Current language: English

Von Zwirn, Zwang und queerer Praxis im NS

Date details

Date Wednesday, 19/August/2026 16:00 bis 17:00
Venue Schwules Museum
Address Lützowstraße 73, 10785 Berlin-Tiergarten

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Public transportation

Underground
- U Kurfürstenstr.
  0.5km
  - U1
  - U3
- U Nollendorfplatz
  0.5km
  - U1
  - U3
  - U4
  - U2
Bus
- Hiroshimasteg
  0.2km
  - M29
- Köbisstr.
  0.4km
  - M29
- Gedenkstätte Dt. Widerstand
  0.4km
  - M29
- Lützowplatz
  0.4km
  - 100
  - 106
  - 187
  - M29
  - N26
- Berlin, Frobenstr.
  0.5km
  - 187
  - 106
- U Kurfürstenstr.
  0.5km
  - 187
  - M48
  - M85
  - N1
  - N2
- Lützowstr./Potsdamer Str.
  0.6km
  - M48
  - M85
  - N1
  - N2
- U Nollendorfplatz
  0.6km
  - 106
  - 187
  - M19
  - N1
  - N2
  - N26
- Schillstr.
  0.6km
  - 106
  - 187
  - M29
  - 100
  - M46
- Potsdamer Brücke
  0.6km
  - M29
  - M48
  - M85
  - N1
  - N2
- Tiergartenstr.
  0.7km
  - 200
- Nordische Botschaften/Adenauer-Stiftung
  0.7km
  - 100
  - 106
  - 187
  - N26
  - 200
- U Bülowstr.
  0.7km
  - 106
  - 187
  - M19
  - N1
  - N2
- Corneliusbrücke
  0.7km
  - 200
- An der Urania
  0.8km
  - 106
  - 187
  - M29
  - M46

Weekend Tips: What to Do This Weekend in Berlin

August 14 to 16, 2026: Events, festivals, exhibitions and more things to do for your perfect weekend in Berlin. more

On Thread, Coercion, and Queer Practices Under the Nazis

Hella Knabe and Her Clientele

A package of fine tailoring sent to Glogau, a few handwritten lines from Kiel, an underground press in a Berlin tailor’s shop—in a conversation as part of Cruising the Countryside, we’ll guide you through a forgotten, nationwide network of trans people (who referred to themselves as “travestites”) during the Nazi era. The focus is on the Berlin seamstress Hella Knabe, who, through her mail-order business during the Weimar Republic, supplied her customers in cities and rural areas with custom-tailored leather corsets, underwear, wigs, shoes, and other specialized goods. At a time when LGBTIQ* subculture was being systematically destroyed, she sent her “customer newsletters” far beyond Berlin. For this, Hella Knabe was prosecuted beginning in 1937.

The surviving criminal case files from the trial against Hella Knabe now constitute a rare collection documenting solidarity and mutual support within community structures during the Nazi era. Hella Knabe was accused of leading a nationwide “transvestite network” and distributing pornographic material. The thank-you letters from her clients preserved in the criminal files show that community structures and networks existed not only in urban centers but extended far into rural areas. In the thank-you letters Hella Knabe received, her clients shared experiences, thoughts, and feelings regarding their gender presentation and gender identity.

As part of the exhibition “Cruising the Countryside – Queer Life in the Countryside,” Kai* Brust and Krischan Macioszek will discuss Hella Knabe, her clients, the (un)explored realities of trans* people’s lives under National Socialism, and gender-sensitive research.

Meeting point: At the exhibition space

Price info: You only need to pay the admission fee to the Schwules Museum itself

Price: €10.00

Reduced price: €5.00

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