Toni Ebel

Toni Ebel (10 November 1881 - 9 June 1961) was a German painter, housekeeping staff of the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, and one of the first trans women to receive gender-affirming surgery. After graduating from high school, Ebel apprenticed as a decorator and businessperson. With her first paycheck, she bought a wig and a dress, which were discovered and burnt by her parents. Around 1901 she fell in love with a man, which caused arguments with her family, so she left home for Munich, where she studied painting. She also traveled around Germany, Austria, and Italy. In Venice, Ebel met an elderly American man, who became her patron and partner for a few years. In 1908, Ebel returned to Berlin and lived as a man, married a woman named Olga, and had a son. Ebel did not feel comfortable playing the role of a man and husband, and tried four times to die by suicide. Around this period she, under her deadname, gained a good reputation in the artistic circles of Käthe Kollwitz. In 1916, she was drafted into the army, fighting in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in Champagne. She was discharged to the reserves after suffering a mental breakdown. According to the surgeons, the first operation for both Ebel and Charlaque took place "between 6 January 1929 and 14 November 1930", and according to Ragnar Ahlstedt, Ebel was the third patient to have received that procedure ever.

In 1933, footage of Ebel, Charlaque, and Dora Richter (all anonymously/uncredited) was used as a documentary segment in the Austrian movie Mysterium des Geschlechtes (Mystery of Sex) about contemporary sexology. Fallobst (Oil painting; exhibited at the Fourth German Art Exhibition in 1958/1959) Arbeiterveteran (Oil painting; exhibited at the Fifth German Art Exhibition in 1962/1963) Bildnis meiner Schwester (Oil painting; exhibited at the Fifth German Art Exhibition in 1962/1963) Wissen ist Macht (Oil painting; exhibited at the Fourth German Art Exhibition in 1958/1959)