The Fears of Gay Teachers and the Collectivizing Effects of Emotion Work: Affects, Emotions, and Emotion Work in the History of the Working Group of Homosexual Teachers and Educators in the Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft Berlin 1978–1991

This article examines how the formation of the Working Group of Homosexual Teachers and Educators in the Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft (German Education Union, GEW) in 1978 was influenced by the affect of fear, and how emotion work emerged as a key aspect of the formation and collectivisation of the group in its first decade until 1991. To this end, we review the state of affect and emotion research in German queer history, analyse the role of fear in the formation of the group in the late 1970s, and explore the group's continued emotion work in the 1980s. We deliberately highlight the aspects of fear and emotion work: while queer and trans studies have paid much attention to anger (Stryker 1994; Landridge 2008; Milani 2021; Malatino 2022), the same cannot be said for fearful emotional states. Although there is a growing body of work on affect and emotion in German queer history, emotion work has only been implicitly addressed. We therefore highlight the role of both fear and emotion work in the history of the GEW's Working Group of Homosexual Teachers and Educators between 1978 and 1991. In discussing the history of the group, we show how not only affect and emotion but also emotion work can be key to historical change, and we touch on the question of how productive the historiographical distinction between affect and emotion is

Sin3b interacts with Myc and decreases Myc levels

Myc expression is deregulated in many human cancers. A yeast two-hybrid screen has revealed that the transcriptional repressor Sin3b interacts with Myc protein. Endogenous Myc and Sin3b co-localize and interact in the nuclei of human and rat cells, as assessed by co-immunoprecipitation, immunofluorescence, and proximity ligation assay. The interaction is Max-independent. A conserved Myc region (amino acids 186-203) is required for the interaction with Sin3 proteins. Histone deacetylase 1 is recruited to Myc-Sin3b complexes, and its deacetylase activity is required for the effects of Sin3b on Myc. Myc and Sin3a/b co-occupied many sites on the chromatin of human leukemia cells, although the presence of Sin3 was not associated with gene down-regulation. In leukemia cells and fibroblasts, Sin3b silencing led to Myc up-regulation, whereas Sin3b overexpression induced Myc deacetylation and degradation. An analysis of Sin3b expression in breast tumors revealed an association between low Sin3b expression and disease progression. The data suggest that Sin3b decreases Myc protein levels upon Myc deacetylation. As Sin3b is also required for transcriptional repression by Mxd-Max complexes, our results suggest that, at least in some cell types, Sin3b limits Myc activity through two complementary activities: Mxd-dependent gene repression and reduction of Myc levels

Desire and Danger in Divided Berlin, 1945-1970

Queer Lives across the Wall examines the everyday lives of queer Berliners between 1945 and 1970, tracing private and public queer life from the end of the Nazi regime through the gay and lesbian liberation movements of the 1970s. Andrea Rottmann explores how certain spaces – including homes, bars, streets, parks, and prisons – facilitated and restricted queer lives in the overwhelmingly conservative climate that characterized both German postwar states. With a theoretical toolkit informed by feminist, queer, and spatial theories, the book goes beyond previous histories that focus on state surveillance and the persecution of male homosexuality

Bubis Behind Bars: Seeing Queer Histories in Postwar Germany Through the Prison

Analyzing oral history testimony as well as prisoner files from the 1960s Berlin women’s prisons, this article explores prisons as queer spaces and as entry points into queer lifeworlds. Focusing on the gendered embodiment of inmates, it argues that the gendered practices of self-fashioning were key to preserving queer dignity, not just under the conditions of imprisonment, but also more generally during the intensely homophobic 1950s and 1960s in West and East Germany. Close readings of prisoner files demonstrate that inmates engaged in erotic relationships which at times lasted beyond incarceration, and that they were skillful negotiators in pushing the limits of personal expression in prison. At the same time, prison rules enforced normative genders and sexualities. Prisoner files also allow historians to study working-class queer lives which are often less represented in LGBT movement archives.  They bring to the fore gendered erotic subcultures that were rejected by the respectability politics of homophile activists as well as the radical politics of gay and lesbian liberation, such as the butch-fem subculture of the mid-20th century. The article employs a critical genealogy to reconstruct historical understandings of queer subjectivities that often fall between contemporary identity categories. By centering inmates of women's prisons, it intervenes into and complicates discussions in queer German history presently focused on the persecution of gay men. While only male homosexuality was prohibited by law, prisons are, paradoxically, crucial sites for lesbian and trans histories, too

Queering the order of the archive? Researching queer history in state archives

This article addresses problems and strategies of researching queer history in German state archives on the local, state, and national level. Starting out from the author’s own archival research experience, it gives a brief introduction into the field of queer history, discusses the significance of state archives to the field, and offers recommendations for record collection and indexing of archival holdings that are relevant to queer history