Queer Places:
Universities of Heidelberg, Grabengasse 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
Paul Eduard Karl Brandt (March 30, 1861 - June 4, 1932) was a German classical philologist, secondary school teacher, and art historian who also achieved lasting renown under his well-known pseudonym, Hans Licht.
Born in Saarbrücken as the son of Martin Gottlieb Wilhelm Brandt, a headmaster of a girls' school, and Mathilde Neustetel, he grew up alongside his brother, Samuel Brandt. After graduating from high school in 1880, he pursued classical philology at the Universities of Heidelberg and Bonn, where he earned his doctorate in 1884 and passed his first state examination in 1885. During his university years, he joined the Philological-Historical Association of Heidelberg in the Naumburg Cartel Association. He subsequently entered the teaching profession, serving as an assistant teacher in Wetzlar and Mönchengladbach before securing a permanent appointment as a senior teacher in 1889. Following a study trip to Greece in 1892 for Baden secondary school teachers, he published his travel memoirs as student reading material in 1894.
Brandt transferred to the Municipal Gymnasium in Bonn in 1896, where he also served as a board member of the German Gymnasium Association and helped instigate the 1900 Braunschweig Declaration advocating for the preservation of the humanist gymnasium. On April 1, 1910, he was appointed director of the Prinz-Georg Reform Gymnasium in Düsseldorf. During the First World War, he served as an officer, rising to the rank of major in the reserve army (Landwehr), and later worked as headmaster of the Burggymnasium in Essen until his retirement on April 1, 1921. Known for integrating art appreciation into his curriculum, he published his major work, Seeing and Recognizing: A Guide to Comparative Art Appreciation, in 1910. Inspired by the principles of Heinrich Wölfflin, the book paired text and images across facing pages to guide readers through comparative analysis, selling over 50,000 copies across seven editions during his lifetime.
His connections to LGBTQ history and the study of same-sex desire are deeply tied to the scholarly works he published under his speaking pseudonym, Hans Licht. Bypassing the strict censorship and social conventions of early 20th-century Europe, Brandt used the Hans Licht pen name to author foundational texts exploring ancient sexuality, homoeroticism, and social customs. His monumental achievement in this field was the comprehensive multi-volume Sittengeschichte Griechenlands (published in Dresden and Zurich by Paul Aretz Verlag between 1925 and 1928), which included volumes dedicated to Greek society, romantic and sexual life, and a supplementary volume focusing specifically on eroticism in ancient Greek art. Translated into English by J. H. Freese as Sexual Life in Ancient Greece in 1932, these works provided unprecedented, meticulously researched documentation of ancient Greek interpersonal relationships and same-sex dynamics, establishing Brandt as a pioneering figure in the academic exploration of historical queer frameworks.
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