JK Rowling Holocaust Denialism: Author Pushes Claims That Trans People Were Not A Target

JK Rowling Holocaust Denialism: Author Pushes Claims That Trans People Were Not A Target
On Wednesday, JK Rowling implied that Nazis never targeted trans people in Germany, calling it "a fever dream." She doubled down when challenged with sources showing trans persecution in Nazi Germany.

ERIN REED
MAR 13, 2024

On Wednesday, J.K. Rowling implicitly denied that transgender individuals were targeted and that books about them were burned in Nazi Germany. This assertion contradicts abundant evidence that transgender people were among the first targeted by the Nazis' rise to power in Germany. This culminated in the looting of the Magnus Hirschfeld Institute of Sexology and the infamous burning of the initial decades of transgender healthcare research, as well as the internment, forced detransition, and murder of transgender citizens. When confronted with numerous scholarly sources, she instead linked to another thread that labeled the first transgender patient a "troubled male.”

The claims emerged after Rowling argued that doctors providing gender affirming care to transgender youth should face prison time. She also advocated for imprisoning leaders of Stonewall and Mermaids, charities serving transgender and queer individuals. Recently, the author has adopted more extreme positions regarding transgender people, including describing a prominent transgender woman and journalist in the United Kingdom as "A man…cosplaying."

The exchange promoting a denial that transgender people were targeted in the Holocaust was triggered by a tweet questioning why individuals like Rowling increasingly find themselves aligned with Nazis, who burned books on transgender healthcare and research in 1933. Rather than defending her position, Rowling seemed to dismiss the notion altogether that transgender individuals were targeted, asking, "How did you type this out and press send without thinking ‘I should maybe check my source for this, because it might’ve been a fever dream’?" When others provided her with sources, she responded by linking to an anti-trans account calling the first transgender woman to undergo gender reassignment surgery in Germany to a "troubled male.” The thread in question also denied that transgender people were targeted by the Holocaust.

Nazis indeed targeted transgender individuals in early Germany. The Institute of Sexology, led by Magnus Hirschfeld, was the first institute to advance the study and medical care of transgender people in Berlin. The institute provided transgender individuals with employment and “transvestite passes” for a form of legal gender recognition in the city. Many frequented safe spaces such as the Eldorado, a club depicted in photographs where trans people are seen smiling and engaging in conversation, dancing, and socializing.

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