Days of Masquerade

2012: Year of the Dragon
by Claudia Schoppmann | Gay & Lesbian |
ISBN: 0231102208 Global Overview for this book
Registered by ealasaidmae of New Orleans, Louisiana USA on 2/1/2012
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2 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by ealasaidmae from New Orleans, Louisiana USA on Tuesday, February 12, 2013
from the cover:

"In Days of Masquerade Claudia Schoppmann offers the first in-depth account of lesbians living in Germany during the Third Reich. Through a series of interviews, Schoppmann recounts the lives of perpetrators, bystanders, and victims: women who fought against Hitler's regime, others who married gay men to ward off suspicion, and one who remained active despite fairly clear pronouncements of her sexuality.

Days of Masquerade tells a remarkable range of stories: a longtime Communist who opposed the Nazi regime to the end; a popular cabaret singer whose performances were banned by the Nazis for their 'vulgar' content; a Jewish artist who was forced into years of hiding; and a novelist whose work echoed Nazi hatred of Jews, Romanians, and Russians.

Schoppmann enriches these vivid oral histories with the findings of her archived research, including a fascinating look at Nazi policy papers. She explores the drive toward sexual emancipation in Imperial and Weimar Germany and presents a comprehensive overview of Nazi attitudes and policies toward homosexual men and women. Identifying ways in which the Nazi positions were highly gender-specific, she points out that lesbianism was seen as less reprehensible than male homosexuality, since it was considered a threat to women's reproductive potential.

Days of Masquerade demonstrates that lesbianism, thought not criminalized or subjected to systematic persecution as was male homosexuality, was driven underground by the Nazis, the thriving lesbian communities that had flourished during the Weimar Republic effectively destroyed.

An eloquent reminder of the 'forgotten victims' of the Third Reich, Days of Masquerade also points out that the experiences of gay men and lesbians during the Nazi era were not one and the same. As a major chapter in the social history of lesbians, Schoppmann's work opens new doors for students of lesbian and gay history, women's studies, and modern German and European history."

Journal Entry 2 by ealasaidmae at New Orleans, Louisiana USA on Tuesday, March 11, 2014
This book was disappointing. The writing is very dry and all of the stories presented are pretty much the same. I didn't feel a connection to any of the women here. I didn't learn anything new. It felt like reading a textbook.

Journal Entry 3 by ealasaidmae at Bayou St. John in New Orleans, Louisiana USA on Saturday, September 27, 2014

Released 9 yrs ago (9/27/2014 UTC) at Bayou St. John in New Orleans, Louisiana USA

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Bench at N Carrollton and City Park Ave

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Journal Entry 4 by wingAnonymousFinderwing at New Orleans, Louisiana USA on Monday, September 29, 2014
This book had been recommended to me, and it was a wonderful thing to stumble upon after a gorgeous day in the park. As ealasaidmae said however, it does not live up to its promise. It's a solid piece of scholarship, but that can be said about anyone who relays facts clearly. The writing is as dry as a saltine. There is little life or color to her subjects' stories, and that makes Schoppmann a very poor writer indeed.

I can't really complain however, because it was an absolute delight to find, and I know exactly where to leave it so that it can be most appreciated.

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