Glossary

In the National Socialist ideology, people were excluded on the basis of racism and antisemitism. For this, the Nazis drew on the pseudosciences (i.e. not real sciences) of the so-called “Rassenhygiene" (racial hygiene) and “Rassentheorie" (racial theory) that had emerged at the end of the 19th century. According to those, people were divided into different “races” and hierarchized. The supposedly most valuable people were referred to as “arisch" (aryan) or “Arier" (aryans). The term is actually older and was originally used for different groups of people who spoke different, related languages ​​(most European and some Asian languages). Under Nazi rule, the German people were thought of as a white, Christianity influenced “aryan race”. The categories “arisch” or “deutschblütig" (of German blood), jewish, black, etc. were conceptualized as biologist categories, recorded by the state and researched by medicine. Jews, black people and people of color, as well as Sinti*zze and Rom*nja were referred to as “Nichtarier" (non-aryans), violently excluded and murdered.

Out of respect for those affected from the past, their self-chosen names are used in this exhibition if they are known. Some first names are preceded by an asterisk (*).

An asterisk was placed in front of the first name especially when only the person's directive name is known. The curation writes the asterisk in front of the directive name especially when more recently written documents suggest that a person continued to use the directive name in private. In some cases, one or more self-chosen first names as well as a directive name may be known. Here, too, the names are marked with an asterisk if it is not certain whether people continued to identify with the names later in life. The question of which names should be used in each case is based on the latest private use of a name and the greatest possible self-determination of those affected.

The use of the asterisk cannot provide a clear statement about actual self-identification with a name. There can be numerous reasons behind the private use of it, which do not necessarily have to have anything to do with identity. This includes, for example, postal accessibility, even in private correspondence.

cis or cisgender is a term describing people who identify with the gender assigned to them at birth.

Crossdressing describes the act of wearing clothing and other products, such as makeup and jewelry, that, according to societal norms, does not match a persons gender assigned at birth.

A name officially registered after birth, with which trans and intersex people do not identify themselves and which they no longer use for themselves, is understood as a “deadname”. Deadnaming refers to the violent and outing practice in which other people refer to those affected using the deadname instead of their chosen name.

In this exhibition, the curation has decided to black out their deadnames out of respect for those affected. The references in the sources provide sufficient information for historians to carry out their own further research.

With the term directive name the queer-historian Kai* Brust describes names from a short list of first names from which trans and some intersex people had to choose when officially changing their first names, which was possible from 1920. These include names such as Alex, Toni, Gerd and Theo, which in the contemporary context had both male and female connotations. Due to the authoritative manner in which these names were given and for a clearer distinction from deadnames and chosen names, they are referred to in this exhibition as directive names.

Endo or endosex refers to people whose physical sex characteristics correspond to the social and medical norms of female or male bodies.

The "Erbgesundheitsgerichte" (Hereditary Health Courts) were established under National Socialism in 1934. They were responsible for deciding whether people should be sterilized according to the “Gesetz zur Verhütung erbkranken Nachwuchses" (Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring, also known as the Hereditary Health Act). During their work they commissioned over 400,000 sterilizations on people who were considered harmful to the German "Volkskörper". This primarily included people who were declared disabled, as well as people who were persecuted for racist and antisemitic reasons.

Eugenics is the name given to a pseudoscience (i.e. not a real science) that emerged in the second half of the 18th century. Dedicated to exploring the “quality” of a nation, it was ableist and racist. In German-speaking countries, the research field was also known as “Rassenhygiene" (racial hygiene). During the Nazi era, eugenic laws and directives were passed, with the help of which disabled people and Jewish people in particular were murdered and sterilized.

Gender affirming surgery refers to operations that trans people undergo in order to feel more comfortable in their bodies, as, after such operations, they are often better able to live in accordance with their gender identity. In the 1920s and 1930s, this mainly included genital-altering operations for transfeminine people and mastectomies (removal of the breast) for transmasculine people.

The term gender-nonconforming refers to actions or statements made by people who do not fit within contemporary socially accepted gender norms of the gender assigned to them. The attribution of gender nonconformity is a subjective and usually violent attribution practice within a contemporary socially accepted system of gender norms such as clothing and behaviour norms.

Gender presentation describes gender-connoted aspects of a person's external self-presentation. This includes, for example, clothing, make-up, hairstyle and hair length, as well as gestures and facial expressions. These aspects do not have the same meaning in every society. In this exhibition the term gender presentation refers to the binary gender norms that prevailed in German-speaking countries during the Nazi regime.

The Gestapo (abbreviation for: Geheime Staatspolizei (Secret State Police)) was an independent political police force, separate from the classic police authority, which under Nazi rule was primarily responsible for the persecution of political opponents. In addition to opposition members, those opponents also included other groups of people, such as Jews, homosexuals, people classified as "asocial", Sinti*zze and Rom*nja, as well as all sorts of people who did not behave in accordance with Nazi ideology. The Gestapo was closely linked to the SS. It was primarily through denunciations that the Gestapo was able to find and combat opinions that did not conform to Nazi ideology.

The “Homosexuellendezernat" (Homosexual Department) at the Berlin criminal police was responsible for suspected cases of Section 175 of the RStGB (Reich Criminal Code). According to Section 175, homosexual acts between people who were perceived as men were prosecuted. It also dealt with trans people, especially transfeminine people, as they were often assumed to be gay men because of their non-conforming gender presentation. Depending on the time period during the Nazi regime, it was referred to with different abbreviations. Among them was for example KI M II 1 (1933-1935). In August/September 1935, the “Homosexual Department” was incorporated into the Gestapo. There was also a kind of “Homosexual Department” in Hamburg.

In this exhibition, intersex is not used as an attribution of identity, but rather as an analytical term. Intersex refers to people whose physical sex characteristics do not correspond to the social and medical norms of female or male bodies.

Misgendering is a violent practice in which a person is referred to using pronouns, salutations, and other gender-marking terms other than their chosen once.

A mugshot is a specific type of identification photograph. The police usually take two to three portrait photos of the person, one from the front, from the side, and sometimes one from the other side, usually including some kind of identification number or personal data on the bottom.

Passing describes a state in which trans people are not perceived as such because they have been able to conform so much to the prevailing gender norms that they are read as cisgender.

The SS (abbreviation for "Schutzstaffel" (protection squadron) was an independently operating military-like organization under National Socialist rule. It's members violently enforced the National Socialist ideology. The SS administered the concentration camps from 1934 onwards, was not subject to any legal review and abused and murdered thousands of people during the Nazi regime.

In this exhibition, the gender-neutral pronoun “they/them” is used for people whose gender identity has not been clarified by the historical sources reviewed so far.

Gender-neutral pronouns such as “they” can indicate that a person challenged binary gender norms through actions or statements in a historical context. There should be justifiable evidence within the historical sources for the use of this method. After all, attributing a neutral pronoun to a person can also be a repressive practice. The use of gender neutral neopronouns should therefore be understood as purely methodological.

Trans refers to people who did not (or not fully) identify with the gender assigned to them at birth. In this exhibition, trans is not used as an attribution of identity, but rather as an analytical term.

The term “trans” was not used in the contemporary context as we use it today. Nevertheless, the meanings of “trans” today and the historical term “transvestite” back then are not that different. “Trans” is perhaps an even more accurate translation of the meaning of the historical term “transvestite” than the term “transvestite” itself. Today the term "transvestite" is mostly used for people who are solely interested in clothing, that according to social norms does not relate to the gender assigned to them at birth. At the time of the Nazi period, the term "transvestite" had already undergone a transition, since it had first been coined by the sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld in 1910. Similar to the meaning of "trans" today, it no longer referred only to people that were crossdressing. As legal norms and medical possibilities had been expanding, especially in the 1920s, it instead referred also to people who did not identify with the gender assigned to them at birth and who were striving for social and sometimes also medical transition.

More on analytical use: Chris Mowat u. a., Historicising trans pasts. An introduction, in: Gend. Hist. 36. 2024, p. 3–13.

Transfeminine refers to people who did not (or not fully) identify with the male gender assigned to them at birth. In this exhibition, transfeminine is not used as an attribution of identity, but rather as an analytical term.

Transmasculine refers to people who did not (or not fully) identify with the female gender assigned to them at birth. In this exhibition, transmasculine is not used as an attribution of identity, but rather as an analytical term.

“Transvestit” (eng.: transvestite) is a term that was, in German, first defined by Magnus Hirschfeld in his book “Die Transvestiten" (The Transvestites) in 1910. The word consists of the Latin prefix “trans” (beyond or above) and “vestis” (clothing). Hirschfeld used it to describe people who preferred to wear clothing that, according to contemporary social ideas, did not match the gender assigned to the person concerned at birth.

In contrast to the word “trans”, the term “transvestite” is now used by only a few people as a self-description. The younger trans generation often sees it as very derogatory.

If we find evidence of a gender nonconforming identity but not the chosen first name, omitting the deadname can prevent deadnaming. An underscore in front of the last name is intended to create space for a potential chosen first name.

“In summary, I can only explain that my innermost wish has always been to live as a woman rather than as a man.”

The transfeminine _Matthusen described this in a police interrogation in June 1943. According to _Matthusen's statement, neither "he" nor gender-neutral pronouns and instead "she" pronouns seem appropriate. However, because we do not know whether _Matthusen had a chosen name, but cannot rule it out, we put an underscore in front of her last name. The street vendor _Spindler was known to his customers as “little one or fat guy” and as “belonging to the male gender”. Even his neighbours only knew him as a man. We don’t know his chosen name, but with the underscore in front of his last name we can make space for it.

The idea of ​​the “Volksgemeinschaft” (national or peoples community) was developed and solidified through nationalist propaganda during the First World War to keep the population together during war time. During the First World War, many Jewish men volunteered for military service, among other things, to finally be recognized as part of the nation.

In the National Socialist “Volksgemeinschaft”, which excluded Jewish people from the outset, Jewish participation was unthinkable. In the “Volksgemeinschaft” of Nazi ideology, racism, antisemitism and ableism determined who belonged and who did not. With the help of social and cultural norms, such as gender and body norms, certain groups were further excluded. This denied the “others” the right to “be different”.

An important concept in Nazi ideology was the so-called “Volkskörper" (nation's or people’s body). The idea was that the entire nation was a kind of body in which certain people were viewed as “viruses”. These people should therefore be removed from the “Volkskörper”. This did not just include political opponents. Laws and regulations based on this idea led, for example, to the murder of disabled people. In addition, thousands of people were sterilized because their reproduction would supposedly produce children who were unwanted in the “Volksgemeinschaft”.

The Weibliche Kriminalpolizei (Female Criminal Police), in short: WKP, was founded in the 1920s. It was a department of the criminal police that dealt primarily with victims, witnesses and underage criminals. Only female police officers worked in the Prussian branch of the WKP. Conducting investigations and protecting victims were some of the tasks of the WKP. The officers worked closely with welfare institutions.