Bruno Vogel (29 September 1898 – 5 April 1987) was a German pacifist and writer.

Biography

Bruno Vogel was born on 29 September 1898 in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

.Raimund Wolfert, 'Get to Know Bruno Vogel', in ''

The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide ''The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide'' (formerly ''The Harvard Gay & Lesbian Review'') is a bimonthly, nationally distributed magazine of history, culture, and politics for LGBT people and their allies who are interested in the gamut of social, ...

'', Jan-Feb 2010, pp. 29-31 He spent his childhood in

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

. In 1916, he fought in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, first on the border of the

Austro-Hungarian empire Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

, then in the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...

, and in

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

by 1917. In 1922, he founded the gay group Gemeinschaft Wir ("We the Community") under the aegis of

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 ...

. It was the local chapter in

of 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 ...

, one of the largest gay groups in Germany from 1896 to 1933.glbtq
In the mid-20s, after his parents put him out on the streets for being gay, he moved to

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 ...

, and he founded the Revolutionary Pacifists Group with

Kurt Hiller Kurt Hiller (17 August 1885, Berlin – 1 October 1972, Hamburg) was a German essayist, lawyer, and expressionist poet. He was also a political (namely pacifist) journalist. Biography Hiller came from a middle-class Jewish background. A com ...

. In 1928, he became a member of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

, but soon left. In 1938, he moved to

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

with Otto Bohlmann. From 1942 to 1944, he worked in the

South African Army The South African Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of South Africa, a part of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), along with the South African Air Force, South African Navy and South African Military Health Servi ...

. Later, he wrote for ''Forward'', ''Common Sense'' and '' Jewish Affairs''. In 1953, he moved to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, from where he was involved in the anti-

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

movement. He died on 5 April 1987 in London. His novel ''Alf'' from 1929 was first translated into English in 1992. In August 2012 someone put Bruno Vogel's unpublished works, such as the novel ''Mashango'' and the short stories he had collected under the title ''Slegs vir Blankes'' ("Only for Whites"), on the Internet anonymously.

Bibliography

*''Es lebe der Krieg!'' ("Long Live War!")

924 __NOTOC__ Year 924 (Roman numerals, CMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. Events January—March * January 5 – The monastery of San Martín de Albelda is founded in the Kingdom of Navarre in what is now ...

*''Ein Gulasch und andere Skizzen'' ("A Goulash and other Sketches") (1928) *''Alf'' (1929) nglish translation by Samuel B. Johnson, GMP Publishers Ltd., 1992*''Mashango'' *''Slegs vir Blankes'' ("Only for Whites")

References

External links

1898 births 1987 deaths Military personnel from Leipzig Military personnel from Cape Town German pacifists German gay writers German LGBTQ rights activists Writers from Leipzig German emigrants to South Africa 20th-century German LGBTQ people {{Apartheid-sa-stub

Biography

Bibliography

See also

Further reading

References

External links