{"id":1358,"date":"2026-02-01T19:03:56","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T19:03:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marlas.army\/?p=1358"},"modified":"2026-02-01T22:30:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T22:30:21","slug":"jugendweihe-1985-haltung-herkunft-und-ein-kaufhaus-in-moskau","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/marlas.army\/en\/jugendweihe-1985-haltung-herkunft-und-ein-kaufhaus-in-moskau\/","title":{"rendered":"Jugendweihe 1985 \u2013 Attitude, Origins, and a Department Store in Moscow"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

My Jugendweihe was in eighth grade.
And it was more than a ceremony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our class trip to the Soviet Union was, back then, the Jugendweihe trip.<\/strong>.
Moscow.
Kyiv.
Leningrad \u2014 yes, it was still called that in 1984.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That went together.
Transition and the world all at once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zu diesem Beitrag wurde ein separately published video statement<\/strong> <\/a>erstellt, in dem einzelne biografische Aspekte und zeitgeschichtliche Einordnungen erg\u00e4nzend erl\u00e4utert werden.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

I still remember the moment before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My mother said I should shave.
So I wouldn\u2019t look like a weirdo in the photos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was 14.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I told her that my great-grandmother wore her beard.
Openly.
Of course.
Even at the Halle Zoo, at a people-and-curiosities exhibition, as it was called back then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That it was part of our family.
And that I don\u2019t hide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

The glasses are also part of this story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn\u2019t actually have to wear any.
My eyesight was only slightly impaired.
I could wear glasses \u2014 I didn\u2019t have to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My mother chose a very noticeable frame for me back then.
Big.
Present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said it was a counterpoint.
A distraction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So people would see the glasses first.
And not immediately the beard.
So the gaze would linger \u2014 somewhere else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That wasn\u2019t bending.
That was care.
A protective instinct from her time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wore the glasses for the Jugendweihe.
And took them off again afterward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were never my hiding place.
Just a transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

I experienced the Jugendweihe itself as calm.
My class stood behind me.
No one laughed.
No one singled me out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This photo is one of the few that remain.
My mother sent it to me later, in exile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hold on to it,
not because of the clothes or the flowers,
but because of the posture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

And then Moscow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I still remember exactly how we stood in GUM.\nThat huge department store on Red Square.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, it was overwhelming.
The scale.
The architecture.
That sense of openness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not consumption.
But awe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was a girl with a beard.
And there I was simply normal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No explanations.
No looks.
No correction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

When I hear today that women with strong facial hair should \u201cget treatment,\u201d
ideally paid for by the taxpayer,
then I know:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s not progress.
That\u2019s conformity pressure in a new disguise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women have beards.
Period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In many parts of the world, that\u2019s taken for granted.
There, people are more likely to be surprised by women without them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

For me, the Jugendweihe was not a ritual of leveling.
It was a moment of self-positioning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am part of my family.
I am part of my history.
And I don\u2019t hide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I decided that at 14.
Between flowers, classmates,
a striking pair of glasses,
and a huge department store in Moscow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I carry that with me to this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\n
\u201cWoman with a Beard\u201d \u2014 This photo is from 1977.\nAnd it ends the debate.<\/a><\/blockquote>