Guest post: Deutungshoheit
Originally a comment by Sonderval on And a crime in Germany?
Actually, the situation is more complicated than described in the article by Tagesspiegel.
A biology PhD student (who is the focus of a lot of TRA criticism and hate since she dared trying to give a talk about the biology of sex) said that the Nazis did not pursue trans people. TRA activists then accused her on Twitter of being a holocaust denier.
The court clearly said that she is not a holocaust denier in the normal sense or anything like that, but that if you are a trans activist focused on this topic only (and only then), your opinion that the Nazis did pursue trans people is an opinion you are entitled to, even if it is not factually correct.
The court also stated that trans activists are trying to re-frame the holocaust to center trans people (“Deutungshoheit” is the wonderful German word for this). And because they do this, they are free to call you a holocaust denier if you say that trans people were not targeted by the holocaust.
And as Lady Mondegreen said, being a transvestite was not a problem in Nazi Germany (as you can see by the fact that you could even get a certificate for that), there are also lots of pictures of Wehrmacht soldiers dressing as women for fun and giggles. Being homosexual (especially gay) was what the Nazis persecuted as Lady Mondegreen also said.
Good grief, I echo. There is an article in the German Wikipedia on Marie-Luise Vollbrecht that seems (given my limited German) to give a balanced account. However, there doesn’t seem to be one in the English Wikipedia. There ought to be, as the story is appalling. From the days of the German Democratic Republic onwards I knew several people who worked at Humboldt University. Nothing so disgusting would have happened 20 years ago.
In my years (1970 to I don’t know; it just faded away) of teaching biochemistry I never had occasion to talk about the biology of sex, as my skills, such as they were, were in a more mathematical direction. However, at Birmingham in the early 1980s I did introduce groups of final-year students to ideas of biochemical evolution, something that was virtually not taught at that time. Nowadays I might expect attention from creationist fanatics (not nearly as bad as trans fanatics, I must admit). In the five or so years I was doing this I only encountered one student who said she didn’t believe in evolution because it conflicted with her religious beliefs, which I suppose were Christian, though I don’t know. However, she didn’t report me to the authorities or try to punish me in any way.
Interesting. Thank you, Sonderval.