In his anthology Die Märchenklappe, author Felix Rexhausen publishes the text “On Official Business,” in which he captures the thoughts of a fictional police officer assigned to observe homosexuals from the police box at Spielbudenplatz. In contrast to his disinterested colleague, he seems to have a voyeuristic curiosity about the “view of Pissburg” (p. 64): “It’s crazy boring here today. Sure, still better than running around outside in this weather or sitting in the patrol car. But otherwise, I kind of liked it better; I always enjoy coming here.” (p. 65)
Rexhausen prefaces the satire with a poem:
Behind mirrors,
crystal-clear,
in urinals,
public ones,
sat, sit
here and there
police officers
to observe
the decline
of proper morals
and then to step in
and protect
public decency.
– Felix Rexhausen: “On Duty” 1982
According to Queer.de, the content of the satire resembles the play “The Accidental Death of Christian K.” by director Ulrich Waller, which premiered in December 1980 at the Malersaal. There, the situation of the police officers is described as follows:
Part of their professional duties is to closely observe the men on the other side of the mirror: Is that gentleman just shaking it off, or is he already jerking off? At one point, the police officer says to his colleague reading the “Bild” newspaper: “As if there weren’t more important things for people like us to do! Whether these gay pigs are groping each other here or somewhere else, it doesn’t give a damn—they’re doing it anyway.”
One almost feels sorry for the police officers, but this satire does not aim to elicit empathy for the law enforcement officers; rather, it points out that something is wrong with this constitutional state.
- Felix Rexhausen (1982): On Duty. In: Ibid.: Die Märchenklappe. Allerlei Zwischenmännlichkeiten. Rosa Winkel Publishing, Berlin: 1982, pp. 64–67. (CW: N-word, racism)