Karl Meier («Rolf»)
Under the name “Rolf” he edited “Der Kreis”, the Zurich magazine that kept gay life alive in Europe through war and repression.
Karl Meier grew up in eastern Switzerland and became an actor. From the 1930s he performed with the Cabaret Cornichon in Zurich, the legendary political cabaret that mocked the Nazis and defended Swiss democracy.
At the same time he was active in the small gay movement in Zurich. From 1943 he edited, under the pseudonym “Rolf”, the magazine “Der Kreis” (The Circle), which published texts in German, French and English. During the Second World War, when gay men were being murdered in Nazi Germany, it was one of the very few gay publications in the world, and it was read by subscribers across Europe and beyond.
The organisation around the magazine held legendary balls in Zurich, offered a safe meeting place and insisted on discretion and respectability. Meier led it with great dedication for almost a quarter of a century. When a new generation sought a more open, political approach in the 1960s, the circle lost members; the magazine ceased publication in 1967.
Karl Meier died in Zurich in 1974. His work is portrayed in Stefan Haupt’s film “Der Kreis” (2014), which tells the story of Ernst Ostertag and Röbi Rapp.