Having a completely tranquil life, this man suddenly realized another self within him. He then made a decision that became a turning point for transgender people.
Einar Wegener when he was a man.
If you’ve ever watched the world-famous 2015 movie “The Danish Girl,” you’ve probably heard the name of the main character – Einar Wegener. He is considered the first person in the world to undergo sex reassignment surgery, and the character is entirely real. The symbolic life of Einar Wegener, also known as Lili Elbe, has been recounted for many years since, seen as a landmark for the transgender community.
A Tranquil Life and an Astonishing Discovery
Lili Elbe’s birth name before her transition was Einar Magnus Andreas Wegener, born on December 28, 1882, in the city of Vejle, Denmark. As a child, Einar was a completely normal boy. Growing up, he studied art at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. There, Einar met Gerda Gottlieb, two years his junior, who was a painter and decorative artist.
His wife, Gerda Gottlieb.
Einar and Gerda quickly fell in love due to their deep shared passion for art. In 1904, they married and started a life together. While Einar specialized in Post-Impressionist landscape painting, his wife Gerda pursued a career as an illustrator for books and magazines. Einar exhibited many of his works at the prestigious Salon d’Automne in Paris, France, and won the Neuhausens Prize in Denmark.
The paintings Gerda drew of her husband cross-dressing.
The young couple’s life continued peacefully until one day, Einar’s awakening changed everything. It was around 1908, and Gerda’s scheduled model, the Danish actress Anna Larssen, cancelled. Unsure what to do without a model, Gerda spontaneously thought of having her husband wear stockings, hold up a dress, and put on high heels to pose for her. Initially hesitant, Einar agreed to his wife’s insistence.
No one expected that this one time dressing as a woman would make Einar realize his true self. Later, Einar wrote: “It may sound strange, but I cannot deny that I enjoyed myself in this disguise. I liked the soft feel of women’s clothing. I felt very much at home in them.” After that, Einar often posed for his wife dressed as a woman. However, Gerda never suspected the underlying issue.
The paintings Gerda drew of her husband cross-dressing.
After one posing session, the actress Anna Larssen suggested the name “Lili Elbe” to Einar, and he loved it. From then on, Einar began to express his true self and gender identity more clearly. Einar could no longer control himself and virtually lived under the name Lili. In his autobiography, he confided that after much torment, he decided to “kill” Einar and live as Lili, liberating himself. Lili knew she was a real woman living in the appearance and identity of a man.
From then on, the persona of Lili virtually took over Einar’s life. Lili began wearing women’s clothes whenever Gerda was away. However, his wife quickly noticed her husband’s change. At the time, concepts of homosexuality and transgender identity were virtually non-existent, so Gerda was deeply shocked. She didn’t know how to face this reality. Meanwhile, Lili tried to fight her true self to fulfill her duty as Gerda’s husband but couldn’t.
Einar began living as Lili
Nevertheless, Gerda’s paintings of Lili, with their seductive and haunting expressions, grew increasingly famous. In 1912, Gerda and Lili faced enormous pressure in their hometown of Copenhagen when the truth—that the central figure in Gerda’s paintings was her husband—was revealed. The couple then moved to Paris, France. There, Lili felt more comfortable wearing women’s clothes in public and attending many events. At this point, Gerda had somewhat accepted it, often introducing Lili as her sister. From husband and wife, the couple became sisters.
The Life-Changing Surgery and the Tragic End
Lili underwent many painful surgeries to transition
By the late 1920s, Lili became desperate in her struggle to become a woman. She was misdiagnosed with schizophrenia by doctors and psychiatrists of the era. Her strong feminine instinct, “imprisoned” in a man’s body, led Lili to plan suicide on May 1, 1930, but she did not succeed.
In February 1930, Lili happened to learn about the psychiatrist and surgeon Magnus Hirschfeld. Lili was determined to travel to Berlin, Germany, to ask Dr. Magnus to perform sex reassignment surgery. This was an extremely dangerous and unprecedented surgery worldwide. Gerda, “bitterly accepting,” agreed to her husband undergoing the operation to realize his dream.
Lili underwent many painful surgeries to transition
Between 1930 and 1931, Lili underwent 4-5 sex change surgeries, transitioning from male to female. Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld advised on the procedures while gynecologist Kurt Warnekros performed them. First, Lili underwent a testicle removal in Berlin, Germany. She then continued with surgeries to transplant ovaries and remove the penis, which took place in Dresden, Germany. The final procedures involved uterus transplantation and the construction of an artificial vagina. Lili bravely risked this because of her intense desire to bear a child and become a mother.
After 1930, Lili received an official passport under the name Lili Ilse Elvenes. In October 1930, King Christian X of Denmark officially annulled the marriage of Einar Wegener and Gerda Gottlieb. The couple separated peacefully, and Lili began living life as a true woman. She later accepted a marriage proposal from a French man named Claude Lejeune.
Her intense desire to become a mother led Lili to undergo a uterus transplant, taken from a 26-year-old woman, in June 1931. However, her body naturally rejected and expelled it, causing severe complications. On September 13, 1931, Lili died of cardiac arrest due to infection at the age of 49.
Some sources suggest that Lili’s body might have already possessed female biological characteristics. Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld himself reportedly said he found signs of rudimentary ovaries during Lili’s surgery. Some speculate that Lili might have had Klinefelter syndrome, the presence of two or more X chromosomes in addition to a Y chromosome. However, these reports remain unconfirmed.
A scene from the film ‘The Danish Girl’
Despite the risk of a painful death, Lili always expressed gratitude to her family and friends for the opportunity to become a woman. Reflecting on the months she lived authentically after the surgery, Lili wrote: “Fourteen months is not much, but it was a perfect and happy life.” It can be said that Lili Elbe’s sacrifice laid the foundation for the transgender revolution for the LGBT community.
In 2000, author David Ebershoff published the novel “The Danish Girl,” based on Lili Elbe’s life, which became a bestseller. In 2015, the novel was adapted into a film of the same name and became a worldwide sensation.