One night in 1899, the young doctor Magnus Hirschfeld found a soldier in front of his practice in Berlin. The man was distraught and excited. And then he made a dangerous confession: he was gay. The then infamous section 175 of the German Criminal Code had declared homosexuality illegal. The young man could have ended up in prison for his confession. Hirschfeld understood the soldier's plight – he was gay and Jewish himself. He did his best to comfort his patient. But the soldier had already decided. It was the evening before his wedding, an event that he could not stand. He shot himself.
The soldier bequeathed Hirschfeld to his records, together with a letter in which he expressed hope that Hirschfeld could contribute to a future "in which the German fatherland thinks of us." The death of the soldier pursued Hirschfeld his whole life. The soldier saw himself as "misfortune", consecrated to death because the heterosexual norms did not leave any place for his peers. For Hirschfeld, the heartbreaking story was a tragedy for Hirschfeld, as he wrote in his book "Sexual History of Humanity". Which fatherland should homosexual soldiers fight for? Hirschfeld gave up his doctor's office and began a crusade for justice that was supposed to change the course of the queer history.
Hirschfeld wanted to devote himself to sexual health. Many of his predecessors and colleagues considered homosexuality to be pathological and referred to theories from psychology to show that they were a sign of mental illnesses. Hirschfeld argued that a person could be born with properties that did not fit in heterosexuals or in binary categories. He supported the idea that a "third gender" existed.
Hirschfeld accepted transgender and non-binary identities
This included people whom he described as "transvestites" at that time: those who wanted to wear the clothes of the opposite sex or felt that they belonged to the opposite sex in character. One soldier with whom Hirschfeld had worked described wearing women's clothing as an opportunity to "be human, at least for a moment". Hirschfeld also realized that these people can be either homosexual or heterosexual.
Perhaps even more surprising: Hirschfeld also assumed that there are people without a festival gender - similar to today's concept of non -binary identity (he counted the French writer George Sand, for example). The most important thing was that these people acted according to and not contrary to their nature. This was not only future -oriented, but possibly more advanced than many widespread way of thinking more than 100 years later.
Even today, some people perceive transsexuality as something unnatural. Following a 2020 British court ruling restricting transgender rights, an editorial in The Economist called for other countries to follow suit. An article in the Observer praised the court for defying a "disturbing trend."
But history has always testified to the plurality of gender and sexuality. Hirschfeld considered Socrates, Michelangelo and Shakespeare as representatives of sexual intermediates; as well as his partner Karl Giese and himself. Already Hirschfeld's predecessor in sexology, Richard von Krafft-Ebing, had claimed in the 19th century that homosexuality was a natural sexual variation and innate.
Theme week »Transgender«
Humanity is diverse. LGBTQIA* collects various terms for sexual orientations and gender identities: lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer, inter, asexual – the * leaves room for more. Every year in June, the community celebrates itself in different ways. To kick off »Pride Month«, the week from 30 May to 3 June 2022 is dedicated to the topic »Transgender« with the following contents:
The essential texts on the topic "Sex and gender – There are more than two genders" can be found here on our collection page.
Hirschfeld's research on sexual intermediate stages was more than just a fad. Rather, it followed the realization that people can be born with nature that contradicts their assigned gender. And if the desire to live as the other gender, then science should enable this, Hirschfeld found. At the beginning of 1919 < a href = " Target = "_ blank"> he bought a Berlin villa and opened there On July 6th the Institute for Sexual Science. The first gender changes were to be carried out as early as 1930.
The Trans Clinic: A Place of safety
As a corner building with wings on both sides, the Institute for Sexual Research in Berlin was an architectural jewel that housed professional and homely rooms. A journalist reported at the time that it could not be a scientific institute, because it was plush and "everywhere full of life". Hirschberg's declared goal was to create a place of "research, teaching, healing and refuge" that "can free physical suffering, psychological complaints and social deprivation".
The institute became a place of education. During his medical studies, Hirschfeld had to watch as a gay man was paraded naked in front of the class and insulted as degenerate. He later offered sex education instead, advice on contraception and anthropological and psychological research on gender and sexuality.
He worked tirelessly to tip paragraph 175. And because this did not work, he quarreled "transvestites" personnel ID cards for his patients and patients that should prevent a arrest. On the site there were also office space for feminist activists and a printing company for magazines on sexual reform that clarified sexuality about myths. "Love," said Hirschfeld, "is as diverse as people."
The institute also housed a large library on the topic of sexuality, which contained rare books and protocols for the surgical transition from man to woman (MTF). In addition to psychiatrists, Hirschfeld had hired the gynecologist Ludwig Levy-Lenz. Together with the surgeon Erwin Gohrbandt, he performed a male-to-female operation, a so-called genital transformation. Patients were also prescribed hormone therapy, which was supposed to provide natural breasts and softer facial features.
Nazis destroyed the clinic and burned books
The Centre's studies attracted international attention. Nevertheless, those affected had problems being recognized. After surgery, for example, some trans women struggled to find work and make a living. Therefore, five of them were eventually employed at the institute itself. In this way, Hirschfeld tried to give them a safe space – and sometimes to protect them from the law.
Today, many are surprised that already in 1919 there was an institute that recognized the diversity of gender identity and supported those affected. It could have been the foundation for a bolder future. But when the institute celebrated its tenth anniversary, the NSDAP was already on the rise. Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of the Reich on January 30, 1933 and announced that he wanted to free Germany from life unworthy of life. This led to the murder of millions of people, including homosexuals and transgender people.
When the Nazis passed the institute on May 6, 1933, Hirschfeld was out of the country. His partner Karl Giese fled and took a few treasures with him. Soldiers burned more than 20,000 books, including some rare copies of Hirschfeld and his colleagues. It was one of the first and biggest book burns by the Nazis. Young people, students and soldiers took part in the destruction. The media said that the German state had burned "the intellectual garbage of the past". The collection was irreplaceable.
Hirschfeld was considered an enemy of the Aryan race
The gynecologist Levy-Lenz, who, like Hirschfeld, was a Jew, fled from Germany. His colleague Gohrbandt, who had helped him with operations, was sworn in as the chief doctor of the Luftwaffe for inexplicable reasons and later contributed to terrible experiments on people in the Dachau concentration camp. In Nazi propaganda, Hirschfeld was considered the epitome of the enemy of the perfect heteronormative Aryan race.
Immediately after the Nazi attack, Karl Giese in Paris Hirschfeld and his protégé Li Shiu Tong, a medical student. The three lived together as partners and colleagues, hoping to rebuild the institute one day. Until the impending Nazi crew in Paris forced it to flee in 1935: Hirschfeld died of a sudden stroke, Giese committed suicide in 1938. Finally, Tong gave up his hope of opening an institute in Hong Kong and diving abroad.
But they are not forgotten – at least not completely. Here and there the history of the Institute of Sexology appears in popular culture, for example, in 2015 in the TV program "Transparent". In 2015, a film, "The Danish Girl", was dedicated to the biography of Lili Elbe, one of Hirschfeld's patients. But today you don't hear too much about him and his colleagues anymore – the Nazis have permanently erased advanced research from the collective memory.
The story gives hope and warning
The history of the Institute for Sexual Research should be a warning to us. Current legislation – particularly in the US – and the demand to separate trans children from their parents bear a striking resemblance to Nazi campaigns against deviant lifestyles.
Studies have shown that supportive hormone therapy, which begins at an early age, reduces the suicide rate among trans adolescents. At the same time, there is still the view that transidentity is not something to be "born" with. Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins was recently stripped of his "Humanist of the Year" award for comparing trans people to Rachel Dolezal. The white civil rights activist had falsely referred to herself as a black woman, which caused a scandal. When she caught on, she was called a "race-faker". Dawkins expressed with his tweet the assumption that trans people choose the opposite sex of their own free will.
His comments fall into a time when Florida transpersonen wants to ban the sport and in which a law in Arkansa's transks and young people refuses care.
Looking back at the history of Hirschfeld's institute, one wonders: What could have developed from such an institution that stands for sexual diversity? We can still draw hope from the work of these pioneers today. We should take their story as a warning.
