Rina Natan (; September 8, 1923 – August 13, 1979) was the first known

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

woman.

Biography

Natan was born male on September 8, 1923, in the town of

Siegen Siegen () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany, in the south Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein in the Arnsberg (region), Arnsberg region. The university town (n ...

in Germany, to a wealthy

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family. As a child she excelled in music and art. Beginning as a child, she used to wear women's clothing. During World War II, she stayed for a period of time in France, where she learned

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

. In 1946 she arrived in Palestine (then under the British Mandate) and moved between the

Kibbutzim A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, i ...

Ma'agan Michael Ma'agan Michael (, ''lit.'' Michael's Anchorage) is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located on the Mediterranean Sea coast between Haifa and Hadera, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof HaCarmel Regional Council. In it had a population of . Ma'a ...

Ashdot Ya'akov Ashdot Ya'akov () is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Originally founded in 1924 by a kvutza of Hashomer members from Latvia on the land which is today Gesher, it moved to its current location between 1933 and 1935. It was named after the rapids of ...

, and

Na'an Na'an () is a kibbutz near the city of Rehovot in Israel. Located within the Central District, it falls under the jurisdiction of Gezer Regional Council and borders the villages of Ganei Hadar, Ramot Meir and Sitria. Founded in 1930, it is t ...

. During the

1948 Arab-Israeli war Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...

she served in the

army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

as a paramedic, but after her release she struggled to find a job, and therefore rejoined the army. In the beginning of 1953, Natan's name made headlines after she was arrested by the police, under suspicions that she was wearing women's clothing for criminal intent. Natan explained to the police officers, as reported by the newspaper

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...

: "I am a woman in my soul and in my emotions, and only for a physiological error I was born a man". In the years following she returned to the headlines for another arrest by the police, a

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance where participants fasting, fast as an act of political protest, usually with the objective of achieving a specific goal, such as a policy change. Hunger strikers that do not take fluids are ...

which she did in an endeavor to receive a permit for a gender-reassignment surgery. Natan claimed initially that she was born with both male and female sexual organs – meaning, she was

intersex Intersex people are those born with any of several sex characteristics, including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binar ...

. Surgeries had already been performed on intersex people in Israel, although in fall 1954 Natan was checked by a committee of doctors who said that she was not intersex. In her efforts to be permitted to undergo gender reassignment surgery, she began harming herself. A doctor committee on behalf of the ministry of health recommended to comply with her request and allow her to undergo surgery, although the

Attorney General of Israel The attorney general of Israel (, ''Ha-Yo'etz Ha-Mishpati La-Memshala'', ) heads the legal system of the executive branch and the public prosecution of the state. The attorney general advises the government in legal matters, represents the stat ...

at the time,

Haim Cohn Haim Herman Cohn (; 11 March 1911 – 10 April 2002) was an Israeli jurist and politician. Biography Haim Cohn was born in Lübeck, Germany in 1911 to a religious family. His father was the author and philologist Leopold Cohn. Haim was chairma ...

, refused the recommendation towards the end of 1954. In the wake of her recurring self-harm, she was reluctantly forced to receive

testosterone Testosterone is the primary male sex hormone and androgen in Male, males. In humans, testosterone plays a key role in the development of Male reproductive system, male reproductive tissues such as testicles and prostate, as well as promoting se ...

injections. She resumed her battle, and on May 25, 1956 she arrived to a hospital bleeding and squirming in pain, after she had cut her penis. The "Herut" newspaper reported she smiled at the horrified doctors, and said: Given the danger to her life, the doctors performed the surgery, and Natan became the first transsexual woman in Israel – undergoing sex reassignment surgery out of her own will. Following the surgery Natan received a new ID, in which her name was changed to Rina and her sex was changed to female, although in her passport the sex remained male. In November 1958, she left Israel to

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

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 ...

. Eventually, she made her way to Mannheim where she lived until January 1961, before moving to Saarbrücken and marrying 65-year-old businessman Willy Benjamin Knäbel in July 1961. Knäbel died in 1971 and Natan died at the age of 55 in 1979. The death certificate indicates that she had converted to Catholicism during her years in Germany.“Sterbekunde Rina Nathan-Knäbel,” Landeshauptstadt Saarbrücken- Saarbrücker Standesamt 1544/1979.

Biography

See also

Notes

References

Further reading