Ruth Margarete Roellig (14 December 1878 – 31 July 1969) was a German writer, she is known for documenting Berlin's lesbian club scene of the late 1920s during 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 ...

. Additionally she published support of

Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...

starting in the 1930s, and she stopped writing after the end of World War II.

Life

Roellig was born on 14 December 1878 in Schwiebus,

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

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 ...

. Her parents were Anna and Otto Roehlig, they were in the restaurant and hotel business. At the age of 9, in 1887 the family moved to Berlin. After school in Berlin, Roellig began to write works. Her first published book was in 1913, ''Geflüster im Dunkel'' (English: Whispered in The Dark), about a poet and their muse. Roellig became newspaper contributing editor in Berlin. Roellig wrote in 1920s several books over her travels to

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

, Bonn and Paris. After her travels she started working for two lesbian feminist journals, ''

Die Freundin ''Die Freundin'' (, "The Girlfriend") was a popular Weimar-era German lesbian magazine published from 1924 to 1933. Founded in 1924, it was the world's first lesbian magazine, closely followed by '' Frauenliebe'' and ''Die BIF'' (both 1926). Th ...

'' (English: The Girlfriend) and ''Frauenliebe'' (English: Love of Women) later called '' Garçonne'' (English: Boyish). In 1927, her home in Berlin's

Schöneberg Schöneberg () is a locality of Berlin, Germany. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a separate borough including the locality of Friedenau. Together with the former borough of Tempelhof it is now part of the new borough of Te ...

neighborhood included living with a much younger woman and a pet monkey, they were interested in the

occult The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mysti ...

and hosted many parties with actresses and writers. The following year, Roellig published a city guide, ''Berlins lesbische Frauen'' (1928), for lesbians (with a prologue by

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 ...

). And by 1930, a second edition of the city guide was published. Roellig wrote in 1930 an article in sexual education book, ''Das lasterhafte Weib''. After the

Machtergreifung The rise to power of Adolf Hitler, dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, began in the newly established Weimar Republic in September 1919, when Hitler joined the '' Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (DAP; German Workers' Party). He quickly rose t ...

(the Nazi seizure of control 1931–1933) of

, the

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 ...

culture in Berlin was under pressure. Roellig who supported Nazism in 1930s wrote in 1937 her last book ''Soldaten, Tod und Tänzerin'' with antisemitic content. In 1943, her home in the Schöneberg quarter of Berlin was destroyed by an airstrike. Roellig traveled to her house in

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...

. After

World War II 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 ...

, Roellig left Silesia and went with her friend Erika to her sister Käthe. She never wrote again after the war. Roellig died on 31 July 1969, at the age of 90 in the Schöneberg neighborhood of Berlin.

Works by Roellig

Books

* *''Liane'' (1919) * ''Traumfahrt: Eine Geschichte aus Finnland'' (1920) * ''Lutetia Parisorum'' (1920) * ''Die fremde Frau'' (1920) * ''Die heiligen Annunziaten'' (1925) * *''Ich klage an!'' (1931) * ''Die Kette im Schloss'' (1931) * ''Der Andere'' (1935) * ''Soldaten, Tod und Tänzerin'' (1937)

Essays

References

External links

Margarete Roellig
in

German National Library The German National Library (DNB; ) is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany. It is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its task is to collect, permanently archive, comprehens ...