Gender-Affirming Treatments in the Healthcare System in the GDR in the 1980s

The research project examines the implementation of gender-affirming treatments in the healthcare system of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from the late 1970s through the 1980s. Although the GDR introduced a legal framework for gender reassignment in 1976, little is known about how these regulations were applied in clinical practice, how decisions were made, and how trans* individuals experienced these processes. The project investigates how medical, legal, and social concepts of trans identity were translated into concrete treatment pathways, administrative procedures, and expert evaluations. Particular attention is paid to the work of the expert commission established under the 1976 “Directive on the Gender Reassignment of Transsexuals,” as well as to the interaction between psychiatry, endocrinology, and other medical disciplines involved in transition-related care. Methodologically, the study combines historical source-critical analysis of medical publications and archival records from the Charité’s psychiatric archives with oral history interviews. By reconstructing institutional practices alongside individual experiences, the project aims to provide a praxeological perspective on gender-affirming care in the GDR and to examine continuities and transformations during the period surrounding German reunification. 

 

Aims 

• Reconstruct clinical practice: Analyze how gender-affirming treatments were organized, evaluated, and implemented within the GDR healthcare system, including the role of expert commissions, administrative procedures, and interdisciplinary collaboration. 
• Historicize contemporary debates: Explore how medical and social understandings of trans identities developed in late socialist East Germany and identify continuities and changes that help contextualize present-day approaches to Gender-affirming Treatments.