Monika Krause-Fuchs

Monika Krause-Fuchs (Monika Krause in Cuba; April 8, 1941 – May 20, 2019) was a German sociologist and sex educator who lived and worked in Cuba between 1962 and 1990. She was the first director of the Cuban National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX) and played a key role in the development and implementation of a modern, scientific and effective national program for sex education and family planning in Cuba.

Biography First years in Cuba In 1961, as a young student at the University of Rostock, Monika Krause met her future husband Jesús Jiménez, a Spanish captain in the Cuban merchant marine who grew up in Cuba.

The authorities of the German Democratic Republic obstructed Monika Krause's plans to marry. At that time, Cuba was not yet considered "socialist"; she was threatened with the termination of her studies. Diplomatic intervention by the Cuban government, with which her fiancé had good links, made the marriage possible after all. She was then commissioned by the president of the Federation of Cuban Women, Vilma Espín, to review international literature that could be useful in developing a sex education program in Cuba. Among other fateful events of that year, she met Prof. Dr. Celestino Álvarez Lajonchere and Prof. Dr. Siegfried Schnabl. She would work with Dr. Lajonchere, an eminent Cuban gynecologist, in the coming years forming a highly effective team. Dr. Schnabl, a world-renowned sexologist, would provide inspiration with the successful sex education program he had developed in East Germany.

In 1977, the National Working Group for Sex Education (GNTES) was founded and Monika appointed its coordinator. GNTES was later upgraded in the National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX), of which Monika was the first director, a position she held until her return to Germany in November 1990.

Filmography Silvana Ceschi and Reto Stamm: La reina del condón (Switzerland 2007), documentary about Monika Krause-Fuchs (Trailer)

Books

Daniel and Dictys Jimenez Krause (Eds.): Monika Krause, Queen of Condoms. Memoir of a Sex Educator in Revolutionary Cuba (2022). . Iliada Ediciones, Miami and Berlin. Monika Krause-Fuchs: Monika y la Revolución. Una mirada singular sobre la historia reciente de Cuba (2002). . Centro de la Cultura Popular Canaria. Spain. Monika Krause-Fuchs: Cuba: mi infierno y mi paraíso (2020). . Ilíada Ediciones, Berlin. Monika Krause-Fuchs: ¿Machismo?, no gracias. Sexualidad en la revolución (2007). . Ediciones Idea. Colección Letras de Cuba. Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain. Monika Krause-Fuchs: Cuba – Meine Hölle, mein Paradies. 30 Jahre Fidel Castro und ein Ende (2008). . Projekte-Verlag-Cornelius GmbH, Halle/Saale, Germany. Monika Krause-Fuchs: Machismo ist noch lange nicht tot! Kuba: Sexualität im Umbruch (2008). . Projekte-Verlag-Cornelius GmbH, Halle/Saale, Germany.

Articles

El embarazo en la adolescente. Editorial Científico-Técnica, La Habana, 1983. El problema del niño no deseado; Sexualidad e igualdad; Nosotros y el amor. Guiones para una serie de la televisión cubana (1985–1986). Planificación familiar en Cuba. Aspectos políticos y legales. Cuba Internacional, La Habana, 1986; Informationen, Academia de Ciencias Sociales, Berlin, 1988. Educación sexual. Selección de lecturas. Editorial Científico-Técnica, La Habana, 1988. Educación sexual en Cuba. Cuba Internacional. La Habana, 1987; Informationen, Academia de Ciencias Sociales, Berlin, 1987; Boletín del CORA, México D.F., 1989. Conocimientos y actitudes del médico de la familia sobre la sexualidad y la planificación familiar. Evaluación de una investigación. Informationen. Academia de Ciencias Sociales, Berlin, 1989. Interview: En sexo todo es normal. Revista Alma Mater No 325, 6/7 1990. Para mí una muchacha vírgen es como un coche nuevo. Marianne Braig, Karin Gabbert, Wolfgang Gabbert (Hrsg.). Geschlecht und Macht. Jahrbuch Lateinamerika Band 24. Münster, 2000. Die kubanische Sexualpolitik zwischen Anspruch und Wirklichkeit. Ottmar Ette, Martin Franzbach (Hrsg.), Kuba Heute. Politik, Wirtschaft, Kultur. Frankfurt am Main, 2001.