Johanna Elberskirchen

Johanna Carolina Elberskirchen; (* 11 April 1864 in Bonn; † 17 May 1943 in Rüders-dorf near Berlin), author, feminist, lesbian, active in the women’s, homosexual, workers’ and sexual reform movements. Pseudonym: Hans Carolan.

Johanna Elberskirchen lived openly as a lesbian and was an active feminist in the radical wing of the old middle-class women’s movement, where she devoted herself to a general right of suffrage for women. What was unusual for a feminist of her era was her support for the self-determination and emancipation of lesbians and gays, which she in particular pursued in the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (WhK) founded by Magnus Hirschfeld. Furthermore, she was active in the social democratic movement and devoted herself to the protection of women workers and youth education, among other things. Her political thought and action were distinguished by the connection of different political perspectives, such as that of “gender politics” with “class politics” or feminism with homosexual politics. This led to her frequently giving offence in the associations she was involved in and often ensured she was an outsider.

Until her writings were banned in 1933, she published a great many essays, articles, brochures and books. Her political interests and perspectives accordingly cover a wide range of subjects: sexuality, the franchise, gender-specific bringing up and education, medicine and naturopathy, violence towards girls and women, motherhood and paediatrics.

As the daughter of small traders in Bonn who had a shop for groceries and so-called “colonial goods”, university education and an independent life were not exactly easily attainable for her. However, she rejected the expectations of pursuing what was then the typical course of life for women and girls and made herself economically independent at the age of about 20 by taking up a position as bookkeeper in Rinteln (1884-91). She finally moved to Switzerland, where she studied medicine in Bern and law in Zurich (1891-98) but without obtaining a degree. After her studies, she initially once again lived in the Rhineland in Bonn, Alfter and Mehlem. From 1915-19, she worked in infant care in Berlin and after moving to Rüdersdorf with her life partner Hildegard Moniac, opened a homeopathic practice in 1920 in their joint house.

Johanna Elberskirchen was active for many years in the sexual reform movement. She had already been elected to the position of a so-called spokesperson in a management committee of the WhK during her period in Bonn. She was one of the few women to hold an office in the WhK. Little is known of her active work in the Institute for Sexual Science established in 1919 but her influence was probably rather limited due to her gender and because she had no degree.

From 1928, she was an advisor in the World League for Sexual Reform. This international organisation had been established in 1921 with the goal of undertaking research into sexuality, instituting reforms and educating the public. Johanna Elberskirchen gave talks at world congresses of the League in Copenhagen (1928), London (1929) and Vienna (1930).

She took an active part in the debates within the sexual reform movement regarding its goals and ideas. With her sharp intelligence, she also analysed and criticised political and social power relationships, anti-feminism and misogyny. She was especially critical of the sexual science theory that homosexual women were “mannish women” and “masculine”. She thereby contradicted the assumption that desire and sexuality were based on the tension between “feminine” and “masculine”. Instead, she regarded female homosexuals as women who desired women. “What is the nature of homosexuality, the love of one’s own gender? The exclusion of the contrary gender of course, the male or female respectively. How can the love of the woman for a woman then have a relation to the ‘masculine’? It’s the masculine that’s being excluded.”

The urn with the ash of Johanna Elberskirchen was found by two women in 1975 and secretly interred in the grave of her life partner Hildegard Moniac. The Rüdersdorf municipality set up two plaques to commemorate both women in 2003. A plaque was also installed at the house where Johanna Elberskirchen was born in Bonn in 2005.

Pataky, Sophie: Lexikon deutscher Frauen der Feder. Eine Zusammenstellung der seit dem Jahre 1840 erschienenen Werke weiblicher Autoren nebst biographischen der Lebenden und einem Verzeichnis der Pseudonyme. Berlin 1898. Entry Johanna Elberskirchen, p. 186f.

Oellers, Norbert: Die Bonner Schriftstellerin Johanna Elberskirchen – von der Zeit ver-schluckt? In: Rey, Manfred/Schloßmacher, Norbert (editors): Bonn und das Rheinland. Beiträge zur Geschichte und Kultur einer Region. Festschrift zum 65. Geburtstag von Dietrich Höroldt. Bonner Geschichtsblätter. Jahrbuch des Bonner Heimat- und Geschichtsvereins, Vol. 42. Bonn: Bouvier 1992, pp. 527-544.

Krettmann, Ulrike: Johanna Elberskirchen. In: Lautmann, Rüdiger (editor): Homosexualität. Handbuch zur Theorie- und Forschungsgeschichte. Frankfurt/M./New York 1993, pp. 111-116.

Leidinger, Christiane: Keine Tochter aus gutem Hause – Johanna Elberskirchen (1864-1943). Konstanz: UVK (Universitätsverlag Konstanz) 2008.

Photo of Johanna Elberskirchen: CC-BY Chris9/Wikimedia