Hermann Freiherr von Teschenberg (6 July 1866 – 6 November 1911) was an Austrian

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

, and an

LGBT rights activist A list of notable LGBTQ social movements, LGBTQ rights activists who have worked to advance LGBTQ rights by political change, legal action or publication. Ordered by country, alphabetically. Albania * Xheni Karaj, founder of Aleanca LGBT org ...

Life

Born in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, von Teschenberg was the son of a

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

, Ernst Freiherr von Teschenberg (1836–1886) and Rosa Peetz. His father was also editor of the ''

Wiener Zeitung ''Wiener Zeitung'' () is an Austrian newspaper. First published as the ''Wiennerisches Diarium'' in 1703, it is one of the oldest newspapers in the world. Until April 2023, it was the official gazette of the government of the Republic of Austria ...

'' on behalf of the government. So he spent his childhood among elites in Austria, getting to know the future King Alfonso XII of Spain and

Empress Elisabeth of Austria Elisabeth (born Duchess Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie in Bavaria; 24 December 1837 – 10 September 1898), nicknamed Sisi or Sissi, was Empress of Austria and List of Hungarian consorts, Queen of Hungary from her marriage to Franz Joseph I of Austri ...

. He studied law in college and married, although the name of his wife is not known. He was discovered kissing a soldier in Prater park in Vienna, after which he fled to Italy in 1893-94, and later to England. By his own account, he met

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

and tried to mediate between the writer and the father of

Lord Alfred Douglas Lord Alfred Bruce Douglas (22 October 1870 – 20 March 1945), also known as Bosie Douglas, was an English poet and journalist, and a lover of Oscar Wilde. At Oxford University he edited an undergraduate journal, ''The Spirit Lamp'', that carr ...

, the

Marquess of Queensberry Marquess of Queensberry is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. The title has been held since its creation in 1682 by a member of the Douglas family. The Marquesses also held the title of Duke of Queensberry from 1684 to 1810, when it was i ...

. He translated some of Oscar Wilde's works into the German language. In early 1898, he settled in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, joining

Magnus Hirschfeld Magnus Hirschfeld (14 May 1868 – 14 May 1935) was a German physician, Sexology, sexologist and LGBTQ advocate, whose German citizenship was later revoked by the Nazi government.David A. Gerstner, ''Routledge International Encyclopedia of Queer ...

, who had founded the

Scientific-Humanitarian Committee The Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (, WhK) was founded by Magnus Hirschfeld in Berlin in May 1897, to campaign for social recognition of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and against their legal persecution. It was the first L ...

. Teschenberg was even named later among the founders of the Committee, working without pay from 1898 to 1905. He was also a

transvestite Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothes traditionally or stereotypically associated with a different gender. From as early as pre-modern history, cross-dressing has been practiced in order to disguise, comfort, entertain, and express onesel ...

and photographed several times wearing women's clothing for the Committee magazine. After 1905, he moved to

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, where homosexuality was not illegal. He died in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

in 1911.

References

* Laurus, Nicolai, ed. Hergemöller, Bernd-Ulrich.
Mann für Mann
'. LIT Verlag Münster, 2010. pp. 1166. * Herzer, Manfred.

'. Hamburg: Verlag MännerschwarmSkript. pp. 926. * Bristow, Joseph.
Oscar Wilde and Modern Culture: The Making of a Legend
'. Ohio University Press, 2008. * Wolff, Charlotte.
Hirschfeld: A Portrait Of A Pioneer In Sexology
'. Quartet Books, 1986. pp. 104–5.

External links

Leaders of the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee
(photograph)

(in German)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Teschenberg, Hermann Freiherr von 1866 births 1911 deaths 19th-century translators Austrian gay men Austrian LGBTQ rights activists First homosexual movement LGBTQ nobility People from Austria-Hungary Emigrants from Austria-Hungary to Germany 19th-century Austrian LGBTQ people 20th-century Austrian LGBTQ people