Bremen
2002 Ulrichplatz Dedication and Gay/Lesbian Streetfair and Expo
Ulrichsplatz is the official name of a square in Bremen, Germany. The square was dedicated on August 31, 2002, at 4 pm. The Bremen Gay/Lesbian community (Ulrichsplatz Action Group) added to the event by scheduling a streetfair to coincide with the dedication event.
Ulrichsplatz Homepage
 
Dedication of Ulrichsplatz 2002: Photos!
Honor for Gay Rights Activist
June 27, 2001
Honor for Gay Rights Activist
Advisory Council for the City Center wants an Ulrichs-Square
By
Volker Junck
Who was Karl Heinrich Ulrichs? Up until the last meeting in the regional office on Dobben Street the majority of the advisory council for the city center did not know. After a history lesson, the representatives of several political parties (christian democrats, socialists, greens, and communists), agreed unanimously to dub a long-time unnamed square in Ostertor near the Café Engel "Ulrichsplatz".
The vote was also unanimous to rename the pepped up cultural mile between the Goethe Theater and the former police station on Am Wall Street. The mile is now called "Paula-Modersohn-Becker-Strasse."
Every child in Bremen knows who the famous painter was. But Karl Heinrich Ulrichs? As explained in the white paper prepared by Bremen author Jörg Hutter, he was a notable pioneer for the social equality of Gays and Lesbians. Born in 1825 in Westerfeld near Aurich, the jurist, who died in 1895 in L'Aquila, Italy, made a name for himself in sexology by writing a book titled Research on the Riddle of "Man-Manly" Love. In Bremen in 1867, he intervened in the case of theater director Friedrich Carl Feldtmann, who was accused of homosexuality and was sentenced to "only" one year in jail.
Ulrichs, who, as a homosexual, always did what he could to decriminalize same-sex love, at that time had Bremen Senator Ferdinand Donandt as a powerful opponent. Donandt's demand to sharpen the punishment for same-sex relationships with imprisonment for up to five years found its way into the civil code book of 1871.
Now Ulrichs is to be honored for his participation in support of the Bremen theater director [Feldtmann]. The name "Ulrichsplatz" is already on the official list of suggestions in the office of streets and traffic of the building authorities. The house numbers around the square, locally known as "Ostertor-Platz," will remain unchanged.
An appropriate framework for the dedication would be the district Quarter Festival this coming year, which after a one-year pause should be on again. The advisory council nominated a festival committee, which is supposed to test the concepts of several interested promoters. Because of the many obligations of the city office, it had been called off this year.
For further information (and a map showing Ulrichsplatz):
Jörg Hutter's Homepage
And that is how it should be
Little Gay Square
Ostertor Square and the Homo Activist
The district quarter is becoming Gay, at least a small square in front of Café Engel - according to the square's name. Gay jurist Karl Heinrich Ulrichs (1825-1895) is to be the namesake of the until now officially nameless triangle. Unofficially, the name "Ostertor Square" has been used, Norbert Cäsar stated. He has been running a household goods store there for 50 years. He had little to say about the name "Karl-Heinrich-Ulrichs-Platz": "I don't know what good it'll do; the name Ostertor Platz has stuck." He never came across the name of Herr Ulrichs.
That will change. The advisory council of city center has now decided that the time has come in the district quarter to honor a "pioneer for the legal equality of Gays and Lesbians." The advisory council voted unanimously for Ulrichs. The initiative was begun by Greens party member Jörg Hutter of the "Advice and Action Center." Speaking for the little square, socialist party member of the advisory council Klaus auf dem Garten explained that there would be no change of name and residents could keep their letterheads. Speaking for Herr Ulrichs, Hutter said that in 1867 Ulrichs strongly supported Bremen theater director Friedrich Carl Feldtmann, who was charged with fornication and imprisoned.
The council also discussed dedicating the square to a Lesbian activist, Hutter said. But this idea soon fell by the wayside, because the Lesbian Movement began later, and in Homo history there was no rebellious Bremen Lesbian to be found. Eiken Bruhn
taz Bremen No. 6481 of 6-27-2001, page 24, TAZ-report, Eiken Bruhn
For further information (and a map showing Ulrichsplatz):
Jörg Hutter's Homepage
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