Jens Jersild

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Jens Jersild
Born1903
Died1978
CitizenshipDanish
Occupation(s)Police inspector, author
Years active1951 - 1971
OrganizationCopenhagen Morality Police
Known forAnti-homosexual activism
Notable workBoy Prostitution (1956) Pedophiles: Child Lovers (1964)

Jens Jersild (1903 - 1978) was a Danish law-enforcement officer and author who, as the chief of Copenhagen's Morality Police, persecuted homosexuals under his position from 1951 until his retirement in 1971. He was known as one of the most prominent anti-gay figures of his time. [1] [2] [3]

Jersild's raid of gay magazine Vennen in 1955 catalyzed what would later be known as the "great pornography affair" ("Store pornografi-affære"), which culminated with multiple Danish gay men dying by suicide and LGBT+ Danmark losing nearly all of its members. [1] [2] [3]

A prominent voice in Danish popular discourse, Jersild gave lectures and made multiple media appearances as an expert on the topic of sexual crimes across the country. [3] His book Pedophiles: Child Lovers (1964) was an early introducer of the word "pedophile" into Danish public discourse. [4] He is also the author of Boy Prostitution (1956). [5] [6] Jersild was an advisor in the production of crime movie Bundfald (1957), as well as other films. [3]

References

  1. 1 2 Edelberg, P. (2009). Politiinspektør Jens Jersild - Inkvisitor eller Reformator? 1066 Tidsskrift for Historie, (4), 15-25.
  2. 1 2 Edelberg, P. (2014). The Queer Road to Frisind: Copenhagen 1945-2012. In J. Evans, & M. Cook (Eds.), Queer Cities. Queer Cultures.: Europe since 1945 (pp. 55-74). Bloomsbury Academic.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Lodahl, Mads (2010). "Den danske konge af homofobi". Modkraft. Archived from the original on November 9, 2024.
  4. ↑ Krogh, Tyge; Kallestrup, Louise Nyholm; Christensen, Claus Bundgård, eds. (2017-10-16). "Traces of a Panic: The Making and Unmaking of a Paedophile Minority in Denmark in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries". Cultural Histories of Crime in Denmark, 1500 to 2000 (1 ed.). 1st Edition. New York : Routledge, 2017.: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315170169-6. ISBN   978-1-315-17016-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  5. ↑ Engel, S. W. (1960). Jersild, Jens: Boy prostitution. Kopenhagen (G. E. C. Gad) 1956, 102 Seiten. Psyche - Zeitschrift für Psychoanalyse. 13. 933-934
  6. ↑ Driver, Edwin D. (1957). "Review of Boy Prostitution". The Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science. 48 (4): 438–439. doi:10.2307/1140238. ISSN   0022-0205. JSTOR   1140238.
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