The Institute of Sexology
A group of Nazis throw documents and books into a fire in the street.
Content warning for concentration camps, Holocaust, Nazis
"Per Scientiam ad Justitiam" ("through science to justice")
– Magnus Hirschfeld
Magnus Hirschfeld and Arthur Kronfeld founded Das Institut für Sexualwissenschaft (The Institute of Sexology) in 1919. It quickly became a revolutionary site of research, medical support, and discussion by and for queer people all over the world. Situated in Berlin, the Institute laid the groundwork for a future of acceptance and understanding of the human body and sexuality, only to be ripped apart by Nazis.
Given the framing of German history, it may be surprising that it housed a place like the Institute. Still, before Adolf Hitler's rise to power, Germany was the heart of queer activism and research in Europe. German queer history is rich with famous queer activists who caused global shifts in discussions of queerness. Some of the most prolific queer researchers and doctors made their homes in Berlin, and their presence made the city a hotbed for advocacy and queer community. Much of this can be attributed to the existence of the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft.
Though housed in a rather small building, the Institute saw as many as 20,000 people from across Europe. Serving as the primary archive for queer activism and research, its library was a pseudo-university for the intellectually curious. Though certain narratives were often favoured, as they are now, the Institute gave way to a wide range of people and stories.
More than just a theoretical research hub, The Institute was also a clinic. It was the site of the first modern gender confirmation surgery and attended to transgender patients and staff alike. One of the founders, Magnus Hirschfeld, was also a known advocate for accessible abortions, contraception, and sexual health. He worked to spread information about sexually transmitted infections throughout the queer community.
With a clientele of primarily queer people, the Institute was familiar with poverty and addressed it when working with visitors. As a non-profit organization, it was known for being an altruistic venture. The staff rented out rooms on a sliding scale, frequently offering free housing. They often offered their services for free to clients in need, making their discoveries in sexual health accessible to as many people as possible.
This time of knowledge and acceptance would not last. While the Institute was working to change the culture of Berlin, the Nazi regime worked against it. Despite support from individuals like Albert Einstein, the Institute found itself in peril when Hitler rose to power. In 1933, young fascists burned over twenty thousand of their texts. The Institute was shut down, its information lost, and many of its staff taken to concentration camps to die alongside the rest of Hitler's "undesirables."
The Institut für Sexualwissenschaft is the queer Library of Alexandria: built for progress, only to be destroyed by those who rejected it. The entire queer community lost something the day those books were burned—a place where queer people controlled the narrative, a place of research and education, a place of safety and progress—because of hypocrisy, fear, and tyranny.
It is a significant loss, and it will be felt forever. By taking away access to information, bigots take power. That has always been the their most successful strategy. As a community, queer people have faced many individuals and institutions who seek to wipe queer history from textbooks.
Nevertheless, the destruction of the Institute is informative. What Hitler recognized—and feared—was that education leads to empowerment. In destroying access to that education, they recognize that queer people have stories to tell, knowledge to share, and inherent power. Luckily, they couldn't destroy The Institute's legacy. Despite the efforts of all those like him, the legacy of the Institute and its efforts remain, in the work of hundreds of thousands of queer people both before and after it.
REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING
Disclaimer: some of the sources may contain triggering material
(1933, May 6-10). Institute for Sexual Research in Berlin: "Un-German" and "Unnatural" Literature is Sorted Out for the Book-Burning Ceremony [photograph]. Berlin, Germany: German History Docs.
Dr Magnus Hirschfeld. (n.d.) Hirschfeld-Eddy Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.hirschfeld-eddy-stiftung.de/en/foundation/about-us/names/magnus-hirschfeld/
Kennedy, H. C. (2003). Institut fur Sexualwissenschaft (1919-1933) (review). Journal of the History of Sexuality 12(1), 122-126. University of Texas Press. Retrieved July 28, 2019, from Project MUSE database.
Magnus-Hirschfeld-Gesellschaft e.V. (n.d.) The first Institute for Sexual Science. Retrieved from http://magnus-hirschfeld.de/ausstellungen/institute/
Weinthal, B. (2006, May 10). Germany Looks to Its History. Gay City News, volume 5 (issue 18). Retrieved fromhttp://gaycitynews.nyc/gcn_518/germanylookstoits.html
