The first of Thomas Berger’s tetralogy of novels featuring Carlo Reinhart is titled Crazy in Berlin (highly recommended). Today I learn that the Washington Post has a Berlin bureau and that Kate Brady reports from Berlin for the Post. JWR has posted Brady’s latest story, datelined Berlin, “Germany debates gender law as convicted neo-Nazi heads to women’s prison” (the Post version is here behind the paper’s paywall). Brady’s story brings Crazy in Berlin to mind. Here are her opening paragraphs:
Germany’s interior minister has called for tighter rules on gender self-determination after a neo-Nazi, convicted of incitement to hatred and other crimes as a man, legally changed gender and is now set to serve an 18-month sentence in a women’s prison.
Marla-Svenja Liebich, formerly known as Sven Liebich, was sentenced in July 2023 to 18 months without parole for incitement to hatred, defamation and insult. At the time, Liebich was a man.
Last year, Liebich changed name and gender under Germany’s revised Self-Determination Act, just weeks after the law came into effect. After a failed appeal, Liebich is set to begin the sentence at a women’s facility.
Senior government officials, including Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, have accused Liebich of abusing the Self-Determination Act, a German law that guarantees an individual’s right to change their [sic] gender marker.
Brady’s story is dated August 26. It has much more on Liebich and the law.
However, since the publication of Brady’s story Liebich has vanished. In a long update, Australia’s 7News reports today that Liebich has dropped hints of his whereabouts on his X account with a rock song and a movie poster. He appears to have a cutting sense of humor.
Liebich, by the way, has previously “mocked gender diversity and woke’ policies.”
Query who’s crazy in Berlin.
