The Queer Vicar in Berlin. Heribert Jansson and the Complex Negotiation of Emotional and Sexual Attraction in the Cold War Era

Abstract

The Church of Sweden vicar Heribert Jansson (1919–1996) served in the Swedish Victoria parish in Berlin 1950–1986, during most of the Cold war era. In this article, an incident in Berlin in July 1957 is investigated as a case study on the unclear Cold War praxis concerning queer behaviour in this international ecclesiastical, as well as diplomatic and political context. The aim of the article is to contribute to the complex LGBT history during the Cold War era. The investigation and different considerations following the incident involved several parties: the Swedish Consul General in Berlin, the Swedish Foreign Office, the Archbishop in Uppsala and the Uppsala Archdiocese chapter, the local board of the Swedish Victoria parish, the British authorities in occupied Berlin, as well as the Swedish government. From his first years serving in Berlin, Jansson’s relatively open queerness changed into a more subdued attitude after this incident and following his marriage in 1958.