Way more of an academic read than I was expecting but I learned so much about queer history after WW2. It taught me so much that I didn’t know.

A very in depth history of homosexuality in Germany post World War II. Occasionally a little bit hard to follow; it will jump around a bit and there were often many people introduced in relatively quick succession so I would lose track of who was who, although it does also make sense with how queer circles work today and assumedly also back then. Loved the acknowlegement of how most queer history to date has focused on homosexual men. Also loved the way the author points out that 'tells' were dangerous and just how much like walking on eggshells it was to be queer in that point in history.

Thank you, University of Toronto Press, UTP, for allowing me to read Queer Lives across the Wall early.

I lived in Europe for a while in the eighties and visited Berlin a couple of years ago. The wall is one of those things from our history that drew my attention. I never read anything about queer people and the wall, though, and I'm so glad thatr I did now. It's a welcome addition to all the history books about the wall. Really interesting and insightful!

I remember watching the news on November 9th, 1989, fascinated and perplexed by what I was seeing. Watching the footage at the Berlin Wall, I had so many questions about what that space looked like, how it was even possible to divide a city, and what it would mean for the people living there. I have read various histories of the wall and visited Berlin; the history of the wall and the stories of the people who lived in its shadow and wake continue to fascinate.

Coming across Andrea Rottmann’s, “Queer Lives Across the Wall: Desire and Danger in Divided Berlin, 1945-1970,” immediately piqued my interest. New perspectives of life beyond the wall, a presentation of the experiences of the LGBTQ+ in post-war Germany juxtaposed between East and West, with both governments continuing to administer the lives of sexual and gender minorities under legislation enacted (or maintained) during Nazi rule. Understanding how the LGBTQ+ navigated those post-war spaces, looking to rekindle the more open and permissive social situations found during the Weimar period, and hoping, in some cases, to work within the framework of the new socialist government, but finding the new government structures in both East and West to be sexually stifling and prohibitive, Rottmann explores the nature of the spaces created by members of the community, both private and public. Exploring life in the home and in immediate communities, the bar and club scene, and prisons, Rottmann explores what it meant to be Gay, Lesbian or Trans and how one found and/or created a sense of community within a hyper-heteronormative context as was experienced in the post-war period with it’s emphasis on the ‘traditional family.’ The very personal nature of the materials used, lends a very human touch to the research, including: letters, diary entries, interview materials, and photos, Rottmann effectively establishes the experiences of LGBTQ+ people across class and political identities.

First off, thank you to Netgalley for this ARC.

As a German person, I can wholeheartedly say while we do learn a lot about the Nazi regime and what it meant in the times of and after WWII, queer history is no part of schools' schedules. And it should be since, as this book showed me, there is so much!

While the book does feel very academic in style, I liked that it was interspersed with letters, newspapers and private reports from the time. You can really see the passion the author put behind it to illustrate the queer daily lifes in Berlin post-WWII. Having the names and tons of photos from back then also eases the scientific tone of the book, and creates an interesting and insightful scope.

Definitely recommend if your interested in queer history of Germany post-WWII.

3 ⭑
this was such a important book which i enjoyed but sadly it’s only available on the net galley app which made it really annoying to read.

This was a brilliant, meticulously and passionately researched book about the lives of queer people in a post WWII world. The dedication revealed to unearthing this information alone (which was revealed in the introduction) is nothing short of awe-worthy. Having names and photographs of queer trailblazers in Berlin was endlessly fascinating and I cannot recommend this book enough.

I do not usually find the need to recommend non-fiction books. This book is an exception to that rule. Queer Lives across the Wall is a cultivated series of the lives of people of various identities. I adored the factual, and yet caring approach the author has put into the research and execution of this book. This novel should be required reading for anyone researching historical people and exploring them with modern terminology.

this is such an insightful, important book. it’s always lovely to learn more about how lgbtq+ folks lived way back when, and i hardly knew anything about the way things went for them in germany after the weimar republic — the film “great freedom” shed some light on the way gay cis men were criminalised & imprisoned in the west, but it was extremely interesting to get to know more about it all the way up to the end of the twentieth century. the writing style was fresh and engaging — as someone who doesn’t usually read nonfiction, this was a surprisingly easy read. i really, really enjoyed this one!

Sadly this title is only available on the NetGalley shelf app without option to adjust font size and therefore incredibly tedious to read on a phone I will therefore not read it and I'm only sending feedback to remove it from my list and that's too bad. Thank you for the opportunity anyway.

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974


An exhaustive look into LGBTQ lives in Germany. I loved the abbreviations, photos and all of the research that went into making this book possible. It should be included within the required or supplemental reading for every LGBTQ college course.

this was a interesting read, it was a interesting take to think about. It's something that I really didn't think about back then. You could tell that Andrea Rottmann cared about the topic and did the research for this. This was a great historical nonfiction book and I can't wait to read more from the author.