Born biologically male, Einar Wegener fell in love with a woman and married, but at the age of 46 he had sex reassignment surgery and was named Lili Elbe.
Although it is a subject that we know little about today, this event that took place in the first years of the 20th century was not very clear during this period, so Lili Elbe experienced great difficulties. Unfortunately, she died soon after due to an infection during her last surgery. Let’s take a closer look at who is Lili Elbe, who went down in history as the world’s first known transsexual.
Let’s start from the beginning; Who is Lili Elbe?
- Einar Wegener
Einar Magnus Andreas Wegener, with his full name, was born on December 28, 1882 in Vejle, Denmark. In some works written about him, the year of his birth is also mentioned as 1986.
Einar Wegener is thought to be biologically male at birth. However, in some sources it is said that he is intersex, that is, he has the characteristics of both sexes. In fact, some reports say that he has Klinefelter syndrome and already has ovaries, albeit primitive.
As a student, he fell in love with a woman and got married:
- Gerda Gottlieb
Einar Wegener was a young painter with a talent for painting and began studying at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. Here he met Gerda Gottlieb, a painting student like himself. The two fell in love and were married in 1904, when Gerda was 19 and Einar was 22.
They earned their living by drawing. Einar Wegener was a landscape expert, while Gerda Gottlieb was drawing for fashion magazines. In Gerda’s drawings there was always a very beautiful woman. This unnamed model was Gerda’s cousin, she said, but she wasn’t around much. The truth came out after a while.
Einar Wegener understood the truth as soon as he put on women’s clothes:
- Lili Elbe
Gerda Gottlieb was going to draw for a fashion magazine one day, but the model would not come that day. Thinking it would be fun, Einar wore women’s clothes for Gerda’s drawing. He found himself in the socks and high heels he was wearing. She liked this look and named herself Lili.
There are different rumors at this point. Einar wore this outfit for fun and his wife supported him in this. They both noticed the change in him, but life was good for them. In another rumor, Gerda discovered the lesbian inside her after Einar wore these clothes and encouraged her to dress in this way.
Lili was sometimes introduced as Gerda’s cousin or aunt. At dinners between close friends, Einar would sometimes disappear and change her clothes to join them as Lili. Whatever was going on was happening, and in Gerda’s drawings, the beautiful woman everyone admired was becoming a reality.
Their marriage ended when she had her first surgery to truly become Lili Elbe:
- Lili Elbe and Claude Lejeune
Einar Wegener’s decision was now final, biologically she would become Lili. She went to Germany for this. In Berlin, she met with sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld and planned four surgeries necessary for her to be biologically female. The first of these, under the control of Magnus Hirschfeld in 1930, Dr. It was done by Erwin Gohrbandt and his testicles were removed.
Of course, when this news was quickly heard in the Danish and German press, there was a great sensation. The Danish government has declared that the marriage of the two women is illegal and annulled the marriage between Einar Wegener and Gerda Gottlieb. Einar Wegener changed her name to Lili Ilse Elvenes on all official documents, including her passport. She had changed her gender in the documents as well, she was now officially a woman. Later she took the surname Elbe.
For some reason, after their marriage ended, their relationship with Gerda also ended. It is known that she married an Italian diplomat and settled in Morocco. Lili also entered into a relationship with Claude Lejeune, known as a French art dealer. She stopped painting as Lili Elbe. Because according to him, it was Einar Wegener who had the talent for painting, not himself. Everything was going as she wanted, it was time for the last surgery, she.
His last surgery resulted in his death:
- Lili Elbe
In Lili Elbe’s first operation, her testicles were removed, her ovaries were placed in the second, and her penis was removed in the third. In his fourth and final surgery, a uterus transplant would be performed and a vaginal canal would be created. In 1931, Dr. This surgery was performed by Erwin Gorbandt.
The uterus inserted during the surgery was rejected by Elbe’s body. During the surgical intervention immediately after, infection occurred. Unfortunately, due to this infection, Lili Elbe, the world’s first transgender person, died on September 13, 1931, when her heart stopped.
Could everything be Gerda’s fault?
- Gerda Gottlieb
We said that there are many rumors about the subject. According to one of these rumors, Einar Wegener didn’t have a sex change in mind. But his wife, Gerda, who is a lesbian, had created Lili by dressing her in women’s clothes, and put these things into the man’s mind. Of course this is just a rumor.
Gerda was in Morocco when she heard the news of Lili’s death and was completely devastated. She divorced her husband and returned to Copenhagen, the city where it all began. She locked herself in a room, stopped painting, and indulged in alcohol, she. She died not long after, in 1940, she too. The death of Gerda Gottlieb, the famous painter of the period, was given as a small advertisement in the newspapers.
The film about Lili Elbe’s experiences: The Danish Girl
- Year: 2015
- Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama
- Director: Tom Hooper
- Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Alicia Vikander, Ben Whishaw
- IMDb: 7.1
The Danish Girl, the film adaptation of the book of the same name by David Ebershoff, tells the life story of Lili Elbe. The experiences of the world’s first transsexual are presented to the audience in all striking details.
We answered the question of who is Lili Elbe, the first transgender person in history who was born biologically male and underwent surgery to become a woman, and we talked about extraordinary details about her life. You can share your thoughts respectfully in the comments.
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