The Munich Ulrichs Committee is an association of four Gay organizations. It was founded in 1995 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the death of Karl Heinrich Ulrichs. He is the first known person to speak out publicly on behalf of Gay rights. Ulrichs just happened to give the speech at the Odeon Theater in Munich. Therefore, it seemed appropriate that an Ulrichs Committee be formed in that Bavarian city.The Committee's initial project in 1995 was pushing for the naming of a street after Ulrichs. In 1998 they succeeded in having a square named after him: Karl-Heinrich-Ulrichs-Platz. Success came because in 1997 Gay City Councilor Thomas Niederbühl was elected (in the picture, Niederbühl is second from the right).
However, in anticipation of the 1995 jubilee year, in 1994 Wolfram Setz (far right in the picture), a leading member of the Committee and editor of the Bibliothek rosa Winkel (Pink Triangle Press Library), published a four-volume paperback facsimile reprint of some of Ulrichs' writings.
Those four volumes were followed in 1998 by another volume, a facsimile reprint of some of Ulrichs' letters, prose, and poetry (Matrosengeschichten [Sailor Stories]) All of these writings are available in English.
In 1994, Setz was also responsible for getting a complete copy of Alaudae (Larks), Ulrichs' Latin newspaper, into the Munich State Library (no other German library had a complete copy of it).
The year 2000 marks Ulrichs' 175th birthday anniversary. The Committee has several items in the offing:
- A modest Ulrichs' Expo at the Munich Gay Center (SUB) from July to September.
- An International Lecture Series: July-September. Presented in association with Forum Homosexualität und Geschichte (Homosexuality and History organization); Rosa Liste (Pink List political action committee); and SUB (the Munich Gay center); with the support of the Munich cultural department
- A Celebration on Ulrichs-Platz
- Wolfram Setz is scheduled to represent the Committee at the celebration in L'Aquila.
- Several publications are scheduled to appear for this jubilee year:
- Volkmar Sigusch, "Karl Heinrich Ulrichs: Der erste Schwule der Weltgeschichte" (KHU: The First Gay Person in World History), ed. W. Setz. Expanded edition of the 1999 edition.
- Wolfram Setz, Karl Heinrich Ulrichs zu Ehren: Materialen zu Leben und Werk (In Honor of KHU: Material from his Life and Work).
- Includes: Setz' essay "KHU zum 175. Geburtstag" (KHU: On His 175th Birthday)
- Magnus Hirschfeld on Ulrichs (from 1909)
- Niccolò Persichetti's In Memoriam (1896) translated into German
- Corrected galleys of one of Ulrichs' handwritten manuscripts (Argonauticus)
- From the Munich Gay Historical Association:
- Karl Heinrich Ulrichs: München, August 29, 1867. Includes the first part of Ulrichs' Gladius furens (Raging Sword)
- W. Setz, Karl Heinrich Ulrichs zum 175. Geburtstag (KHU: On His 175th Birthday).
- The publication of the lectures in the International Lecture Series.
It gives great pleasure to Paul Nash and me to participate in the lecture series and commemoration event on Ulrichs-Platz, and to be with the representatives of the Committee in L'Aquila.
Michael Lombardi-Nash
Gay Pride Month (June), 2000
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