This book was more a history book than I expected, overall it was quite good. To be queer in Berlin in 1945-1970 was difficult. You could not tell anyone unless you were sure you trusted them. It was nice to read about how they were trying to have relationships at a time when it was nearly impossible.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced digital copy. It was a quite interesting read with a dose of emotional damage.

This research about the situation of Queer people in East and West Berlin after World War II shows how they found ways to express their identity despite the heteronormative laws that authorities at both sides of the Berlin Wall maintained after the Third Reich.

What I liked: The author did a great job on the research and the analysis. This is an interesting book that explores several spaces that were key for understanding the experience of Queer people in Berlin such as their homes, public spaces, bars and nightclubs, and the prison. The author includes photos and quotes of some individuals that she presents as characters or examples of different situations. In that way, the reader gets to know Tommy, Eddy and Hilde, Eva, and Grundmann, among others. I believe that showing the experiences, hardships, and resilience of these people (real queer people) is probably the main contribution of this book. Her analysis is interesting and allows the reader to have a deeper understanding of the different meanings of some details in their stories. I also learned a lot with this book. It surprised me to know that trans people could get a pass so they would not be detained by the police, for example. As the author points out, there are many aspects of intersectionality that could be taken into account regarding the life of Queer people in Berlin at that time, but this book is an amazing first step towards understanding that important chapter of Queer history.

(I'd like to thank the author and NetGalley, as I received a free advanced reader copy. I'm giving an honest review voluntarily.)

More academic than I expected, but an excellently researched bit of much-neglected queer history, this book explores various aspects of queer living in Berlin during the Weimar Republic and the post-WW2 era, including the political shifts as they affect legal realities for queer people, and the severing of queer spaces after the Wall went up to divide East from West Berlin.

The book includes a lot of primary sources such as interviews and photographs, so it never gets as dry as the academic style might imply. It offers detailed insights into various spaces of queer self-expression, with sections on domestic/coupled life, queer-friendly bars, and life in prison, and the interviewee’s experiences rise clearly from the page, in their own words and the author’s research, often evoking the all-too-familiar feelings of rage and sympathy, but, crucially, also as an indelible, entrenched, sometimes downright mundane part of the canvas of Berlin’s history. There is a lot to cover and often it felt like this book was mostly a guide towards further reading (for example, the section on how relationships and lived-in-spaces were ripped apart when the Wall was built felt like it barely opened the door on an under-explored wealth of stories), though to be fair there was no claim of comprehensive coverage.

As someone’s who’s been fascinated by the concept of a divided city ever since I watched the Wall come down on TV as a kid, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and its focus. I learned things I'd had no clue about, such as the fact that the first person killed by border police as he tried to cross from East to West Berlin was a gay man. I wished there were even more first-person accounts, although I get that the author could only cover so much. I will probably fall down the rabbit hole of further research!

I also found this intriguing from a linguistic viewpoint, as the author writes in English but a lot of the terminology doesn’t easily lend itself to translation, being tied to a specific sub-culture in a very specific time and place. The author handles this – rather deftly – by simply including a lot of the German-language terms, accompanying them with English ones where a rough equivalency exists but often on the understanding that the equivalency is approximate rather than analogous. As a language nerd, I was intrigued by the complexity of decision-making that must have gone into this, especially when it comes to terms like “Bubi” and “Mädi” where “butch and femme” might have been tempting modern(ish) day translations that would, however, not necessarily have captured the nuances of time and setting, or her choice of “street-walking boys” (I’m not sure if this was mentioned but I’m assuming it’s based on “Stricher”) where “rentboy” might have been the more obvious choice but the author decided to include the infrastructure-based element as set in the wider context of Berlin as a setting for queer spaces. I absolutely loved the language aspect which must have been tricky to negotiate (it doesn’t seem like there’s a German-language edition, which would make for interesting comparison).

Highly recommended if you’re into queer and/or Berlin history.

Looking at a specific point in time, Rottmann successfully dives into the queerness of history, giving context for a time and place when literal and metaphorical walls were built to divide people. While at times the writing was the slightest bit dry, the importance of the text and stories within shine bright.

An absolutely fantastic addition to the growing canon of queer history, made all the more integral by Rottman's ability to reconstruct a history so deliberately destroyed by Nazi forces. This is at times, difficult to read, but it is important to read. Rottman organizes the text around the idea of spaces, which really supports the overall project of the book. Exceptionally well-researched, this is an essential text for anyone studying 20th century sexuality and fascism.

Very insightful, a delicious read . . . at times it may have dragged, but only for a moment. Well-researched, well-written and a valuable addition to the scholarship on LGBTQ issues in East / West Germany. 5 Stars

Thoroughly researched inside look at LGBTQIA+ individuals navigating Germany - with a literal and figurative wall up between them.

Lots of history here, some of it hard to read but very factual.

Recommend if you are interested in queer non-fiction, Germany in the 80's and 90's, Berlin and history in general.

Very well researched and interesting, but a lil too academic for me, and the font size made it diffucult for me too read. Ended up skimming much of it, I feel like this is a book I couldnt have enjoyedf more if I got my hands on a print copy instead of trying to read it on my phone

A wonderful and haunting read. Perfect for those who like non-fiction historical books. I find that especially considering the state of the world it is extremely important to know what happened in the past.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this!

It was a bit slow at times but that is generally how I find non-fic to be. Fascinating history that I did not know about.

This was a good look into some unknown history for me about queers of yesteryear. This book was a bit too slow paced for my likes but overall enjoyable.

**arc review**

This was the first time I’ve read a book like this in a few years since graduating with a degree in social anthropology and it was cool to get back into this style of academic writing about a topic that really interests me. I think I found the chapter about queer subjectivities in women’s prisons the most interesting.

Initially requested this because my a friend returned from study abroad in Berlin. This book brought me to tears. Though non-fic, this book is beautiful and poetic as it retells the stories of LGBT individuals caught in the crossfire of a military occupied zone. Not only did they have to hide their relationships but also navigate the world with a wall separating them.

A must read!

Thank you NetGalley and U of Toronto Press for the eARC

My university years are far, far behind, and to be honest, I haven’t read much scholarly work in the last years (when I say scholarly, I mean “following the rules of academia writing”). But title, blurb, and subject matter of Queer Lives across the Wall appealed to me at once, so I requested the book on NetGalley (a heart-felt thank-you to the editor for accepting me). And I wasn’t disappointed—the book turned out to be well researched, perfectly written and readable, an insightful, fascinating study of “queerdom” in both parts of Berlin from 1945 to the 1970s (with a short introduction to the pre-war and war years).

As to the structure, the author first presented her method (in depth, but potential readers shouldn’t be too worried, this part is in itself an interesting read), which I would define as qualitative (as opposed to a more quantitative approach) and which was mostly based on interviews of personally involved people as well as on a thorough search of available archives. She then discussed four essential aspects of queer people’s experiences in the divided city during those years: their homes, their places of encounter (both the bar scene and public spaces), and prisons. Despite obvious difficulties—queer people would understandably try to stay under the radar—Andrea Rottmann managed to recreate the narrative of how queers (gay men, lesbian women, transgender persons) lived in West and East Berlin and how they coped with the growingly conservative and therefore hostile climate.

I have to confess that I was immediately drawn in by the author’s easy style and her emphatic handling of the subject matter. There were lots of eye-witness quotes and personal stories that helped me better understand the struggles of queer people (plus quite a lot of photos, too) and brought that period of time closer to me. I can only guess (and marvel) at the vast amount of time she must have spent compiling all the evidence presented and was very positively surprised by how seamlessly everything came together to draw a vivid picture of 1945-70 Berlin and the experiences of its queer inhabitants. I was also impressed by the direction and the relative importance queer studies have taken since I left university as a political sciences graduate in the early 90s.

It’s hard to review non-fiction books such as this for a broader public—I don’t want to bore readers to death with methodological subtelties or give away the whole content of this study. Suffice it to say that I found it a truly astute and compelling read that I can only recommend to all those interested by our community’s past.

Andrea Rottmann addresses right away the difficulty of writing Queer Lives Across the Wall due to the limited public information of lesbians and transsexuals in history. This is not to say that Rottman doesn’t do an excellent job of sharing stories and giving us glimpses into everyday life, party life, farm life, and urban life. Rottman takes us through it all.

I found it all very fascinating and mundane at the same time. I find “us” to be kind of boring - I say this as a rainbow. It’s not as if we are creatures behind glass performing odd tricks. We just live our lives or attempt to in many cases whether in the past or in the present. From a sociological perspective, I love non-fiction biographies that look at lives in the past. What makes rainbow biographies and histories different is the type of bigotry and how we cope, adapt, and try to survive it.

Rottman gives a viewpoint of life in Germany where many were known to be “free”, but were they really? I gobbled this book up. It is a quick read with lots of information. If you love history, then add this Queer Lives Across the Wall to your list.

This is an important work that advances our understanding of queer lives in Cold War Berlin. There was such an interesting variety of people and sources that Rottman relied on to uncover some fascinating history. Especially interesting is navigating the "German" cultural understanding of gender intersecting with the east vs west identities that are being delineated after the war.

I cant give five stars because of the disparate treatment between trans women and trans men. Ultimately the question of trans woman vs homosexual and trans man vs lesbian during this time. This is especially crucial with the conversation of government acknowledged transition relying on surgical transition. Today we have a definition of trans person that is larger than surgical procedures - you don't persue surgical transition unless you are trans, right? Is it the same then? How does whatever the definition is at that time and place inform the examples given? If a persons neighbors and others only know them as a man, why would they be classified as a lesbian and not as a transman? Especially when their personal writing presents as masculine. I am all for not ahistorically applying modern terms to past phenomena, but at the same time isn't it irresponsible to misrepresent someone's self-presentation because of the vocabulary of the time and source?

There can't be enought books like this. Amazing research. An incredible and compelling report of queer lives in a difficult post-war time ... divided with a wall. Andrea Rottmann did an amazing job. Thank you!

Most books on queer history tend to focus on gay men where this one focuses more on gender and lesbians which is amazing. Its very academic and brilliantly put together. I really enjoyed learning the history of queer people during this time period. Its very well put together and you can tell a lot of thought and care went into writing it. The pictures in it were a nice addition its cool to see queer history along with reading about it. I think it might even help you connect more with it because you can see their existence.

I’m particularly fond of the ‘Home’ section. Learning about how queer people made and lived in spaces back then was fascinating to learn. I had no idea about the Frauen-familien or women families before I read this! Its so informative.

This is definitely a good book for anyone looking to find more about trans and lesbian history.

the collection of queer joy and power here is simply beautiful. rottmann brings to light a previously under-researched topic and helps us to understand what reality was like for queer berliners in the 20th century. it is very academically driven and written so for those who are looking for a relaxing non-fiction read, maybe save this for when you have more time to put in. but overall, a great read!

i received a free arc from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.