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Facundo Saxe. Triángulos Marica Triángulos marica: apuntes para un mapa de la literatura de la memoria queer en contextos dictatoriales y represivos Facundo Saxe1 Este trabajo aborda, entre otras cuestiones, los textos testimoniales de los llamados “triángulos rosa” en los campos de concentración y exterminio durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Se busca realizar un recorrido por los textos para proponer algunas teorizaciones y desarrollos vinculados a la memoria queer y la situación específica de la homosexualidad en los campos de concentración (la noción de “triángulo marica”). A partir de fines de los años sesenta, la despenalización parcial de la homosexualidad masculina en la República Federal Alemana abre un nuevo período para pensar la cuestión de las vidas sexo-disidentes durante el nazismo y la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Con los “triángulos rosa” se abre una forma de procesar testimonios, voces y vidas que no pudieron testificar de forma alguna durante la posguerra ya que la criminalización y la homofobia continuaron vigentes luego de la caída del nazismo. Recién hacia fines de los años sesenta el tristemente célebre parágrafo 175 es derogado parcialmente. En ese marco, la emergencia de testimonios no resulta rápida ni masiva. Para los años setenta los sobrevivientes no quieren o no pueden hablar. Tal vez eso explica que el texto inaugural de la cuestión se publique en los años setenta para que el resto vaya apareciendo en un trayecto que va desde los años ochenta hasta el siglo XXI: Los hombres del triángulo rosa (Heinz Heger, 1972), Yo, Pierre Seel, deportado homosexual (Pierre Seel, 1981-1994), Itinerario de un triángulo rosa (Rudolf Brazda y Jean-Luc Schwab, 2010). Triángulos rosa Ya nombres como Jack Halberstam o Kate Millet han mencionado la cuestión de la persecución a personas homosexuales (usó el término utilizado en general en el contexto de la época) durante el nazismo de la que el llamado rosa Winkel o triángulo rosa se convierte en un símbolo histórico, como da cuenta el libro de Richard Plant, The Pink Triangle (1986). No es casualidad que Kate Millet mencione en el célebre Sexual Politics (1970) cómo se persiguió a la homosexualidad en el nazismo y la destrucción por parte de los nazis de los movimientos políticos sexo-genéricos alemanes (Millet, 1995: 300-301). Resulta interesante pensar una aproximación comparada a las situaciones de represión y exterminio de las disidencias sexo-genéricas en contextos represivos, por ejemplo en el caso de la dictadura argentina en los años setenta y el nazismo en Alemania durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial. En esos contextos la situación de las personas sexo-disidentes cobra un matiz diferente en el tratamiento posterior del tema en el canon histórico y cultural. Salvando las diferencias, en ambos casos los testimonios de las personas sexo- disidentes se han conservado en un número reducido. Las víctimas homosexuales del nazismo no fueron consideradas como tales durante varias décadas, ya que la criminalización de la homosexualidad en Alemania continuó hasta el año 1969.2 Los sobrevivientes no pudieron dar testimonio y debieron callar 1 Dr. en Letras por la Universidad Nacional de La Plata (Argentina), Prof. Adjunto de Literatura alemana en la FaHCE-UNLP y docente a cargo del seminario “Teorías queer”, Investigador de CONICET (CInIG- IdIHCS). 2 Considero como fecha el año en que en la República Federal Alemana se modifica el parágrafo 175 para penar las relaciones con menores de 21 años. En la República Democrática Alemana la legislación se modifica a fines de los años ochenta. En Austria, el equivalente parágrafo 129 estuvo vigente hasta 1971. porque ese tipo de diferencia continuó siendo sancionada. En el caso de los sujetos sexo-disidentes, durante mucho tiempo fueron víctimas olvidadas, silenciadas o elididas del canon histórico. Sólo cuando luego de la relativa apertura de mediados de los años sesenta (con cambios específicos en los marcos legales),3 se retoman textos literarios y autobiográficos y ciertos testimonios logran cruzar la barrera del olvido. En el marco de un tratamiento cultural que osciló entre la necesidad del anonimato y la falta de solidaridad social, se publica Die Männer mit dem rosa Winkel de Heinz Heger,4 que narra la historia del sobreviviente Josef K., un austríaco condenado al campo de Mauthausen. Y ya en los años ochenta, con el testimonio del alsaciano Pierre Seel5, estos textos se convierten en los dos primeros casos testimoniales sobre esta zona del canon histórico. Según Javier Ugarte Pérez, la jerarquía social que castiga a los hombres del triángulo rosa se repite en el silencio de los historiadores luego de la segunda guerra mundial sobre los gitanos y los homosexuales, de esas víctimas no se habla (Ugarte Perez, 2003). La primer obra que ficcionaliza la situación de los “triángulos rosa” es el drama Bent (1979) de Martin Sherman. A partir de los años noventa el olvido de las víctimas comienza a ser paliado por la literatura con el surgimiento de otros testimonios híbridos entre la (auto)biografía y la ficción que dan cuenta de la situación de la disidencia sexual en la época. El hueco que el tratamiento de la historia deja en el tema, se completa con los testimonios literarios en primera persona y las ficciones que tematizan la cuestión de la sexualidad disidente durante el nazismo, como puede ser el caso de la novela testimonial Aimée & Jaguar. Eine Liebesgeschichte, Berlin 1943 (1994) de Erica Fischer que narra la historia de amor de una mujer lesbiana judía y la esposa de un oficial nazi en el Berlín de la segunda guerra; o la autobiografía Ich bin meine eigene Frau (1992) de Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, que narra la vida de una travesti durante el siglo XX; y el documental del mismo nombre que realiza Rosa von Praunheim con Mahlsdorf en 1992. En ese marco de literatura testimonial, es preciso mencionar que el triángulo rosa deviene una referencia histórica transcultural. Y en el caso en particular de las dictaduras latinoamericanas, en el proceso en el que la literatura comienza a incorporar la ficcionalización de la memoria queer, el triángulo rosa (u otros significantes del exterminio nazi) deviene un espacio común a la visibilización de violencia y exterminio.6 Historias Uno de los tópicos para pensar la memoria queer es justamente la situación de exterminio alrededor de los triángulos rosa en la Segunda Guerra Mundial (que como ya señalé cuestión de la que se conservan alrededor de tres testimonios escritos, Heinz Heger/Josef Kohut, Pierre Seel, Rudolf Brazda), un tema invisibilizado por la historia durante varias décadas. Una cuestión sobre la que no se puede recuperar puntualmente Recién en 1996 es abolida la ley federal que prohibía las muestras públicas de homosexualidad, y finalmente, todas las leyes contrarias a la homosexualidad son derogadas en 2003. 3 Que se marca históricamente con la rebelión en el bar norteamericano de Stonewall, en 1969 y en Alemania tiene como figura principal al cineasta y activista Rosa von Praunheim. 4 Se trata del primer testimonio de un sobreviviente homosexual, es publicado por el periodista Hans Neumann bajo el seudónimo de Heinz Heger en 1972. Consiste en la adaptación narrativa de las conversaciones que tuvo el periodista con el sobreviviente Josef K., quien le contó todo lo que Neumann fue transcribiendo. Josef K. murió en 1994. 5 El testimonio de Pierre Seel comienza a darse a conocer a partir de 1981. 6 Un ejemplo es la referencia a Auschwitz para narrar la historia de una travesti en una villa del gran Buenos Aires en La virgen cabeza (2009) de Gabriela Cabezón Cámara. mucho más de lo que queda porque el heteropatriarcado se encargó de borrar esas vidas o de impedir que se volvieran vidas “vivibles”. Como ya he señalado, en Alemania se formaron las primeras manifestaciones activistas sexo-disidentes. La tradición de libertad sexual que se dio desde el cambio de siglo hasta los años de la República de Weimar podría ser uno de esos laboratorios de experimentación sexual de los que nos hablaba Perlongher citando a Foucault. En los que la visibilidad y el activismo le disputaban sentidos, territorios y políticas a las ficciones de heteronormalidad patriarcal. Berlín fue una de las grandes metrópolis que ofrecía una libertad sexual única, una capital conocida por sus bares travestis, homosexuales y lesbianos, famosa por sus drogas, sus orgías, su libertad y su diversión. Según Andreas Sternweiler, en Berlín en 1896 había 6 bares homosexuales. Para 1900 eran 12. En 1933, más de 100. Eran los tiempos de Der Eigene (término difícil de traducir pero algo así como El único, El peculiar), la primera revista homosexual de la que se tiene registro, los tiempos del Instituto de Investigación Sexual de Berlín, fundado por Hirschfeld en 1919, que tuvo uno de los archivos más importantes sobre sexualidad de la historia y proveía servicios educativos abiertos al público, consultas médicas y un museo sobre sexo (Bauer, 2017: 79-84). Y tuvo entre sus invitados y residentes temporarios a nombres como André Gide, Anita Berber, Francis Tourville- Petre y Christopher Isherwood. Es el Berlín al que viajan los escritores ingleses Christopher Isherwood, Stephen Spender y W. H. Auden en busca de libertad sexual (donde establecen, por ejemplo, vínculos y amistades con Klaus y Erika Mann, recordemos que Auden es el segundo “marido”7 de Erika). Por la misma época se realizó el film “educativo” Anders als die Andern (Richard Oswald, 1919), en el que Hirschfeld colaboró como asesor y donde Conrad Veidt8 interpretó a uno de los primeros personajes homosexuales protagónicos del cine. La película era un panfleto a favor de la campaña contra la derogación del parágrafo 175 (en la que se llevaría adelante la tesis que sostenía que la enfermedad no era la homosexualidad, sino el medio que la reprimía) y fue uno de los primeros intentos de representación positiva de la homosexualidad.
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