[News/History] [USA] Bronx Army vet undergoes first widely known gender reassignment procedure in 1952

[Stephanie Stevens]

New York Daily News, NY, USA


Bronx Army vet undergoes first widely known gender reassignment procedure in 1952

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Saturday, April 25, 2015, 4:47 PM


(Originally published by the Daily News on December 1, 1952. This story was written by Ben White.)

[Photo: Christine Jorgensen, formerly George Jorgensen, was the first person to become widely known in the United States for having sex reassignment surgery after serving in the US Army.]

Subject of the rare sex-conversion is the former George W. Jorgensen Jr., son of a Bronx carpenter, whose name and all past Army records have been official changed to Christine Jorgensen. The new woman has made a successful career for herself as a color photographer in Denmark and hopes some day to go to Hollywood, either as a photographer or an actress.

It was through a rare and complicated treatment that George became Christine. The conversion - rare when a woman becomes a man, much rarer when a man changes in woman-involved five major operations, a minor operation and almost 2,000 injections which worked both physiological and glandular revolutions in George-Christine's body.

The story of George-Christine was told yesterday by the father, George, Board of Education carpenter, and his wife, Florence, at their home 2847 Dudley Ave., Bronx.

Not till last June, after the protracted treatment had been successfully completed, did the Jorgensens know that their son had even contemplated the radical sex change.

Then, in a long letter which enclosed photographs of the new Christine, now a 26-year-old blonde, they learned what had been happening at the Richs Hospital, Copenhagen, under the world-famed Prof. Hamburger.

"Several small unimportant looking glands and yet our whole body is governed by them," the letter said.

And, again: "It is more a problem of social taboos and the desire not to speak of the subject because it deals with the great hush, namely sex."

Feared Harm to Mind

[Photo: Right after being honorably discharged from the Army, Jorgensen enrolled at New York Medical Technicians Institute, where he learned all about the "glands which had played tricks on him."]

Then there was a line: "You see, I was afraid for a much more horrible illness of the mind." Further on, still without quite breaking the news, the letter said, "Right from the beginning, I realized that I was working toward the release of myself from a life I knew would always be foreign to me."

And then the shock:

"Just how does a child tell its parents such a story as this … I am still the same old Brud (nickname), but my dears, nature made a mistake which I have corrected and now I am your daughter."

Father Informs Friends

And finally, the strange, wistful ending:

"I do so want you to like me very much and not to be hurt because I did not tell you sooner about why I came over here. Love, Chris, 'Brud'"

Thunderstruck, the Jorgensens held family council with their only other child, a daughter, who is married and has a baby of her own.

Then, they said, they decided that their lifelong friends, fellow members of the Danish young Society, which meets regularly at Askow hall in Throggs Neck, the Bronx, should hear the news.

[Photo: After going to school, Jorgensen moved to California, where then-George met a Dr. Kauffman, who  educated him on the procedures being done in Copenhagen.]

Jorgensen called a meeting of 22 of his closest friends at a neighbor's home and told them. All of them - who remembered George as a quiet youngster who preferred reading to sports-agreed that the right thing had been done.

Yesterday the elder Jorgensen explained that his former son had been drafted in the Army in 1944, had served two years at Fort Dix and then received his honorable discharge.

Immediately afterward, he enrolled in the New York Medical Technicians Institute here for 16 months - and only after receiving the letter of last June, did the parents realize why.

The then-George was studying the glands which had played tricks on him and, he thought, were driving him toward madness.

After the institute, George went to California. There he met two persons who were to have the most remarkable effect on his life.

One was a Dr. Kauffman, who recognized his problem, was sympathetic and told him that marvelous work on sex conversion was being done at the Serum Institute in Copenhagen.

The other was Mrs. Ellen Thomsen, who owns a farm in Denmark and, though not a physician, was equally sympathetic to the social-psychological dilemma of George.

About three years ago, George returned with her to Denmark, George explaining to his parents that he wanted to study color photography, in which he already had won several prizes.

[Photo: Christine had her procedures done at the Serum Institute in Copenhagen, with the help of Dr. Hamburger. All of the operations done were performed for free.]

Some Mysteries Explained

After a period of traveling on the Continent, the ex-GI visited Dr. Hamburger at the Serum Institute, and the sex expert explained some of the mysteries of the glands, and some of the medical-social problems that George faced.

He also told George that in the U.S., there were probably 10,000 other persons similarly afflicted.

Putting himself completely in medical hands, George underwent the long, long treatment, both in the Serum institute and at the Richs Hospital. His letter to his parents emphasized that he was never in danger at any time.

So far as the parents were concerned, there was no cost, except for occasional funds to keep George in pocket money. The priceless treatments were performed free.

Dr. Eugenie Andersen, U.S. Ambassador to Denmark, was fully aware of what was going on and at the successful conclusion of the operations, arranged that Christine's records be changed by the Army and the Veterans Administration-and also by the Bureau of immigration so that the man who went abroad three years ago could be readmitted as a woman.

Since the treatments, Christine has been working happily and successfully as a woman color photographer. She has sold pictures to Danish magazines and newspapers and, one day, while shopping, discovered Hanne Sorensen the attractive miss who later became Miss Denmark in a world-wide beauty contest.

While she's happy in Denmark, she plans at an unannounced date to come home and pursue a career in the U.S.


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