Endangered Desire — Queer Life in Divided Berlin 1945 — 1970

Book presentation, discussion, reading What has been neglected in the culture of remembrance of what divided the Berlin Wall is this: The Wall also tore apart Berlin's queer scene, separated queer couples and friendships. Because Berlin was also a city in the 1950s and 1960s where many queer people lived – in the East as well as in the West. There were queer bars and pubs and a queer everyday life, but also repression and prosecution. The Berlin Wall cut through cross-border contacts and spaces. In her study "Endangered Desire. Queer Life in Divided Berlin, 1945–1970," Dr. Andrea Rottmann traces this history of Berlin in the Cold War in detail using various sources. Reading and discussion open up spaces for discussion about life in Berlin, the remembrance of Günter Litfin, the first person shot at the Wall, and the question of how queer life stories are remembered, forgotten, or made visible in public commemoration. Program Welcome: Cornelia Thiele, Curator Collection and Archive, Berlin Wall Foundation Reading and discussion with Dr. Andrea Rottmann Moderation: Dr. Sarah Bornhorst, Curator for Contemporary Witness Work and Oral History, Berlin Wall Foundation Dr.