1 00:00:02,360 --> 00:00:06,760 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. In our recent episode on the Autobiographies of 2 00:00:06,840 --> 00:00:10,040 Speaker 1: Jenny June, we talked about how people understood and talked 3 00:00:10,039 --> 00:00:13,760 Speaker 1: about gender and sexuality very differently in the nineteenth and 4 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:18,560 Speaker 1: early twentieth centuries compared to today. A lot of psychologists 5 00:00:18,600 --> 00:00:22,239 Speaker 1: were framing these ideas in a pretty binary way, with 6 00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:26,439 Speaker 1: anyone who diverged from that binary considered to be part 7 00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:30,000 Speaker 1: of a third sex. One person whose work started to 8 00:00:30,200 --> 00:00:33,360 Speaker 1: really move away from that idea was Magnus Hirschfeld, who 9 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:36,400 Speaker 1: we covered on the show on September nineteenth, twenty eighteen. 10 00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:39,760 Speaker 1: Since we couldn't really get into Hirschfeld and his work 11 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:42,360 Speaker 1: in the episode on Jenny June, but it was connected 12 00:00:42,400 --> 00:00:44,680 Speaker 1: to a lot of that discussion, we're bringing it out 13 00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:50,519 Speaker 1: as today's Saturday Classic Welcome to Stuff You Missed in 14 00:00:50,600 --> 00:01:00,960 Speaker 1: History Class, a production of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to 15 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:04,319 Speaker 1: the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Frying. 16 00:01:04,680 --> 00:01:07,760 Speaker 1: Today we are going to talk about Magnus Hirschfeld, who 17 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:12,000 Speaker 1: was a groundbreaking researcher into gender and sexuality in Germany 18 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:15,440 Speaker 1: in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His name 19 00:01:15,440 --> 00:01:17,319 Speaker 1: and his work have come up in a lot of 20 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:21,479 Speaker 1: past episodes, including Alan L. Hart and the Compton's Cafeteria 21 00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:25,200 Speaker 1: Riots and Henry Gerber and Chicago Society for Human Rights. 22 00:01:25,560 --> 00:01:28,959 Speaker 1: I also know a lot of listeners have requested this one, 23 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:31,120 Speaker 1: but when I went into the email to try to 24 00:01:31,120 --> 00:01:34,160 Speaker 1: figure out people's names, I couldn't figure out who's So 25 00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:37,840 Speaker 1: thanks to people who did request this one. We are 26 00:01:37,880 --> 00:01:40,880 Speaker 1: not going to be talking about Hirshfield's work in an 27 00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:43,479 Speaker 1: explicit way, but the subject matter does mean that there's 28 00:01:43,560 --> 00:01:46,000 Speaker 1: going to be more sex talk in today's episode than 29 00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:49,840 Speaker 1: there typically is on our show. We are also talking 30 00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:53,840 Speaker 1: primarily about gay Jewish men living out a time when 31 00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:58,120 Speaker 1: homosexuality was outlawed in Germany and when the Nazis were 32 00:01:58,120 --> 00:02:00,720 Speaker 1: coming to power. So there are no number of things 33 00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:03,600 Speaker 1: that we were going to get into that fall into 34 00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:09,440 Speaker 1: the general umbrella of disturbing and upsetting. Magnus Hirschfeld was 35 00:02:09,480 --> 00:02:13,400 Speaker 1: born on May fourteenth, eighteen sixty eight, in Kolburg, Prussia, 36 00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:18,520 Speaker 1: to Herman and Frederi Hirschfeld. Today Kolberg is Kolobjig, Poland, 37 00:02:19,160 --> 00:02:21,640 Speaker 1: and that's on the coast of the Baltic Sea. The 38 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:25,080 Speaker 1: family was Jewish. Herman was a doctor and Magnus was 39 00:02:25,120 --> 00:02:29,760 Speaker 1: one of ten or possibly eleven children. Magnus's father was 40 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:33,680 Speaker 1: really prominent and respected in their community. Kohlberg had been 41 00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:36,960 Speaker 1: home to a Prussian garrison. It was basically a military town, 42 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:40,120 Speaker 1: and until about eighteen twelve, Jews hadn't been allowed to 43 00:02:40,160 --> 00:02:43,720 Speaker 1: live there at all. After that changed, a small Jewish 44 00:02:43,720 --> 00:02:46,760 Speaker 1: community formed, which was mostly made up of merchants and 45 00:02:46,800 --> 00:02:51,160 Speaker 1: their families. Magnus's father was the most well educated man 46 00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:54,520 Speaker 1: among this group, and consequently he was elected the president 47 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:57,160 Speaker 1: of the Deputy Assembly, which was sort of the Jewish 48 00:02:57,240 --> 00:03:01,680 Speaker 1: community's organization of self government. Agnus's father died when Magnus 49 00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:04,640 Speaker 1: was seventeen, and he had been so beloved by the 50 00:03:04,639 --> 00:03:07,840 Speaker 1: community that a monument was erected in his honor. This 51 00:03:07,919 --> 00:03:11,800 Speaker 1: monument was unfortunately destroyed by the Nazis. In nineteen thirty three, 52 00:03:12,280 --> 00:03:15,120 Speaker 1: when Magnus was a teen, he became involved with the 53 00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:18,359 Speaker 1: Social Democratic Party, although he doesn't seem to have taken 54 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:22,080 Speaker 1: an active part in party politics beyond that point. After 55 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:24,760 Speaker 1: the Nazis came to power in Germany, the Social Democratic 56 00:03:24,800 --> 00:03:28,680 Speaker 1: Party was outlawed, but Hirshfeld's name doesn't appear on lists 57 00:03:28,720 --> 00:03:31,880 Speaker 1: of doctors who were part of the party. Hirshfeld studied 58 00:03:31,919 --> 00:03:34,920 Speaker 1: at a number of universities before earning his MD in 59 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:39,480 Speaker 1: eighteen ninety two. He'd originally wanted to study language in writing, 60 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:42,760 Speaker 1: and he described this as his first real love, but 61 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:46,360 Speaker 1: for practical reasons, he ultimately decided to become a doctor. 62 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:49,400 Speaker 1: Although he was a prolific writer for his entire career. 63 00:03:50,240 --> 00:03:55,400 Speaker 1: During his university years, Hirshfeld became increasingly secular. He stopped 64 00:03:55,400 --> 00:03:58,840 Speaker 1: describing himself as Jewish and started describing himself as a dissident. 65 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:02,120 Speaker 1: He joined the Monist League during these years as well. 66 00:04:02,920 --> 00:04:04,920 Speaker 1: If you're not familiar with that term, Monism is the 67 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:07,760 Speaker 1: idea that there's one single element or principle that's the 68 00:04:07,800 --> 00:04:11,840 Speaker 1: fundamental basis of all reality. It underpins a number of 69 00:04:11,880 --> 00:04:15,760 Speaker 1: religions and philosophies, and this was a huge influence on 70 00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:20,159 Speaker 1: both Hirschfeld's secular philosophy and his later research into sex 71 00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:24,960 Speaker 1: and gender. After completing his medical degree, Hirschfeld traveled for 72 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:27,839 Speaker 1: a while, including going to Chicago to visit the World's 73 00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:31,320 Speaker 1: Colombian Exposition and to spend time with family members who 74 00:04:31,360 --> 00:04:34,640 Speaker 1: had immigrated to the United States. He paid for his 75 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:38,480 Speaker 1: trip by writing newspaper reports. After he returned to Europe 76 00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:42,120 Speaker 1: in eighteen ninety four, he settled in Magdeburg, roughly between 77 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:47,159 Speaker 1: Hanover and Berlin. Hirschfeld incorporated naturopathy into his medical practice. 78 00:04:47,320 --> 00:04:52,120 Speaker 1: In Magdeburg, he emphasized avoiding alcohol and drinking lots of water, 79 00:04:52,520 --> 00:04:55,520 Speaker 1: taking lots of walks in fresh air, and practicing good nutrition. 80 00:04:56,360 --> 00:04:58,640 Speaker 1: This put him a bit at odds with the rest 81 00:04:58,680 --> 00:05:01,520 Speaker 1: of the German medical community. There were plenty of other 82 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:05,640 Speaker 1: nature paths, but they tended to be laypeople. This wasn't 83 00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:08,839 Speaker 1: common at all for an MD in Germany to focus 84 00:05:08,960 --> 00:05:12,800 Speaker 1: so much on naturopathy rather than on conventional medicine. This 85 00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:15,760 Speaker 1: led to some of the other doctors nearby being really 86 00:05:15,760 --> 00:05:18,640 Speaker 1: critical of him and his work. After a year or 87 00:05:18,680 --> 00:05:23,200 Speaker 1: so in Magdeburg, Hirschfeld moved to Charlottenburg, not far from Berlin, 88 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:26,120 Speaker 1: where he continued to work as a doctor, continuing to 89 00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:29,240 Speaker 1: have a focus in naturopathy. It was about this time 90 00:05:29,279 --> 00:05:32,800 Speaker 1: that Hirschfeld started focusing his work on gender and sexuality. 91 00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:37,120 Speaker 1: One influence was probably the trial of Oscar Wilde for 92 00:05:37,279 --> 00:05:41,719 Speaker 1: gross indecency in eighteen ninety five. People in Germany knew 93 00:05:41,760 --> 00:05:43,680 Speaker 1: about this trial and it led to a lot of 94 00:05:43,720 --> 00:05:47,839 Speaker 1: discussions of homosexuality from both a medical and legal perspective. 95 00:05:48,680 --> 00:05:51,840 Speaker 1: In eighteen ninety six, Hirschfeld gave up his practice as 96 00:05:51,880 --> 00:05:55,039 Speaker 1: a doctor and a naturepath and devoted himself to the 97 00:05:55,080 --> 00:05:58,600 Speaker 1: study of sexuality and gender. He told a different story 98 00:05:58,640 --> 00:06:00,760 Speaker 1: about how he came to this decision, and though although 99 00:06:00,760 --> 00:06:03,640 Speaker 1: it's one that might be apocryphal, he wrote that he 100 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:05,920 Speaker 1: had a patient who was supposed to be getting married, 101 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:08,960 Speaker 1: and the patient in question was a young homosexual man. 102 00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:12,159 Speaker 1: The night before the wedding, he took his own life 103 00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:15,760 Speaker 1: rather than having to marry a woman. But first this 104 00:06:15,839 --> 00:06:19,719 Speaker 1: patient wrote a suicide note to Hirschfeld, his doctor, asking 105 00:06:19,800 --> 00:06:22,240 Speaker 1: him to tell his story and to use it to 106 00:06:22,279 --> 00:06:26,680 Speaker 1: help change society's understanding of homosexuality so that homosexual men 107 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:29,839 Speaker 1: wouldn't be forced to hide their identities and marry women. 108 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:33,440 Speaker 1: Hirschfeld's first written work on this subject came out that 109 00:06:33,560 --> 00:06:38,279 Speaker 1: same year. It was titled Sappho and Socrates, or how 110 00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:40,599 Speaker 1: is the Love of Men and Women for persons of 111 00:06:40,600 --> 00:06:43,760 Speaker 1: their own sex? To be Explained? Under the advice of 112 00:06:43,800 --> 00:06:47,760 Speaker 1: his publisher, he used the pseudonym Theodore Raymond. This was 113 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:50,120 Speaker 1: the only time that he didn't publish his work under 114 00:06:50,160 --> 00:06:54,159 Speaker 1: his own name, but Hirschfeld also told the publisher that 115 00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:56,680 Speaker 1: if anyone asked who had really written it, they could 116 00:06:56,680 --> 00:06:59,559 Speaker 1: absolutely say it was him. A lot of the people 117 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:02,159 Speaker 1: who I had to track down the author of Sappho 118 00:07:02,240 --> 00:07:05,440 Speaker 1: and Socrates are people that today would fall under the 119 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:08,960 Speaker 1: umbrella of gender and sexual minorities. People we would describe 120 00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:13,480 Speaker 1: in terms like gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender today. These 121 00:07:13,640 --> 00:07:16,680 Speaker 1: terms weren't in use at all, or weren't in use 122 00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:19,280 Speaker 1: in quite the same way in eighteen ninety six, but 123 00:07:19,880 --> 00:07:23,000 Speaker 1: that's how we would describe folks in more modern times. 124 00:07:23,880 --> 00:07:27,120 Speaker 1: As a result of all these inquiries, in eighteen ninety seven, 125 00:07:27,200 --> 00:07:31,960 Speaker 1: Hirschfeld and other advocates established the Scientific Humanitarian Committee. The 126 00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:35,240 Speaker 1: Scientific Humanitarian Committee was one of the first, if not 127 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:39,240 Speaker 1: the first, established gay rights organizations in the world, and 128 00:07:39,280 --> 00:07:41,320 Speaker 1: we're going to talk more about it and its work 129 00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:53,480 Speaker 1: after we first pause for a little sponsor break. The 130 00:07:53,520 --> 00:07:57,800 Speaker 1: motto of the Scientific Humanitarian Committee is translated as justice 131 00:07:57,880 --> 00:08:02,520 Speaker 1: through science or through science justice. It was dedicated to 132 00:08:02,600 --> 00:08:05,840 Speaker 1: scientific study of gender and sexuality with the hope of 133 00:08:05,920 --> 00:08:11,200 Speaker 1: dispelling stigma around homosexuality. The organization was an advocate for 134 00:08:11,240 --> 00:08:15,160 Speaker 1: other reforms as well, including contraception and an overhaul of 135 00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:17,800 Speaker 1: divorce law to make it easier to get a divorce. 136 00:08:18,440 --> 00:08:21,800 Speaker 1: But the biggest focus was homosexuality, and on that front, 137 00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:26,160 Speaker 1: the Scientific Humanitarian Committee had a very concrete goal the 138 00:08:26,280 --> 00:08:29,840 Speaker 1: repeal of paragraph one seventy five of the German Imperial 139 00:08:29,880 --> 00:08:34,400 Speaker 1: Penal Code, which dated back to eighteen seventy one. Paragraph 140 00:08:34,480 --> 00:08:39,199 Speaker 1: one seventy five outlawed homosexual conduct among men. In addition 141 00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:43,320 Speaker 1: to criminalizing homosexual behavior, this law also led to a 142 00:08:43,440 --> 00:08:48,120 Speaker 1: huge culture of blackmail in Germany. Blackmailers would threaten to 143 00:08:48,200 --> 00:08:52,680 Speaker 1: expose someone's real or alleged violation of paragraph one seventy 144 00:08:52,679 --> 00:08:56,319 Speaker 1: five and then extort huge amounts of money from their victims. 145 00:08:56,960 --> 00:09:00,280 Speaker 1: This added to the climate of fear and persecution of 146 00:09:00,320 --> 00:09:03,040 Speaker 1: gay men in Germany at the time. Added to the 147 00:09:03,080 --> 00:09:06,640 Speaker 1: repeal of paragraph one seventy five, Hirschfeld also wanted to 148 00:09:06,720 --> 00:09:10,800 Speaker 1: raise the age of consent in Germany from fourteen to sixteen. 149 00:09:11,559 --> 00:09:14,239 Speaker 1: He thought that it was only with some additional maturity 150 00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:16,440 Speaker 1: that a person could really know they were ready to 151 00:09:16,520 --> 00:09:19,720 Speaker 1: be sexually active and know with whom they were ready 152 00:09:19,760 --> 00:09:23,120 Speaker 1: to be sexually active. On top of that raising the 153 00:09:23,200 --> 00:09:26,200 Speaker 1: age of consent would mean that pederasts wouldn't have a 154 00:09:26,280 --> 00:09:29,959 Speaker 1: loophole to get away with their crimes if paragraph one 155 00:09:30,160 --> 00:09:33,960 Speaker 1: seventy five was abolished. Hirschfeld was not the first person 156 00:09:34,040 --> 00:09:36,600 Speaker 1: to advocate for the reform of these laws in Germany. 157 00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:40,719 Speaker 1: That credit usually goes to Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, who gave 158 00:09:40,760 --> 00:09:43,280 Speaker 1: an address on the subject at the sixth Congress of 159 00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:47,439 Speaker 1: German Jurists in Munich in eighteen sixty seven, thirty years 160 00:09:47,480 --> 00:09:51,480 Speaker 1: before the establishment of the Scientific Humanitarian Committee, and the 161 00:09:51,520 --> 00:09:55,080 Speaker 1: word homosexual had not been coined when Ulris made his speech, 162 00:09:55,160 --> 00:09:58,960 Speaker 1: and he was using completely different terminology that really isn't 163 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:02,120 Speaker 1: in use today, but this is generally regarded as the 164 00:10:02,160 --> 00:10:04,880 Speaker 1: first time a gay person gave a speech on the 165 00:10:04,920 --> 00:10:09,440 Speaker 1: subject of gay rights. Ulrix continued to campaign against paragraph 166 00:10:09,520 --> 00:10:12,559 Speaker 1: one seventy five until he finally had to leave Germany 167 00:10:12,640 --> 00:10:16,960 Speaker 1: in eighteen eighty. Yeah, his advocacy against laws that criminalized 168 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:20,720 Speaker 1: homosexuality goes back even before paragraph one seventy five was 169 00:10:20,880 --> 00:10:23,880 Speaker 1: written into the code, So in a lot of ways, 170 00:10:23,960 --> 00:10:27,440 Speaker 1: Hirschfeld and the Scientific Humanitarian Committee were picking up where 171 00:10:27,559 --> 00:10:31,800 Speaker 1: Orrix had left off. The organization drafted a petition arguing 172 00:10:31,840 --> 00:10:34,360 Speaker 1: for the removal of paragraph one seventy five from the 173 00:10:34,400 --> 00:10:37,160 Speaker 1: Penal Code, and they circulated it for the next thirty 174 00:10:37,240 --> 00:10:41,120 Speaker 1: three years, from eighteen ninety seven to nineteen thirty They 175 00:10:41,160 --> 00:10:45,120 Speaker 1: got thousands of signatures from well known prominent people, and 176 00:10:45,280 --> 00:10:49,320 Speaker 1: at its peak, the Scientific Humanitarian Committee had seven hundred members. 177 00:10:49,840 --> 00:10:54,040 Speaker 1: The committee also published pamphlets and other informational material, including 178 00:10:54,080 --> 00:10:59,960 Speaker 1: sex education and education about homosexuality. One very popular pamphlet 179 00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:03,319 Speaker 1: was what must Our Nation Know About the Third Sex, 180 00:11:03,640 --> 00:11:05,760 Speaker 1: which people would ask to have mailed to their family 181 00:11:05,800 --> 00:11:09,640 Speaker 1: members or would casually leave on public transportation to try 182 00:11:09,640 --> 00:11:12,680 Speaker 1: to educate others. So at this point in his work, 183 00:11:12,800 --> 00:11:16,320 Speaker 1: Hirschfeld and others were framing homosexuality as being part of 184 00:11:16,360 --> 00:11:19,680 Speaker 1: a third sex. This was also how Urix had framed 185 00:11:19,760 --> 00:11:23,080 Speaker 1: his theories, and Hirschfeld was basically building off of that 186 00:11:23,200 --> 00:11:27,600 Speaker 1: previous work. So the basic idea was that homosexuals and 187 00:11:27,720 --> 00:11:31,480 Speaker 1: bisexuals all belonged to a third sex, which was different 188 00:11:31,520 --> 00:11:34,840 Speaker 1: from male or female. Hirschfeld did not stick with this 189 00:11:34,920 --> 00:11:38,320 Speaker 1: third sex idea for long, though he conducted at least 190 00:11:38,320 --> 00:11:42,920 Speaker 1: thirty thousand interviews and extensive physical examinations of gay men 191 00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:47,240 Speaker 1: and lesbians, and toured places like gay communities and bars 192 00:11:47,320 --> 00:11:51,200 Speaker 1: all over Africa, North America, and Europe, and all of 193 00:11:51,200 --> 00:11:54,600 Speaker 1: this work led him to a totally different conclusion what 194 00:11:54,760 --> 00:12:00,319 Speaker 1: he described as sexual intermediaries. Essentially, according to hirsch Felt, 195 00:12:00,400 --> 00:12:04,280 Speaker 1: everyone was some mix of masculine, feminine, and in some 196 00:12:04,360 --> 00:12:08,480 Speaker 1: cases androgynous traits. So in this model, there were not 197 00:12:08,559 --> 00:12:12,199 Speaker 1: just two types of human being, male and female, who 198 00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:16,959 Speaker 1: were sexually dimorphic and sorted into matching binary genders. There 199 00:12:16,960 --> 00:12:20,760 Speaker 1: were more than forty three million possible combinations of a 200 00:12:20,840 --> 00:12:25,440 Speaker 1: whole range of indicators. This made gender and sexual orientation 201 00:12:25,640 --> 00:12:29,920 Speaker 1: a colossally large spectrum and not a matter of a binary. 202 00:12:30,400 --> 00:12:33,120 Speaker 1: Even though he was conceiving of all of this as 203 00:12:33,160 --> 00:12:38,160 Speaker 1: a seemingly infinite range of sexual orientations and genders, Hirshfeld 204 00:12:38,280 --> 00:12:43,080 Speaker 1: still tried to develop taxonomies that incorporated homosexuals, bisexuals, and 205 00:12:43,200 --> 00:12:46,640 Speaker 1: the like. In eighteen ninety nine, he published his first 206 00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:51,120 Speaker 1: Yearbook of Intermediate Sexual Types, something he continued to publish 207 00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:54,640 Speaker 1: annually until nineteen twenty three. One of the things that 208 00:12:54,720 --> 00:12:57,439 Speaker 1: Hirshfeld was trying to do, and all of this study 209 00:12:57,480 --> 00:13:00,520 Speaker 1: and all of this taxonomizing was to establish the idea 210 00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:05,200 Speaker 1: that homosexuality was inborn and unchangeable. He thought that if 211 00:13:05,240 --> 00:13:07,720 Speaker 1: he made it clear that people were born this way, 212 00:13:07,720 --> 00:13:10,560 Speaker 1: that it would dispel stigma and it would provide a 213 00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:13,840 Speaker 1: strong argument for their appeal of paragraph one seventy five. 214 00:13:14,400 --> 00:13:18,320 Speaker 1: Over the next few years, Hirshfeld established himself as such 215 00:13:18,320 --> 00:13:21,720 Speaker 1: a renowned expert engender and sexuality that he was called 216 00:13:21,760 --> 00:13:26,000 Speaker 1: on as an expert witness in court cases related to homosexuality. 217 00:13:26,760 --> 00:13:30,559 Speaker 1: Some of his colleagues at the Scientific Humanitarian Committee advocated 218 00:13:30,640 --> 00:13:33,920 Speaker 1: releasing the names of prominent gay people to try to 219 00:13:34,040 --> 00:13:37,920 Speaker 1: undermine the legitimacy of paragraph one seventy five, what we 220 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:41,679 Speaker 1: would describe as outing today, and Hirshfeld never agreed with 221 00:13:41,679 --> 00:13:44,120 Speaker 1: this strategy, but when he was called on to be 222 00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:47,600 Speaker 1: an expert witness, he tried to frame his testimony in 223 00:13:47,600 --> 00:13:49,760 Speaker 1: a way that he hoped would have the same general 224 00:13:49,800 --> 00:13:55,200 Speaker 1: outcome of dismantling paragraph one seventy five. These intentions had 225 00:13:55,240 --> 00:13:59,200 Speaker 1: the opposite effect in nineteen oh seven, when Hirshfeld was 226 00:13:59,240 --> 00:14:02,480 Speaker 1: called on as an expert witness during the Uhlenberg affair. 227 00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:06,120 Speaker 1: This was part of a huge scandal and press campaign 228 00:14:06,120 --> 00:14:10,680 Speaker 1: that was led by journalist Maximilian Harden. Harden alleged that 229 00:14:10,800 --> 00:14:13,959 Speaker 1: German Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm the Second was surrounded by a 230 00:14:14,080 --> 00:14:19,320 Speaker 1: quote degenerated homosexual Camarilla, and that that degenerated group was 231 00:14:19,440 --> 00:14:23,880 Speaker 1: led by Prince Philip Eulenberg. The Uhlenberg affair went on 232 00:14:23,960 --> 00:14:26,880 Speaker 1: from nineteen o six to nineteen o nine, and in 233 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:31,360 Speaker 1: nineteen oh seven, high ranking Prussian general Kuno Multke accused 234 00:14:31,360 --> 00:14:34,760 Speaker 1: Harden of libel, saying that Harden was spreading lies about 235 00:14:34,840 --> 00:14:39,440 Speaker 1: Moltke being a homosexual. A civil trial followed and Hirschfeld 236 00:14:39,680 --> 00:14:42,040 Speaker 1: was a witness. One of the things that had to 237 00:14:42,080 --> 00:14:45,680 Speaker 1: be established at this trial was whether what Harden was 238 00:14:45,680 --> 00:14:48,840 Speaker 1: saying about Moltke was true, because if it was true, 239 00:14:49,160 --> 00:14:53,560 Speaker 1: it wasn't libel. Hirshfield's testimony, which was founded on his 240 00:14:53,640 --> 00:14:58,120 Speaker 1: idea that homosexuality wasn't deviant and wasn't a pathology, was 241 00:14:58,160 --> 00:15:01,960 Speaker 1: that Moltke was an unconscious homosexual, whether he knew it 242 00:15:02,040 --> 00:15:06,320 Speaker 1: or not. The conservative press was outraged over these statements. 243 00:15:06,960 --> 00:15:11,840 Speaker 1: Even though Hirschfeld himself did not believe homosexuality was pathological, deviant, 244 00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:15,040 Speaker 1: or criminal, much of the rest of Germany believed the 245 00:15:15,040 --> 00:15:19,000 Speaker 1: exact opposite. So while Hirschfeld hoped that his testimony would 246 00:15:19,040 --> 00:15:22,960 Speaker 1: help normalize the idea of homosexuality in the minds of many, 247 00:15:23,120 --> 00:15:26,400 Speaker 1: he was just committing slander, and in the second trial 248 00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:31,680 Speaker 1: Hirschfeld had to recant his original testimony. The Scientific Humanitarian 249 00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:35,960 Speaker 1: Committee started losing support and members, and Hirschfeld himself became 250 00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:40,400 Speaker 1: the target of both anti semitism and homophobia. In defiance 251 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:45,200 Speaker 1: of all of that criticism, Hirschfeld continued working. In nineteen ten, 252 00:15:45,280 --> 00:15:48,760 Speaker 1: he published a work called The Transvestites, coining that term 253 00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:52,360 Speaker 1: as well as the term transsexuals. Neither of those terms 254 00:15:52,480 --> 00:15:54,720 Speaker 1: is really the preferred term today, but at the time 255 00:15:54,760 --> 00:15:57,440 Speaker 1: he was creating language for something that nobody had really 256 00:15:57,520 --> 00:16:00,640 Speaker 1: named yet. In The Transvestites, he tried to make it 257 00:16:00,680 --> 00:16:04,880 Speaker 1: clear that there was a distinction between cross dressing and homosexuality, 258 00:16:04,920 --> 00:16:07,920 Speaker 1: as well as between cross dressers and other people who 259 00:16:07,920 --> 00:16:11,000 Speaker 1: were at the time considered to be deviant, and once 260 00:16:11,040 --> 00:16:14,920 Speaker 1: again his goal was ending stigma. Cross dressing was not 261 00:16:15,040 --> 00:16:18,400 Speaker 1: outlawed under paragraph one seventy five, and when people were 262 00:16:18,480 --> 00:16:22,480 Speaker 1: arrested for cross dressing, the charges were usually vague offenses 263 00:16:22,520 --> 00:16:25,720 Speaker 1: like creating a disturbance, so he was hoping that by 264 00:16:25,800 --> 00:16:30,080 Speaker 1: drawing this very clear line dividing cross dressing from homosexuality, 265 00:16:30,480 --> 00:16:33,800 Speaker 1: that he would protect cross dressers from stigma and arrest. 266 00:16:34,560 --> 00:16:38,040 Speaker 1: At the same time, the transvestites. While groundbreaking, is also 267 00:16:38,160 --> 00:16:42,280 Speaker 1: kind of muddled by today's standards. His descriptions assumed that 268 00:16:42,320 --> 00:16:44,640 Speaker 1: all the people in his case studies in the work 269 00:16:44,920 --> 00:16:47,720 Speaker 1: are people that we would describe as sis gender today, 270 00:16:47,960 --> 00:16:50,200 Speaker 1: that they were the same gender as the sex that 271 00:16:50,200 --> 00:16:54,000 Speaker 1: they were assigned at birth. So the idea of being transgender, 272 00:16:54,040 --> 00:16:56,800 Speaker 1: which also wasn't a term that existed yet, does not 273 00:16:56,920 --> 00:16:59,560 Speaker 1: play a part in this at all, even though when 274 00:16:59,600 --> 00:17:01,880 Speaker 1: you read the case studies it's clear that some of 275 00:17:01,880 --> 00:17:05,480 Speaker 1: the people in them probably would have described themselves as 276 00:17:05,480 --> 00:17:09,760 Speaker 1: transgender if they lived today. In nineteen thirteen, Hirschfeld helped 277 00:17:09,880 --> 00:17:15,399 Speaker 1: establish the Medical Society for Sexual Science and Eugenics. Hirschfeld 278 00:17:15,680 --> 00:17:19,159 Speaker 1: was vehemently against racial eugenics, but like a lot of 279 00:17:19,200 --> 00:17:21,679 Speaker 1: people at the time, he was in favor of the 280 00:17:21,760 --> 00:17:25,920 Speaker 1: idea of using eugenics to stop hereditary disease and improve 281 00:17:26,040 --> 00:17:29,679 Speaker 1: humanity in general. As we have discussed on the show before, 282 00:17:29,760 --> 00:17:34,000 Speaker 1: eugenics was an extremely mainstream concept at this point and 283 00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:36,800 Speaker 1: the field of sexual science, which was brand new at 284 00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:41,000 Speaker 1: the time, was all tangled up with it. Yeah, when 285 00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:44,119 Speaker 1: you look at this sort of newly developing field of 286 00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:49,080 Speaker 1: sexual science, that's a whole huge spectrum of how people 287 00:17:49,280 --> 00:17:52,000 Speaker 1: thought that eugenics connected to all of it. And it's 288 00:17:52,080 --> 00:17:54,520 Speaker 1: on the spectrum from oh, we could make humanity a 289 00:17:54,520 --> 00:17:57,280 Speaker 1: little better too, Oh, we need to stop the bad 290 00:17:57,320 --> 00:17:59,600 Speaker 1: people from breeding. It's really all over the place and 291 00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:05,640 Speaker 1: its tangled together. In nineteen fourteen, Hirshfeld published The Homosexuality 292 00:18:05,720 --> 00:18:08,960 Speaker 1: of Men and Women, which was a huge compendium of 293 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:12,600 Speaker 1: research at the time. This was the largest collection of 294 00:18:12,640 --> 00:18:16,040 Speaker 1: available research on gender and sexuality, and really, in terms 295 00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:19,480 Speaker 1: of just the sheer amount of information it collected into 296 00:18:19,600 --> 00:18:23,240 Speaker 1: one work, it might still be. In this work, Hirschfeld 297 00:18:23,359 --> 00:18:27,560 Speaker 1: continued his argument that homosexuality was not a pathology. He 298 00:18:27,720 --> 00:18:31,119 Speaker 1: argued that the psychiatric and interpersonal issues that gay people 299 00:18:31,200 --> 00:18:34,199 Speaker 1: faced were not a product of their sexuality, but of 300 00:18:34,240 --> 00:18:36,760 Speaker 1: the immense stress of trying to keep it a secret 301 00:18:36,800 --> 00:18:40,560 Speaker 1: and of living under so much stigma and discrimination. He 302 00:18:40,680 --> 00:18:44,320 Speaker 1: described it as quote the eternal battle between willing spirit 303 00:18:44,400 --> 00:18:48,120 Speaker 1: and weak flesh, that the perpetual fear of being discovered 304 00:18:48,280 --> 00:18:53,159 Speaker 1: of blackmail, arrest, court sentences, loss of social status and 305 00:18:53,240 --> 00:18:58,280 Speaker 1: respect from family and friends greatly affects one's disposition. Must 306 00:18:58,320 --> 00:19:03,520 Speaker 1: surely be nerve racking and could bring on a nervous breakdown, depression, 307 00:19:03,960 --> 00:19:07,520 Speaker 1: and thoughts of suicide. He also concluded that the reason 308 00:19:07,600 --> 00:19:11,720 Speaker 1: that homosexuality was so connected with deviance and medical literature 309 00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:16,280 Speaker 1: was that healthy and generally well adjusted homosexuals were able 310 00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:19,600 Speaker 1: to keep their sexual orientation a secret from their doctors. 311 00:19:20,240 --> 00:19:24,960 Speaker 1: So doctors only encountered homosexuals that they knew about when 312 00:19:24,960 --> 00:19:28,320 Speaker 1: there was some kind of physical or psychological problem going on, 313 00:19:28,760 --> 00:19:31,680 Speaker 1: or when they had been contacted by police to examine 314 00:19:31,680 --> 00:19:34,720 Speaker 1: someone who had been arrested for a crime. World War 315 00:19:34,760 --> 00:19:38,280 Speaker 1: One also began in nineteen fourteen, and much of the 316 00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:41,560 Speaker 1: work of the Scientific Humanitarian Committee turned to focus on 317 00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:45,960 Speaker 1: the war, like delivering care packages to troops. Hirschfeld was 318 00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:48,680 Speaker 1: called on to be an expert witness when servicemen were 319 00:19:48,680 --> 00:19:53,240 Speaker 1: suspected of homosexuality or cross dressing. But otherwise, the World 320 00:19:53,280 --> 00:19:56,800 Speaker 1: War One years were something of a pause, and so 321 00:19:56,920 --> 00:19:59,040 Speaker 1: while they pause, we are going to pause and have 322 00:19:59,040 --> 00:20:10,200 Speaker 1: a little bit of a sponsor break. The period between 323 00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:12,240 Speaker 1: the end of World War One and the rise of 324 00:20:12,280 --> 00:20:15,080 Speaker 1: the Nazi Party in Germany is known as the Weimar Republic, 325 00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:18,760 Speaker 1: and the field of sexual science flourished in both Germany 326 00:20:18,800 --> 00:20:22,560 Speaker 1: and Austria during these years. It was a turbulent time, 327 00:20:22,960 --> 00:20:25,600 Speaker 1: but also one of some social progress and a whole 328 00:20:25,600 --> 00:20:30,000 Speaker 1: sexual revolution. Lots of other groups formed to advocate for 329 00:20:30,040 --> 00:20:33,679 Speaker 1: the legalization of homosexuality and for rights and protections for 330 00:20:33,760 --> 00:20:38,600 Speaker 1: gay people. In nineteen nineteen, using his own money, Magnus 331 00:20:38,640 --> 00:20:42,720 Speaker 1: Hirschfeld established the Institute for Sexual Science, also called the 332 00:20:42,760 --> 00:20:47,600 Speaker 1: Institute for Sexology. Initially, the Institute was dedicated to mainly 333 00:20:47,840 --> 00:20:52,119 Speaker 1: scientific research and training related to sexuality and gender, but 334 00:20:52,200 --> 00:20:56,040 Speaker 1: it soon expanded to include marriage counseling, counseling related to 335 00:20:56,080 --> 00:21:00,320 Speaker 1: sexual identity and orientation, a medical facility, and a massive 336 00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:04,960 Speaker 1: library on gender and sexuality. When we say that it 337 00:21:05,080 --> 00:21:09,879 Speaker 1: is massive, it was incredibly huge. It encompassed basically everything 338 00:21:09,920 --> 00:21:12,560 Speaker 1: that was known about gender and sexuality in the early 339 00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:17,360 Speaker 1: twentieth century, including tens of thousands of books, original photographs, 340 00:21:17,359 --> 00:21:21,560 Speaker 1: and letters, and all of Hirschfeld's extensive collection of primary 341 00:21:21,640 --> 00:21:24,080 Speaker 1: data from all of the studies that he had been doing. 342 00:21:24,800 --> 00:21:28,480 Speaker 1: The Institute saw four thousand patients in its first year alone, 343 00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:33,080 Speaker 1: the Scientific Humanitarian Committee was folded into the Institute as 344 00:21:33,080 --> 00:21:37,479 Speaker 1: its sex education division. The institute's research continued on the 345 00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:41,560 Speaker 1: same tack that Hirschfeld had been pursuing earlier, including looking 346 00:21:41,600 --> 00:21:45,119 Speaker 1: for some kind of evidence that homosexuality was inborn and 347 00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:48,320 Speaker 1: had a biological basis. A lot of the ways that 348 00:21:48,359 --> 00:21:51,840 Speaker 1: we might do this today, like brain scans and hormone studies, 349 00:21:51,880 --> 00:21:56,159 Speaker 1: didn't exist yet, so he was looking at people's observable traits, 350 00:21:56,240 --> 00:21:59,680 Speaker 1: such as in four hundred and sixty three homosexual men, 351 00:22:00,240 --> 00:22:04,200 Speaker 1: one hundred twenty eight had undeveloped Adams apples, two hundred 352 00:22:04,359 --> 00:22:08,120 Speaker 1: nineteen had poorly developed ones, and only one hundred sixteen 353 00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:13,000 Speaker 1: had quote unquote normal ones. Or in five hundred homosexual men, 354 00:22:13,520 --> 00:22:16,560 Speaker 1: most had less to no body hair or very fine 355 00:22:16,600 --> 00:22:19,639 Speaker 1: body hair, or in gay men, the width of the 356 00:22:19,720 --> 00:22:22,160 Speaker 1: hips tended to be about the same as the width 357 00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:26,120 Speaker 1: of the shoulders, whereas non gay men generally had broader 358 00:22:26,119 --> 00:22:29,399 Speaker 1: shoulders than their hips. And basically he was trying to 359 00:22:29,400 --> 00:22:31,800 Speaker 1: figure out what the norm was and figure out if 360 00:22:31,800 --> 00:22:35,760 Speaker 1: homosexuals deviated from that norm, and looking at just about 361 00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:39,160 Speaker 1: every physical trait you could think of to make these comparisons. 362 00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:43,760 Speaker 1: He also supported the work of Austrian researcher Eugen Steinock, who, 363 00:22:43,800 --> 00:22:46,919 Speaker 1: along with other research was building off the discovery of 364 00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:51,200 Speaker 1: sex hormones with the idea of transplanting gonadle tissue from 365 00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:54,840 Speaker 1: one person to another. This unfortunately did not work, and 366 00:22:54,880 --> 00:22:58,520 Speaker 1: in some cases it caused serious problems when the transplanted 367 00:22:58,560 --> 00:23:02,320 Speaker 1: tissue became necrotic, but Steinach is viewed as one of 368 00:23:02,320 --> 00:23:07,080 Speaker 1: the early pioneers of interchnology. Also in nineteen nineteen, Hirscheld 369 00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:10,440 Speaker 1: participated in the creation of a film called Different from 370 00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:12,879 Speaker 1: the Others, which was the first film to call for 371 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:18,359 Speaker 1: decriminalization of homosexuality. The film was almost immediately banned and 372 00:23:18,440 --> 00:23:22,240 Speaker 1: it was later burned by Nazis. It was probably while 373 00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:25,680 Speaker 1: working on this film that Hirschfeld met Karl Geza, which 374 00:23:25,720 --> 00:23:28,560 Speaker 1: is one of only a couple of long term relationships 375 00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:31,000 Speaker 1: in his life that we really know about. Hirschfeld was 376 00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:34,080 Speaker 1: very private about his personal life, and for a lot 377 00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:36,640 Speaker 1: of it he seems to have lived alone. That set 378 00:23:36,720 --> 00:23:40,080 Speaker 1: him apart from Karl, Heinrich Orris, who publicly talked about 379 00:23:40,160 --> 00:23:44,800 Speaker 1: his own homosexuality, while Hirschfeld never publicly discussed himself as 380 00:23:44,800 --> 00:23:48,720 Speaker 1: a gay man, Giza moved in with Hirschfeld in nineteen nineteen. 381 00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:52,879 Speaker 1: In nineteen twenty eight, Hirschfeld co founded the World League 382 00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:56,320 Speaker 1: for Sexual Reform, which had existed in some form since 383 00:23:56,400 --> 00:24:00,000 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty six but wasn't formally chartered until two years later. 384 00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:04,280 Speaker 1: The World League hosted large conferences on the subject of 385 00:24:04,320 --> 00:24:09,560 Speaker 1: sexual reform, everything from women's rights to contraception to homosexual rights. 386 00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:13,360 Speaker 1: Throughout all of this, Hirshfield was still doing all this research, 387 00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:16,000 Speaker 1: and he was still advocating for the repeal of paragraph 388 00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:19,280 Speaker 1: one seventy five, and in late nineteen twenty nine it 389 00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:22,679 Speaker 1: looked like that was probably going to happen. A Penal 390 00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:27,640 Speaker 1: Code Reform Committee voted to remove the paragraph with three exceptions. 391 00:24:28,320 --> 00:24:30,760 Speaker 1: One was if one party was under twenty one and 392 00:24:30,800 --> 00:24:34,280 Speaker 1: the other wasn't. Another, if one party quote used a 393 00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:37,800 Speaker 1: position of influence to pressure the other, and the third 394 00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:40,440 Speaker 1: was if it was a commercial relationship, in other words, 395 00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:43,440 Speaker 1: if it was sex work. Within the movement to abolish 396 00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:47,720 Speaker 1: paragraph one seventy five, this was really controversial to some, 397 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:51,720 Speaker 1: it was a win, but the proposed change effectively raised 398 00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:54,000 Speaker 1: the age of consent for gay me end to twenty one, 399 00:24:54,119 --> 00:24:57,080 Speaker 1: which was higher than it was for anyone else. It 400 00:24:57,119 --> 00:25:00,000 Speaker 1: also made the punishments for homosexual acts that were still 401 00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:03,840 Speaker 1: illegal much harsher than they had been before, so in 402 00:25:03,880 --> 00:25:07,000 Speaker 1: the minds of others, it actually did more harm than good. 403 00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:10,240 Speaker 1: In spite of this vote, though a new penal code 404 00:25:10,240 --> 00:25:13,200 Speaker 1: did not go into effect, the revised code didn't make 405 00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:15,919 Speaker 1: it through the legislature before the rise of the Nazi Party. 406 00:25:16,400 --> 00:25:19,760 Speaker 1: In late nineteen thirty Magnus Hirschfeld left Germany on a 407 00:25:19,840 --> 00:25:23,600 Speaker 1: speaking and fundraising tour. He traveled all over the world. 408 00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:27,200 Speaker 1: Press in the US called him the Einstein of Sex. 409 00:25:27,920 --> 00:25:30,880 Speaker 1: In Shanghai in nineteen thirty one, he met and began 410 00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:35,000 Speaker 1: a relationship with a man named Lee Shu Tong. Hirshfeld 411 00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:37,240 Speaker 1: and Karl Geza were still a couple as well. At 412 00:25:37,240 --> 00:25:40,840 Speaker 1: this point. While in India, Hirshfeld started hearing rumors that 413 00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:44,320 Speaker 1: he was being targeted by the Nazis. He'd also started 414 00:25:44,359 --> 00:25:47,920 Speaker 1: to experience a range of health issues. He contracted malaria 415 00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:50,800 Speaker 1: while he was on this tour. He also had diabetes 416 00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:53,280 Speaker 1: and a nerve disorder in a series of heart attacks. 417 00:25:53,760 --> 00:25:56,480 Speaker 1: The stress of not knowing for sure what was going 418 00:25:56,520 --> 00:25:59,080 Speaker 1: on back home in Germany made all of this a 419 00:25:59,160 --> 00:26:02,400 Speaker 1: lot worse. He never went back to Germany after starting 420 00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:06,280 Speaker 1: that tour in nineteen thirty. On May sixth, nineteen thirty three, 421 00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:10,679 Speaker 1: Nazis destroyed the Institute of Sexual Science. Copies of a 422 00:26:10,720 --> 00:26:14,240 Speaker 1: lot of Hirschfeld's published papers and books still exist, but 423 00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:17,240 Speaker 1: most of his primary data was destroyed in this attack. 424 00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:21,320 Speaker 1: On May tenth, material taken from the institute was burned 425 00:26:21,359 --> 00:26:24,520 Speaker 1: in Opera Square, along with other books that were declared 426 00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:28,679 Speaker 1: to be anti German. Hirschfeld also became a part of 427 00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:32,560 Speaker 1: Nazi propaganda as an example of from the Nazi perspective, 428 00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:36,960 Speaker 1: an evil, degenerate Jew. The distraction of the Institute of 429 00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:40,680 Speaker 1: Sexual Science and this ongoing persecution by the Nazis led 430 00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:43,479 Speaker 1: Hirschfeld to start considering how he should think about his 431 00:26:43,520 --> 00:26:47,399 Speaker 1: own identity. He had been the target of anti Semitism 432 00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:51,600 Speaker 1: for his entire career, including being beaten so badly in 433 00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:54,359 Speaker 1: an anti Semitic attack in nineteen twenty that he was 434 00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:58,560 Speaker 1: reported to have been killed. This was particularly disturbing to 435 00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:00,680 Speaker 1: him because it was happening in spite of the fact 436 00:27:00,720 --> 00:27:02,840 Speaker 1: that he hadn't been an observant Jew since he was 437 00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:06,240 Speaker 1: a child In nineteen thirty three, he wrote, quote, the 438 00:27:06,359 --> 00:27:11,280 Speaker 1: question where do you belong? What are you? Really? Tortures me. 439 00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:14,480 Speaker 1: If I frame the question as are you a German, 440 00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:18,399 Speaker 1: a Jew, or a world citizen, then my answer is 441 00:27:18,440 --> 00:27:22,600 Speaker 1: always a world citizen or all three. On November fourteenth, 442 00:27:22,680 --> 00:27:26,560 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty three, everything from the institute that hadn't been 443 00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:31,639 Speaker 1: destroyed was sold at auction. Hirschfeld wrote, quote today November fourteenth, 444 00:27:31,640 --> 00:27:33,960 Speaker 1: that has been three years since I left Berlin and 445 00:27:34,040 --> 00:27:38,160 Speaker 1: never returned. Today in my former home begins the auction 446 00:27:38,280 --> 00:27:42,560 Speaker 1: of my remaining books, materials, furniture. The last act for 447 00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:48,160 Speaker 1: now of a fateful tragedy that comprises a terrible psychological martyrdom. 448 00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:51,760 Speaker 1: Everyone turned out of the house, even my sisters. The 449 00:27:51,800 --> 00:27:55,760 Speaker 1: Bar Association took possession of the house. I was completely 450 00:27:55,800 --> 00:27:59,480 Speaker 1: stripped of all my rights, persecuted, a bounty put on 451 00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:03,920 Speaker 1: my head, and insulted. Hirschfeld was able to buy back 452 00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:06,520 Speaker 1: a few things from the institute, and with that he 453 00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:09,879 Speaker 1: hoped to start a new French Institute of sexual science. 454 00:28:09,880 --> 00:28:13,199 Speaker 1: In nineteen thirty three. Karl Giso was supposed to be 455 00:28:13,320 --> 00:28:15,879 Speaker 1: part of this new institute, but he was arrested in 456 00:28:15,960 --> 00:28:19,600 Speaker 1: a bath house and deported from France. The French Institute 457 00:28:19,640 --> 00:28:23,240 Speaker 1: soon closed. Toward the very end of his life, Hirschfeld 458 00:28:23,320 --> 00:28:26,000 Speaker 1: wrote a study of racism, which he had started on 459 00:28:26,040 --> 00:28:29,639 Speaker 1: after leaving Germany. It was first published as an English 460 00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:32,600 Speaker 1: translation in nineteen thirty eight, and it was a response 461 00:28:32,640 --> 00:28:36,520 Speaker 1: to Nazi ideology. Hirschfeld also sent a copy to a 462 00:28:36,560 --> 00:28:38,800 Speaker 1: friend of his who had become a strong supporter of 463 00:28:38,800 --> 00:28:41,920 Speaker 1: the Nazis, in the hope that his work would change 464 00:28:41,960 --> 00:28:46,240 Speaker 1: this person's mind. Mangus Hirschfeld died on his sixty seventh birthday, 465 00:28:46,360 --> 00:28:50,480 Speaker 1: May fourteenth, nineteen thirty five, in Niece, France. At the time, 466 00:28:50,720 --> 00:28:54,400 Speaker 1: Karl Giso was in Vienna and Lisiu Tongue was studying 467 00:28:54,440 --> 00:28:58,320 Speaker 1: in Zurich. Hirschfeld left his remaining work to these two men, 468 00:28:58,560 --> 00:29:02,240 Speaker 1: but Giso wasn't able to collect his inheritance because doing 469 00:29:02,280 --> 00:29:05,040 Speaker 1: so would have required him to go to the German embassy, 470 00:29:05,080 --> 00:29:08,240 Speaker 1: which for obvious reasons, he could not do. He took 471 00:29:08,280 --> 00:29:11,840 Speaker 1: his own life in nineteen thirty eight. Lie Shutong lived 472 00:29:11,880 --> 00:29:14,160 Speaker 1: until nineteen ninety three, and he kept up with the 473 00:29:14,240 --> 00:29:16,600 Speaker 1: materials that Hirshfeld had left him for the rest of 474 00:29:16,600 --> 00:29:19,320 Speaker 1: his life, although some of these belongings were found in 475 00:29:19,360 --> 00:29:22,960 Speaker 1: a trash heap. After his death, a number of materials 476 00:29:22,960 --> 00:29:25,440 Speaker 1: he had kept were handed over to the Magnus Hirschfeld 477 00:29:25,560 --> 00:29:29,320 Speaker 1: Society in two thousand and three. Although some of Hirschfeld's 478 00:29:29,360 --> 00:29:32,560 Speaker 1: family members and colleagues at the Institute of Sexual Science 479 00:29:32,840 --> 00:29:35,480 Speaker 1: were able to get out of Germany, others did not 480 00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:39,840 Speaker 1: survive the Holocaust. Even after his death, the Nazi Party 481 00:29:39,960 --> 00:29:45,320 Speaker 1: continued using Magnus Hirschfeld and anti Semitic and anti homosexual propaganda. 482 00:29:45,400 --> 00:29:47,720 Speaker 1: There was a bust of him placed in the Museum 483 00:29:47,760 --> 00:29:51,280 Speaker 1: of the Revolution in Nuremberg with a really disparaging sign, 484 00:29:51,440 --> 00:29:55,080 Speaker 1: and his head was carried through the streets in effigy 485 00:29:55,240 --> 00:29:59,280 Speaker 1: during rallies. When Hirshfeld was making his arguments that homosexuality 486 00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:03,280 Speaker 1: was inborn and unchangeable, it was controversial. He hoped that 487 00:30:03,320 --> 00:30:06,040 Speaker 1: proving that people were born gay or lesbian would end 488 00:30:06,080 --> 00:30:09,520 Speaker 1: stigma in persecution, but to some the idea of being 489 00:30:09,560 --> 00:30:13,400 Speaker 1: born this way was just too restrictive, and others feared 490 00:30:13,440 --> 00:30:17,240 Speaker 1: that proving that homosexuality was inborn and finding physical markers 491 00:30:17,240 --> 00:30:20,480 Speaker 1: that correlated to it would just lead to more persecution. 492 00:30:21,200 --> 00:30:25,680 Speaker 1: This fear was and frankly continues to be absolutely justified. 493 00:30:26,280 --> 00:30:29,360 Speaker 1: Not long after Magnus Hirschfeld's death on June twenty eighth, 494 00:30:29,440 --> 00:30:33,600 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty five, the Nazi Party expanded Paragraph one seventy five. 495 00:30:34,120 --> 00:30:38,280 Speaker 1: It broadened the definition of criminally and decent activities between 496 00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:42,120 Speaker 1: men to include anything that could be interpreted as homosexual 497 00:30:42,160 --> 00:30:46,520 Speaker 1: in any way. Later on, German courts upheld the idea 498 00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:49,680 Speaker 1: that this applied to even thinking about it. S s 499 00:30:49,760 --> 00:30:53,440 Speaker 1: Chief Heinrich Himler established the Reich Central Office for Combating 500 00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:58,000 Speaker 1: Abortion and Homosexuality on October twenty sixth, nineteen thirty six, 501 00:30:58,560 --> 00:31:02,440 Speaker 1: and its officers had almost unlimited power to arrest anyone 502 00:31:02,560 --> 00:31:05,520 Speaker 1: considered to be in violation of the law and held 503 00:31:05,520 --> 00:31:10,160 Speaker 1: without trial indefinitely. Roughly one hundred thousand gaymen were arrested 504 00:31:10,200 --> 00:31:13,960 Speaker 1: for their sexual orientation in Germany and German occupied territories 505 00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:17,840 Speaker 1: between nineteen thirty three and nineteen forty five. About fifty 506 00:31:17,840 --> 00:31:21,080 Speaker 1: thousand men were imprisoned, and somewhere between five thousand and 507 00:31:21,160 --> 00:31:25,440 Speaker 1: fifteen thousand were sent to concentration camps. Lesbians were not 508 00:31:25,520 --> 00:31:28,120 Speaker 1: targeted nearly as much because they were not considered to 509 00:31:28,120 --> 00:31:30,280 Speaker 1: be as much of a threat to the idea of 510 00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:33,840 Speaker 1: Aryan purity. The Nazi Party also put an end to 511 00:31:33,880 --> 00:31:36,720 Speaker 1: the field of sex research that had been flourishing in 512 00:31:36,800 --> 00:31:40,959 Speaker 1: Germany and Austria during the Weimar era. Paragraph one seventy 513 00:31:40,960 --> 00:31:43,840 Speaker 1: five was removed from the Penal Code in East Germany 514 00:31:43,840 --> 00:31:46,960 Speaker 1: in nineteen fifty, but it remained part of the code 515 00:31:46,960 --> 00:31:51,160 Speaker 1: in West Germany until after German reunification. It was formally 516 00:31:51,240 --> 00:31:55,160 Speaker 1: removed in nineteen ninety four and the two thousands, the 517 00:31:55,240 --> 00:31:58,400 Speaker 1: German Parliament annulled the convictions of gay men who had 518 00:31:58,400 --> 00:32:01,760 Speaker 1: been convicted under Nazi rule, and then just very recently, 519 00:32:01,760 --> 00:32:06,000 Speaker 1: in twenty seventeen, Germany announced that roughly fifty thousand other 520 00:32:06,040 --> 00:32:09,440 Speaker 1: men would be pardoned, including men who were convicted after 521 00:32:09,480 --> 00:32:12,080 Speaker 1: the end of World War Two. After World War Two, 522 00:32:12,200 --> 00:32:16,520 Speaker 1: Magnus Hirschfeld really fell into almost total obscurity. He was 523 00:32:16,520 --> 00:32:19,560 Speaker 1: remembered only by people who had personally known and worked 524 00:32:19,560 --> 00:32:22,960 Speaker 1: with him, but his work was rediscovered during the nineteen eighties. 525 00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:27,360 Speaker 1: The Magnus Hirschfeld Federal Foundation was founded in twenty eleven, 526 00:32:27,600 --> 00:32:31,720 Speaker 1: devoted to research and advocacy on behalf of gay, lesbian, bisexual, 527 00:32:31,800 --> 00:32:35,760 Speaker 1: and transgender people. Today, a lot of Hirschfeld's surviving research 528 00:32:35,800 --> 00:32:38,600 Speaker 1: and notes are in the Kinsey Institute for Research and Sex, 529 00:32:38,720 --> 00:32:42,600 Speaker 1: Gender and Reproduction. I feel like the idea that he 530 00:32:43,240 --> 00:32:46,800 Speaker 1: based so much of his work on, that sexual orientation 531 00:32:46,960 --> 00:32:50,479 Speaker 1: is inborn, has come and gone out of favor in 532 00:32:50,560 --> 00:32:54,040 Speaker 1: the years since then. Like it was a controversial idea 533 00:32:54,160 --> 00:32:56,440 Speaker 1: when he was advocating for it. I know when I 534 00:32:56,520 --> 00:32:59,000 Speaker 1: was growing up in the nineteen eighties and nineties, it 535 00:32:59,120 --> 00:33:05,480 Speaker 1: was almost universally accepted as common knowledge within the community. 536 00:33:05,840 --> 00:33:09,000 Speaker 1: And now I feel like it's evolved a little bit 537 00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:12,200 Speaker 1: to be that, Like it's a person can't really consciously 538 00:33:12,440 --> 00:33:16,000 Speaker 1: change their sexual orientation, but it is possible for people 539 00:33:16,040 --> 00:33:22,320 Speaker 1: to understand their identity differently in different parts of their life. Yeah, 540 00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:24,880 Speaker 1: it's a little more nuanced, it is, and it can 541 00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:29,120 Speaker 1: I mean, the whole idea of identity and gender continues 542 00:33:29,120 --> 00:33:32,920 Speaker 1: to evolve. So, yeah, where we're at now is probably 543 00:33:32,960 --> 00:33:35,160 Speaker 1: not the place we will be even in a year 544 00:33:35,240 --> 00:33:38,640 Speaker 1: or two, and certainly not in another five to ten. 545 00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:41,840 Speaker 1: So it is pretty fascinating that this was going on 546 00:33:42,240 --> 00:33:44,560 Speaker 1: way before. We often think of these concepts as having 547 00:33:44,560 --> 00:33:47,320 Speaker 1: been developed. Yeah, well, like I know a lot of 548 00:33:47,320 --> 00:33:50,080 Speaker 1: folks think of and we've talked about this on the 549 00:33:50,080 --> 00:33:52,640 Speaker 1: show before, like a lot of people sort of imagine 550 00:33:52,680 --> 00:33:55,760 Speaker 1: the gay rights movement starting with the Stonewall Riots, and 551 00:33:55,880 --> 00:33:58,200 Speaker 1: really there was a lot going on way before that, 552 00:33:58,320 --> 00:34:02,080 Speaker 1: and in the case of in Germany, way way way 553 00:34:02,120 --> 00:34:11,200 Speaker 1: before that. Thanks so much for joining us on this Saturday. 554 00:34:11,440 --> 00:34:13,520 Speaker 1: Since this episode is out of the archive, if you 555 00:34:13,600 --> 00:34:16,120 Speaker 1: heard an email address or a Facebook RL or something 556 00:34:16,160 --> 00:34:18,600 Speaker 1: similar over the course of the show, that could be 557 00:34:18,680 --> 00:34:23,440 Speaker 1: obsolete now. 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