Charlotte von Mahlsdorf

Charlotte von Mahlsdorf was born on March 18, 1928 in Berlin-Mahlsdorf as Lothar Berfelde. Although she was physically male, from childhood Lothar felt more like a girl. That could be terrible for any father, was the worst for Charlotte’s father who was part of Nazi Party.

In 1942 he forced Lothar to join the Hitler Youth. They often quarrelled, but the situation escalated in 1944 when Lothar's mother left the family during the evacuation. Max demanded Lothar choose between her parents and threatened her with a gun. Shaken by this, Lothar struck her father dead with a rolling pin while he slept. In January 1945, after several weeks in a psychiatric institution, Lothar was sentenced by a court in Berlin to four years detention as an anti-social juvenile delinquent. We could imagine what means for Lohar assume himself as Charlotte in that time of constructions against and fascist and castrator father.

With the fall of the Third Reich, Lothar was released. She worked as a second-hand goods dealer and dressed in a more feminine way. "Lothar" became "Lottchen". She loved older men and became a well-known figure in the city as Charlotte von Mahlsdorf. She began collecting household items, thus saving historical every-day items from bombed-out houses. She was also able to take advantage of the clearance of the households of people who left for West Germany.

Her collection evolved into the Gründerzeit Museum. She had become engaged in the preservation of the Mahlsdorf estate, which was threatened with demolition, and was awarded the manor house rent free. In 1960, Charlotte opened the museum of everyday articles from the Gründerzeit (the time of the founding of the German Empire) in the only partially reconstructed Mahlsdorf manor house. The museum became well known in cinematic, artistic and gay circles. From 1970 on, the East Berlin homosexual scene often had meetings and celebrations in the museum.

In 1991 neo-Nazis attacked one of her celebrations in the museum. Several participants were hurt. At this time Charlotte announced she was considering leaving Germany. In 1992 she received the Bundesverdienstkreuz. Her decision to leave Germany meant that she guided her last visitor through the museum in 1995 and in 1997 she moved to Porla Brunn in Sweden where she opened (with moderate success) a new museum dedicated to the turn of the 19th century. The city of Berlin bought the Gründerzeit Museum, and by 1997 it had been opened again by the "Förderverein Gutshaus Mahlsdorf e. V.".

Her life had been written for herself in two books I am my own woman: The true story of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf and Beat it!, written in co-operation with Peter Süß. Her life also had inspired some movies, plays and literary books, as the one of american author Dough Wright.

It became clear that her autobiography contained several contradictions, during both the Nazi period and the GDR period. Regardless of these issues, some people still honour her memory, be it for her work as the founder of the Gründerzeit Museum, or for her public role as a transvestite.

Charlotte von Mahlsdorf died from heart failure during a visit to Berlin on 30 April 2002.

More information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_von_Mahlsdorf
http://www.mundoteatral.com.ar/ar/teatro/nota.php?uid=321