Gründerzeit Museum

Quite frankly, this museum in the far-flung suburb of Mahlsdorf would be just another dusty collection of period rooms had its founder not been the GDR’s most famous transvestite and gay icon. And what a life s/he led! Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, neé Lothar Berfelde, was born in 1928 and, much to the consternation of her Nazi father, was much more into dresses and dolls than trains and automobiles. Papa Berfelde’s efforts to whup his son into manhood ended abruptly when s/he bludgeoned him to death with his own revolver at the tender age of 15. After a short stint in prison, Charlotte turned into the ultimate pack rat, eventually assembling enough furnishings and bric-a-brac from the late 19th century (the so-called Gründerzeit ) to open her own museum. Doubling as a gathering place for East Germany’s gay scene, it quickly caught the attention of the Stasi and, rather than having her stuff confiscated, Charlotte ended up giving much of it away to friends. Today there’s still enough to fill six rooms, including a kitchen, servants’ quarters, a living room and a former gay bar which was brought here wholesale from the Scheunenviertel. Having decamped to Sweden, Charlotte died unexpectedly on a visit to Berlin in 2002, shortly after publishing her autobiography, I Am My Own Woman. Her life was adapted into the 1992 feature film Ich Bin Meine Eigene Frau by Rosa von Praunheim and a 2004 Broadway play, I Am My Own Wife, by Doug Wright that won Tony and Pulitzer awards.