German, Jew, Muslim, Gay
The subject is philosopher Hugo Marcus, born in Posen (now Poznań) in 1880. Marcus moved to Berlin in the early 20th century and joined the gay rights group of Magnus Hirschfeld, wrote in favour of pacifism during World War One, and found himself in the expansive circle of acolytes around German poet Stefan George, before converting to Islam in 1921 and adopting the name “Hamid”. He represented a strain of Muslim intellectualism and gave lectures in Berlin’s only mosque of the time, drawing the attention of writers Hermann Hesse and Thomas Mann. Interned in Sachsenhausen concentration camp in 1938, he was freed just before the war and fled into Swiss exile. He remained in Switzerland after the war and wrote for the influential gay magazine Der Kreis which also attracted writers such as Kurt Hiller and Sam Steward.
via: Strange Flowers - more books here: 20 for 2020
