Robert Beachy (born in

Aibonito Aibonito () is a small mountain town and municipality in Puerto Rico located in the Sierra de Cayey mountain range, north of Salinas; south of Barranquitas and Comerío; east of Coamo; and west of Cidra, and Cayey. Aibonito is spread over 8 ...

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

) is associate professor of

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

at the

Underwood International College Underwood International College, Yonsei University was founded in 2006 as a constituent college of Yonsei University. Based in Seoul and Incheon, South Korea. The college is the first and only liberal arts college in the Republic of Korea, and ...

Yonsei University Yonsei University () is a Private university, private Christian university, Christian research university located in Seoul, South Korea. Yonsei is one of the three most prestigious universities in the country, part of a group referred to as SK ...

in Seoul, South Korea. He was raised in

Mennonite Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...

communities in Puerto Rico and Indiana. He formerly taught at

Goucher College Goucher College ( ') is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Towson, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1885 as a Nonsectarian, nonsecterian Women's colleges in the United States, ...

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

Career

Beachy specializes in the intellectual and cultural history of

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, and is known for his work on the history of sexuality in the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

, under the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

, and in

after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He received his Ph.D. from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

in 1998; his M.A. in History from the University of Chicago in 1989; and, his B.A. in History from

Earlham College Earlham College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Richmond, Indiana. The college was established in 1847 by the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and has a strong focus on Quake ...

, 1988. In 2009, Beachy was named a fellow of the

John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation is a private foundation formed in 1925 by Olga and Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died on April 26, 1922. The organization awards Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Gr ...

for his research on homosexuality in Nazi Germany. Beachy's work also has received support from the

Huntington Library The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, known as The Huntington, is a collections-based educational and research institution established by Henry E. Huntington and Arabella Huntington in San Marino, California, United State ...

, the

National Humanities Center The National Humanities Center (NHC) is an independent institute for advanced study in the humanities located in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, United States. The NHC operates as a privately incorporated nonprofit and is not part of any uni ...

, the

Max Planck Institute for History The Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity (German language, German: ''Max-Planck-Institut zur Erforschung multireligiöser und multiethnischer Gesellschaften'') is located in Göttingen, Germany. It is one of 83 ins ...

, the Herzog August Bibliothek in

Wolfenbüttel Wolfenbüttel (; ) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, the administrative capital of Wolfenbüttel District Wolfenbüttel (; ) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, the administrative capital of Wolfenbüttel (district), Wolfenbüttel Distri ...

, the

German Academic Exchange Service The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD; ), founded in 1925, is a joint organization of German universities and student bodies to foster their international relations. Since 1 January 2020, the president has been Joybrato Mukherjee. Organisa ...

(DAAD) and the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

. In 2015, his work "Gay Berlin: Birthplace of a Modern Identity" was named a Stonewall Honor Book in Non-Fiction by the American Library Association.

Works

* ''Internal Enemies: Germany and the Persecution of Sexual Minorities, 1933-1969'' (forthcoming W. W. Norton) * ''Gay Berlin: Birthplace of a Modern Identity'' (Alfred A. Knopf 2014). * "The German Invention of Homosexuality," ''The Journal of Modern History'', Vol. 82, No. 4 (Dec. 2010), pp. 801–38. * ''Pious Pursuits: German Moravians in the Atlantic World'', ed. with Michele Gillespie (Berghahn 2007) * ''Who Ran the Cities? Elite and Urban Power Structures, 1700–2000'', ed. with Ralf Roth (Ashgate 2007) * ''The Soul of Commerce: Credit, Property and Politics in Leipzig, 1750–1840'' (Brill 2005) * ''Women Business & Finance in Nineteenth Century Europe: Rethinking Separate Spheres'', ed. with Beatrice Craig & Alastair Owens (Berg 2005)

Awards, grants, and fellowships

* Best non-fiction work in LGBTQ literature, for "Gay Berlin," Randy Shilts Award, 2015. * Spirit of Stonewall, for "Gay Berlin," Berlin Gay Pride Parade Association. * Best Article in European History, Higby Prize of the

American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world, claiming over 10,000 members. Founded in 1884, AHA works to protect academic free ...

. * Non-fiction honor book, for "Gay Berlin," Stonewall Book Awards of the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world. History 19th century ...

. * John S. Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship * National Humanities Center, residential fellowship. * Center for the Advanced Study of Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, residential fellowship. *

The Huntington Library The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, known as The Huntington, is a collections-based educational and research institution established by Henry E. Huntington and Arabella Huntington in San Marino, California, United Stat ...

* The German Academic Exchange Service *

The Max Planck Institute for the Study of History ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

* The Goethe Institute

References

External links

Robert Beachy Goucher College Profile

Goucher press release

List of Guggenheim Fellows
American expatriates in South Korea Earlham College alumni Goucher College faculty and staff Historians of Europe Historians of LGBTQ topics Living people People from Aibonito, Puerto Rico University of Chicago alumni Academic staff of Yonsei University 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-historian-stub