‘Homosexuality was coined by a Hungarian’: the gay-sauna travelogue questioning central Europe’s illiberal image

The philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein argued that our understanding of reality is fundamentally bound by the language we use. But as Czech writer Vratislav Maňák points out, there's one place where this argument ceases to make sense: 'Gay saunas are spaces where language dies,' says the 38-year-old author and literary scholar who teaches journalism at Charles University, Prague.

In his book 'With Wittgenstein in a Gay Sauna', Maňák fictionalizes the Vienna-born philosopher—who had romantic relations with both men and women—entering a Viennese Herrensauna called Kaiserbründl, once hailed as 'the most stylish bathing establishment in the world'. The book made a major splash when published in Czech and German earlier this year.

Queer History Revealed

Maňák's work defies the public image of central Europe as deeply homo- and transphobic. Contrary to the presence of far-right populists in Hungary, Czechia, and Slovakia, he finds queer subcultures to have deep roots in the region. Visiting Budapest's historic 16th-century Ottoman Turkish bath Rudas, he reminds readers that the term 'homosexuality' was first coined in the 1860s by Hungarian translator Karl Maria Kertbeny.

Subversive Urban Spaces

Maňák documents how queer communities have reinterpreted urban spaces across central Europe. He experiences sexual epiphanies at Berlin's KitKatClub while raving, and guides readers through Prague's past and present cruising routes, including rocky trails above the swimming pool in the Podolí district. As early as the 1970s, local gay men held a commemorative happening when public toilets by the Prague State Opera were demolished, taking flame-red tiles as souvenirs.

These spaces represent 'a textbook of subtle social resistance,' Maňák argues, challenging conservative politicians who frame homosexuality as a cultural import from the 'decadent' west that arrived with liberal democracy after 1989.