A poem by Adele Haas about her imprisonment and forced photography

This poem was written by Adele Haas, who was intersex, in Koblenz on September 22, 1935, while imprisoned because of the suspicion of having passed on a sexually transmitted disease. During this imprisonment three forced photographs were taken of Adele. She talks about this in her poem as well.

During Nazi rule, Adele Haas spent almost five years in various concentration camps. She was liberated from Bergen Belsen concentration camp on April 15, 1945, close to death. Soon afterwards, however, she was arrested again by the French military government, because she was believed to be a spy and/or thief. She was abused several times in French captivity.

Forced photographs were often taken as part of police investigations and court proceedings, as well as in medical institutions such as psychiatric hospitals. These include mugshots and full body shots. People perceived as gender nonconforming, especially trans and intersex people, were often forced to pose both in their preferred clothing and naked. The aim of putting these photographs next to each other was often to supposedly “uncover” the bodies of those affected. In some cases, photos of the same person in clothing with male and female connotations were placed side by side.