The woman who became a man

In 1893 there was a scandal of dimensions in Copenhagen. The renowned superintendent of the home for rebellious or orphaned children, KANA, that is, Vilhelmine Møller, confessed to murdering one of the orphans. The unfortunate boy was 15 year old Volmer Sjøgren and his reasons for taking his young man’s life was that they had been lovers and that sadly he had learned their best kept secret, that is the fact that “she” was a he or maybe a hermaphrodite.

Vilhelmine Møller’s sexual organs were deformed from birth. However, when she was arrested and taken to prison she also underwent a medical examination and her gender was determined to be male. Even today, the case is not entirely clear, but since her organs were more male than female, she (he) now officially became a man and changed the name from Vilmelmine Møller to Frederik Vilhelm Schmidt. As for her crime, it was always almost incomprehensible that she would harm any of the children, since he had been an outstanding superintendent and very considerate that he also wrote articles on his advanced ideas for the education of these homeless children. .

Perhaps his good reputation as a dedicated person is why his former assistant, Mrs. Mackwitz, was seen as the one who had corrupted his morals, thus being the real criminal. Blaming her didn’t change the fact that he was a murderer and on death row. This sentence was eventually changed to life in prison. However, already in 1905 he was released and that same year he married. It seems that since then he has led a good and for all intents and purposes normal life with his wife.

In 1906 he published a short article about his life in a magazine, “Naturen og Mennesket” (: “Nature and the human being”). He died on Christmas Eve 1936 at the ripe old age of 91. One of the reasons this sad murder was such a scandal was that at the time these special children’s homes were run by private donations. All the people who dedicated themselves to this work feared losing the public support from which the households lived, but that did not happen. The public did not lose sympathy for these young outcasts or the people who cared for and educated them. On the contrary, they continued to support them until 1905 when the homes became part of a special law for children and thus became the guardianship of the State. Until then they had lived at the mercy of the public.