Anna Vock (13 January 1885 – 4 December 1962) was a Swiss

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

, organizer, and

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

activist during the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. Although

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

ism was not criminalized like male homosexuality in Switzerland during her activist period, Vock faced public recrimination for her work in publishing, was monitored by police, and arrested.

Amaticia

Anna (

nicknamed A nickname, in some circumstances also known as a sobriquet, or informally a "moniker", is an informal substitute for the proper name of a person, place, or thing, used to express affection, playfulness, contempt, or a particular character trait ...

"Mammina") Vock was born on 13 January 1885 in Anglikon,

Aargau Aargau ( ; ), more formally the Canton of Aargau (; ; ; ), is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eleven districts and its capital is Aarau. Aargau is one of the most nort ...

. Little is known about her early life or educational background. In 1931, with Laura Thoma, Vock formed the group Amiticia, taking the position of secretary. The aim of the organization was to relieve the isolation of lesbians and through strong associations promote acceptance and visibility. The original ad in lesbian magazine '' Garconne'' proclaimed: "Sisters of

Lesbos Lesbos or Lesvos ( ) is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of , with approximately of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, eighth largest ...

, you too have a full right to love and its freedom." In October of the same year, Volk joined the gay organization Excentric-Club – Zürich and made it an integrated organization, in which Volk herself became president in 1933.

Freuntshafts-Banner / Der Kreis

In 1932, Thoma and EZC member August Bambula founded the magazine Freundschafts-Banner, which changed its name several times, eventually becoming

Der Kreis (, ''The Circle'') was a Swiss gay magazine. Founded as the lesbian magazine ''Freundschaftsbanner'' in 1932 it turned into a male-only magazine in 1942 under the name ''Der Kreis''. It was trilingual and distributed internationally and gained ...

('the circle', 1942–1967), the primary

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" exc ...

publication in Europe. Vock was involved at the beginning, focusing on the women's section and personal ads, but became more and more involved, eventually becoming the editor and publisher of the magazine from 1933 to 1942. During her time as editor, Volk was targeted by multiple sources for her work on the paper. The tabloid magazines ''Sheinwerfer'' and ''Guggu'' published her real name and addresses after she had started working under the pen name "Mammina", resulting in the loss of several jobs. She was charged with "acting as a pander" for her work in the personal ads, but later acquitted on appeal, and arrested on suspicion of communist activity, but released. Karl Meir, who succeeded Volk as editor of Das Kreis in 1943, published his obituary in the magazine. "Farewell, Mammina. Your name will remain forever united to our cause in Switzerland. You prepared the ground on which we must build. Hopefully we will succeed."

Amaticia

Freuntshafts-Banner / Der Kreis

References

External links