The German-American Charlotte Charlaque performed as a singer and dancer in Berlin during the 1920s. She worked on the reception desk at the Berlin Institute for Sexual Science. Around 1930, Charlaque and her friend Toni Ebel decided to have gender-affirming surgery. They were supported by the institute.
The two women moved in together, and Ebel converted to Judaism. Subject to hostility as trans women and Jews, they fled to Karlsbad (Karlovy Vary) in 1934 and later to Brno. They came to the attention of the Czech police and therefore moved to Prague in 1939. Charlaque was arrested by the immigration police in March 1942. Ebel feared her friend was to be deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto. She turned to the Swiss consul, who also represented US interests. Despite not having any identity papers, she was able to convince him that Charlaque was an American citizen. Charlaque was then transferred to Liebenau internment camp for women from “enemy countries.” After a prisoner exchange, she was able to leave for New York in July 1942.
Toni Ebel, Charlotte Charlaque, and Dora Richter (left to right), Berlin, 1933. Source: Filmarchiv Austria
Toni Ebel and Charlotte Charlaque (left to right) in their Berlin apartment, 1933. Source: Publikation: Ragnar Alhstedt (1933): Män, som blivit kvinnor. Två fall av könsväxling på operativ väg. En studie av transvestitismens väsen, Tranås
