JK Rowling has gotten herself into a lot of trouble over the last few years. It wouldn't just be transphobic statement the world-famous author on Twitter. There were also contacts in fascist circles or direct financial support corresponding organizations in Scotland, most recently in February of this year.
Recently, Rowling wrote a new chapter in this story. After all, the 58-year-old not only once again flaunted her transphobia in the eyes of many observers, but also apparently denied crimes committed by the Nazi regime.
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About trans people and fever dreams
The current chapter began with a Twitter question to the writer. On the platform, someone asked Rowling: “The Nazis burned books on trans health and research. Why are you desperately defending their ideology around gender?“
She promptly replied as follows: “How can you type that and hit send without thinking, “Maybe I should have checked my source for this because maybe it was a fever dream?”'”
This was followed by a lot of criticism of Rowling's statement. After all, it has been proven that a large number of works on gender studies, sexuality research and trans identity were destroyed during National Socialism. Queer.de mentions numerous comments under Rowling's tweet that refer to Magnus Hirschfeld.
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At the time, Hirschfeld ran an institute for sexual science that was considered extremely progressive in the late 1920s and early 1930s. On May 6, 1933, on Bebelplatz in Berlin, the majority of the books from this institute were publicly burned and that institute was destroyed. As a result, Hirschfeld in particular was repeatedly referenced as an example under the post.
No insight from Rowling
Despite the large number of responses, JKRowling did not apologize. Instead tried the author of the Harry Potter books, to relativize the implied denial of Nazi crimes by, among other things, sharing a Twitter thread. According to Queer.de, she indirectly expressed the accusation that they wanted to silence her. For example, she shared a comment from a transphobic university lecturer.
The actor George Takei, for example, emphasized in his response to her tweet that homosexual people and trans people were also targets of the Nazi regime, contrary to Rowling's suggestions and later twists. Queerness in the 20s and 30s was discussed on Netflix last year. The documentary film Eldorado – Everything the Nazis Hate explicitly caused a stir on the platform.
Sources: Queer.de, Magnus Hirschfeld Federal Foundation