Editing Christopher Isherwood (section)

=== Sojourn in Berlin ===
In March 1929, Isherwood joined Auden in Berlin, where Auden was spending a post-graduate year. His primary motivation for making the trip was the sexual freedom that [[Weimar Republic|Weimar-era]] Berlin offered, as he later wrote: "To Christopher, Berlin meant Boys".<ref>Isherwood, Christopher, ''Christopher And His Kind'', New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1976, p. 2.</ref> The ten-day visit changed Isherwood's life. He began an affair with a German boy whom he met at a cellar bar called The Cosy Corner,<ref>Isherwood, Christopher, ''Christopher and His Kind'', 2012, Vintage, pp. 3–4.</ref> and he was "brought face to face with his tribe" at [[Magnus Hirschfeld]]'s [[Institute for Sexual Science]].<ref>Isherwood, Christopher, ''Christopher and His Kind'', 2012, Vintage, p. 16. See also Auden's 1929 Berlin Journal which makes clear that he and Isherwood visited Hirschfeld together and went around the museum in March / April.</ref> Isherwood visited Berlin again in July and relocated there in November.<ref>Isherwood,''Christopher and His Kind'', 2012, Vintage, p. 12.</ref>

{{CSS image crop|Image = Jean ross.jpg|bSize = 310|cWidth = 160|cHeight = 190|oTop = 15|oLeft = 70|Location = right|Description = [[Jean Ross]], a British expatriate and [[cabaret]] singer upon whom Isherwood based the character of Sally Bowles|Link = Jean Ross}}
In Berlin, Isherwood completed his second novel, ''The Memorial'' (1932), about the impact of the First World War on his family and his generation. He also continued his habit of keeping a diary. In his diary, he gathered raw material for ''Mr. Norris Changes Trains'' (1935), inspired by his real-life friendship with [[Gerald Hamilton]],<ref>Isherwood, ''Christopher and His Kind'', 2012, Vintage, p. 76.</ref> and for ''Goodbye to Berlin'' (1939), his portrait of the city in which [[Adolf Hitler]] was rising to power — enabled by poverty, unemployment, increasing attacks on Jews and [[Communism|Communists]], and ignored by the defiant hedonism of night life in the cafés, bars, and brothels. ''Goodbye to Berlin'' included stories published in the leftist magazine ''[[New Writing]]'', and it included Isherwood's 1937 novella ''Sally Bowles'', in which he created his most famous character, based on a young Englishwoman, [[Jean Ross]], with whom he briefly shared a flat.<ref>Isherwood, ''Christopher and His Kind'', 2012, Vintage, p. 61.</ref>

In the United States, the Berlin novels were published together as ''[[The Berlin Stories]]'' in 1945.<ref>Isherwood, Christopher, ''Diaries: Volume One: 1939–1960'', 2011, Vintage, p. 910.</ref> In 1951, ''Goodbye to Berlin'' was adapted for the New York stage by [[John van Druten]] using the title ''[[I Am a Camera]]'', taken from Isherwood's opening paragraphs.<ref>Isherwood, ''Diaries: Volume One: 1939–1960'', 2011, p. 912.</ref> The play inspired the hit Broadway musical ''[[Cabaret (musical)|Cabaret]]'' (1966), later adapted to film as ''[[Cabaret (1972 film)|Cabaret]]'' in 1972.

In 1932, the 27-year-old Isherwood started a relationship with a 16-year-old German boy, Heinz Neddermeyer.<ref>{{cite book|last=Parker|first=Peter|author-link=Peter Parker (author)|title=Isherwood: A Life Revealed|year=2005|orig-year=2004|pages=205–206|publisher=[[Picador (imprint)|Picador]]|location=London|isbn= 978-0-330-32826-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CdF2UXFgcFcC|url-access=subscription|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>Isherwood, ''Christopher and His Kind'', 2012, Vintage, pp. 92–94.</ref> They fled [[Nazi Germany]] together in May 1933, traveling initially to [[Greece]]. Neddermeyer was refused entry to England in January 1934,<ref>Isherwood, ''Christopher and His Kind'', 2012, Vintage, pp. 164–166.</ref> launching an odyssey in search of a country where they could settle together. They lived in the [[Canary Islands]], [[Copenhagen]], [[Brussels]], [[Amsterdam]], and [[Sintra, Portugal]], while trying to obtain a new nationality and passport for Neddermeyer. 

In May 1937, while he and Isherwood were living in [[Luxembourg]], Neddermeyer was suddenly [[Deportation|expelled]] to Germany.  Neddermeyer was arrested the next day by the [[Gestapo]] for [[draft evasion]] and reciprocal [[masturbation|onanism]]. Neddermeyer was sentenced to three and a half years of [[Penal labour|hard labor]] and military service. He married in 1938, and the couple had one child, a son, born in 1940. Neddermeyer survived the war, and in 1956 sent Isherwood a letter asking for money to help escape [[East Germany]], which Isherwood provided. The last known contact between the two men was a note of condolence from Neddermeyer to Isherwood on the death of Isherwood's mother in 1960. <ref>{{cite web | url=http://gayhistory.wikidot.com/heinz-neddermeyer | title=Heinz Neddermeyer - Gay History Wiki }}</ref>

During this period, Isherwood returned often to London where he took his first movie-writing job, working with Viennese director [[Berthold Viertel]] on the film ''[[Little Friend (film)|Little Friend]]'' (1934).<ref>Parker, ''Isherwood'', 2004, Picador, p. 271.</ref> He collaborated with Auden on three plays: ''[[The Dog Beneath the Skin]]'' (1935), ''[[The Ascent of F6]]'' (1936), and ''[[On the Frontier]]'' (1938) – all produced by [[Robert Medley]] and [[Rupert Doone]]'s [[Group Theatre (London)|Group Theatre]]. He also worked on ''Lions and Shadows'' (1938), a fictionalized autobiography of his education — both in and out of school — in the 1920s.

In January 1938, Isherwood and Auden traveled to [[China]] to write ''[[Journey to a War]]'' (1939), about the [[Second Sino-Japanese War|Sino-Japanese conflict]].<ref name="Isherwood, Christopher 2012, pp. 304, 310">Isherwood, Christopher and His Kind, 2012, Vintage, pp. 304, 310.</ref> They returned to England the following summer via the United States and decided to emigrate there in January 1939.<ref name="Isherwood, Christopher 2012, p. 326">Isherwood, ''Christopher and His Kind'', 2012, Vintage, p. 326.</ref>