipation, 187

6. Lybeck, Desiring Emancipation, 187.

[xxconnection]

we can all be like Selli and seek out new spaces for women to gather! it doesn't have to be a club! maybe it starts with a discord server or a recurring meetup at a coffee shop! it is so important that we gather! any woman can start a womens group! that means you too! thank you Selli Engler!!!

Selli Engler (deceased)

Gender: Female

Sexuality: Lesbian

DOB: 27 September 1899 

RIP: 30 April 1972

Ethnicity: White - German

Occupation: Writer, activist, club owner

Note 1: Was a leading activist of the lesbian movement in Berlin from about 1924 to 1931

Note 2: In addition to her work as a writer, she organized ladies' clubs to allow lesbian women to gather without distraction. From 1926 to 1927, she ran the weekly "Damen-BIF-Klub", and in September 1929, she opened the ladies' club Erâto on the premises of the Zauberflöte, a well-known gay and lesbian venue.