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Forcefully Re-Dressed

Excerpt, text typed with typewriter: "Feb 14, 1937 Always wears a man's shirt as a blouse. When it was taken away from her, she howled and wailed. Very dubious friendship with Therese Schneider, both have to be constantly separated. March 7, 1937 Stole shaving razors and self-ties today with Krieger from the men's wardrobe. Works in the garden, she is quiet and obedient towards the sisters."

© Archive branch of the LWV archive at the Hadamar memorial.

Daily Reports on _Kohlmann from the Psychiatry

_Kohlmann sits on a chair in a private apartment in a skirt, blouse and checked blazer, a cigarette in their hand.

© Archive branch of the LWV archive at the Hadamar memorial.

_Kohlmann

This daily report in _Kohlmann's medical files from the psychiatric hospital in Hadamar shows, that _Kohlmann's preferred male connoted clothing was taken away from them. The fact that _Kohlmann and another person later stole razors and bow ties from the psychiatries men's wardrobe can be read as an act of queer resistance in an environment that sought to destroy any gender nonconformity. Still a minor and coming from a working-class household, sexual dissoluteness and a lack of intelligence had been attributed to _Kohlmann. As a result, they were later forcibly sterilized.

Through police and court regulations, gender nonconforming people could be prohibited from living in their preferred gender presentation. In detention situations, such as in concentration camps or in medical facilities such as psychiatric hospitals, they were also forced to clarify the gender assigned to them at birth. For example, their preferred clothing was taken away. Some transfeminine people, like Käte Rogalli, had their hair cut against their will.

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