Albrecht Becker
(November 14, 1906-2002)
Sign: Scorpio
“Homosexuality is Homeric laughter.”
Homosexual production designer, photographer, theatrical actor, performance artist, body modification pioneer. After living openly as a homosexual in Weimar Germany, he and his gay friends were arrested after the passing of the infamous “Paragraph 175” which made homosexuality and any expression of homosexual interest punishable with imprisonment.
Many of Becker’s friends were placed in concentration camps, used for inhuman medical experiments and executed.
On release, Becker was required to enlist in the German army. On the Russian front, he became fascinated with the tattoos of Russian soldiers and prisoners. He began to tattoo his own body, often with phalluses as a way of ornamenting himself and in order to protest the Nazi idea of the Aryan male, virile, pure and straight. After the war, Becker studied the body modifications of the Dayak head-hunters of Borneo. He gave himself an apadravya piercing through the glans of his cock, using it to display feathers and suspend heavy ornaments in performances.
“Faggot Forefathers” is a weekly series highlighting the lives of historically significant gay men and their contributions to our world.
