How did queer activism emerge in state socialist Poland? What spaces were available to gay, lesbian and queer people in a repressive political system, and what role did transnational networks play in this? Using archive material, (underground) magazines and interviews with contemporary witnesses, the book Bewegende Begegnungen. Transnationaler Aktivismus und queere Selbstverortungen in Polen seit den 1980er Jahren (Moving Encounters. Transnational Activism and Queer Self-Positioning in Poland since the 1980s) (Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, 2025) analyses the negotiation and politicisation processes of these queer movements. It also sheds light on the activists’ search for self-identification in a Europe that was reforming after the end of the Cold War and in Polish society, which had been undergoing transformation since 1989/90.
Following the book presentation, Paweł Matusz (University of Regensburg) and Barbara Schnalzger (Feminist Library MONAliesA), moderated by Verena Triesethau (outside the box), will discuss with author Magda Wlostowska the significance of queer archives and various forms of queer memory – not only in authoritarian social systems such as the People’s Republic of Poland or the GDR, but also in light of current social developments in Europe.
The event is being held in cooperation with MONAliesA – Feminist Library and Archive.
Paweł Matusz is a sociologist and queer activist. He studied at the University of Warsaw and focuses on queer theory in the context of migration in Eastern Europe. As a doctoral candidate in the research project Light On! Queer Literatures and Cultures under Socialism at the University of Regensburg, he is researching the archives and biography of Andrzej Selerowicz, one of the first Polish gay rights activists.
Barbara Schnalzger is a cultural historian and is pursuing her doctorate at the Institute for Cultural Studies at the University of Leipzig. Her doctoral thesis deals with the history and significance of German-language lesbian/women’s archives and libraries from a history of knowledge perspective. She also works at the Leipzig-based institution MONAliesA – feminist library and archive.
Verena Triesethau works as an author and lecturer on the topics of philosophy of the body, feminist body phenomenology and gender theory. Since 2008, she has been editor of the magazine outside the box – Zeitschrift für feministische Gesellschaftskritik (outside the box – magazine for feminist social criticism).
Magda Wlostowska is a political scientist focusing on social transformation processes in Eastern Central Europe and gender studies. In 2023, she received her doctorate from the University of Leipzig with a thesis on the history of queer activism in Poland. She currently works at the Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe (GWZO) in Leipzig.