Abstract (eng)
The author of this diploma thesis aims to show the hidden world of homosexual men in interwar Linz. In order to accomplish that there has been a critical discussion about four sources. These sources contain of court records from the years 1925 to 1929 which are located in the upperaustrian Landesarchiv in Linz. Furthermore the influences by the contemporary scientific discourse regarding the themes of sexuality and homosexuality on the psychiatric surveys of each accused are being shown and analyzed. To construct this scientific discourse the author uses the works of Richard von Krafft-Ebing, August Forel, Magnus Hirschfeld and Albert Moll, some of which are either supporters of the pathologic or naturalistic approach regarding the questions of homosexuality. The social and spatial boundaries in which male-male actions happened, as well as their penal repercussions are being discussed and shed light upon. Besides those points of focus the self-ascriptions and extrinsic-ascriptions of homosexuals within the sources are playing a major part in this paper. In addition the attention is being drawn towards male prostitution and their impact on the environment in which homosexuals lived in interwar Linz.