The Department of History is pleased to welcome Professor Laurie Marhoefer (University of Washington) for the 2025 Pierson Lecture: "Trans Berlin: The World's First Trans Politics, Berlin's Queer Golden Age, and the Rise of Fascism, 1918 – 1933."

In 1918, Germany had a democratic revolution. In the fourteen years that followed, Berlin became the most open city in the world for transgender men and women. They organized the world's first trans political groups. They ran magazines for and by trans people. They helped to establish the beginnings of legal and medical transition, working with city police and with Magnus Hirschfeld's Institute for Sexual Science. Then, the Nazis came to power and destroyed trans Berlin. Yet, much of what trans people fought for in the 1920s has become a reality today. This talk explores the fascinating lives of transgender women and men in the 1920s and the world they created.

The Annual Pierson Lecture is a Department of History tradition that spans back to 1993, when it was founded to honor Stan and Joan Pierson. The Piersons were both exemplary citizens of the community, dedicated to history and education as proven by their distinguished records of intellectual accomplishment and community involvement. This lecture series brings distinguished scholars to the University of Oregon, so that they may share their work in alignment with the Piersons’ interests in cultural, intellectual, and political life.