Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Archive for Sexology

Magnus Hirschfeld (1868 - 1935).

The Institute for Sexology (1919 - 1933)

The following sampler gives a first impression of the documents in our collection, which contains many more items than are shown here. The entire collection can be studied on location at our archive during regular opening hours.

--Please note: All images are quick load JPEG's. To get the full size picture, just click on them for a larger image.

Magnus Hirschfeld founded the world's first Institute for Sexology ("Institut für Sexualwissenschaft") in Berlin. It was located in the fashionable, central district of Tiergarten in an elegant, tree-shaded street: In den Zelten (corner of Beethovenstrasse). The noble, large three-story villa had originally been built for the violonist Joseph Joachim and had later belonged to the Prussian ambassador to France, Prince Hatzfeld. In addition to Hirschfeld's own living quarters and medical practice, the institute comprised several departments: 1. Psychotherapy, 2. Somatic Sexual Medicine, 3. Forensic Sexology, 4. Gynecology and Marriage Counseling, 5. Archive for Sexual Ethnology, 6. Office of the World League for Sexual Reform, 7. Library, and 8. Lecture Hall (Ernst-Haeckel-Saal). In 1924, the Institute was turned into a foundation and accepted as such by the government. Hirschfeld was designated as a director for life. The university committed itself to continue it after his death as a university department and to create a new chair of sexology for the next director. However, after the end of WW II, this commitment was quickly forgotten and has not been honored to this day. In addition to Hirschfeld, several other well-known physicians worked at the institute, among them Felix Abraham, Bernhard Schapiro, Ludwig Levy-Lenz, and the distinguished psychiatrist Arthur Kronfeld. As a world-famous scientific and cultural attraction, the institute was visited by many prominent personalities, such as André Gide, Margaret Sanger, and Jawaharlal Nehru. On May 6, 1933, just over three months after Hitler had come to power in Germany, the Institute was plundered by a mob of Nazi "students". The library, together with books by many other "Un-German" authors like Freud, Brecht, Werfel, Zweig a.o., was publicly burned four days later on May 10, 1933 at the Opernplatz in Berlin. The institute was closed and reopend as a Nazi office building, housing various antisemitic organizations. Severely damaged by allied bombing raids in WWII, it was eventually torn down, together with many adjacent buildings. Today, the entire neighborhood is a public park around an American-designed congress hall ("pregnant oyster"): the "House of World Cultures". To this day, not one of the three universities in Berlin has remembered the previous committment to continue, rebuild or create an interdisciplinary Institute for Sexology as envisioned by Hirschfeld and later realized in the USA by Alfred C. Kinsey. The photo to the right shows the exterior of part of the Institute. (Hirschfeld had also acquired a large adjacent building not shown here, which served as a lodging house for visitors and patients. Among others, the English writer Christopher Isherwood briefly stayed here.)

1. Over the fourteen years of its existence, the Institute employed a number of physicians and other sexological specialists, such as Arthur Kronfeld, a psychiatrist, who, together with his wife, died in Moscow by his own hand at the approach of the German army. [94K] 2. The physician Felix Abraham (1901 - 1938) had his office and living quarters at the Institute. Driven into exile, he committed suicide, either in Switzerland or Italy. (In Florence, according to the most reliable source.) [15K] 3. Karl Giese, Hirschfeld's young assistant. He remained in Berlin until the closing of the institute in 1933. Failing to obtain a visa for a "safe" country, he committed suicide in Czechoslovakia, when Hitler's army occupied that country in 1938. [48K]

4. Karl Giese giving a public lecture in the institute's Ernst-Haeckel-Saal. [153K] 5. Richard Linsert, a leftist sexual reformer, worked at the Institute on various publications, but died young in 1933 of pneumonia. [48K] 6. Pamphlet written by Richard Linsert on "Marxism and Free Love". [125K]

7. A historical collection of contraceptives in the institute's department of sexual reform. [105K] 8. Invitation to a guided tour of the institute on the occasion of the first International Congress for Sex Research organized by Albert Moll in 1926. Since Hirschfeld had not been invited, he sent this invitation to the congress participiants. [48K] 9. The institute's large collection enabled Hirschfeld and his collaborators to produce many books and educational films. In particular, it allowed Hirschfeld to publish the first comprehensive textbook of sexology "Geschlechtskunde" (Sexual Knowledge, 5 vols. 1926 - 1930). Shown here is the title page of the first volume. [143K]

10. Book version of an educational film made by Hirschfeld using the resources of his institute: "The Laws of Love" (1927). A Russian version of this film is being preserved at the "Bundesarchiv/Filmarchiv" in Berlin. [48K] 11. Title page of the American (unillustrated) edition of Hirschfeld's "Sexual History of the World War" (1934). The original German edition had been published in three volumes in 1930 and had been amply illustrated with rare historical documents. [62K] 12. Newspaper clip reporting the plundering of Hirschfeld's Institute on May 6, 1933. Hirschfeld himself saw the destruction of his life's work in a newsreel in a Paris movie theater. (New York Herald Tribune, May 17, 1933.) [218K]

13. Letter from Harry Benjamin to Hirschfeld of May 23, 1934. [337K] 14. Letter announcing the establishment of a new Institute in Paris 1934. However, because of insufficient funds, this project was abandoned soon after it had begun. [106K] 15. Admission ticket to a lecture by Hirschfeld in Paris, 1934. At this time, Hirschfeld's institute had been moved to Paris. [97K]

-- Please note: All images are quick load JPEG's. To get the full size just click on them for a larger image.

page up back to Magnus Hirschfeld back to pioneers back to services

Note: Our directories depend on the input of interested readers. For corrections, additions, and suggestions, please contact: HaeberleE@web.de


1. Over the fourteen years of its existence, the Institute employed a number of physicians and other sexological specialists, such as Arthur Kronfeld, a psychiatrist, who, together with his wife, died in Moscow by his own hand at the approach of the German army. [94K]	2. The physician Felix Abraham (1901 - 1938) had his office and living quarters at the Institute. Driven into exile, he committed suicide, either in Switzerland or Italy. (In Florence, according to the most reliable source.) [15K]	3. Karl Giese, Hirschfeld's young assistant. He remained in Berlin until the closing of the institute in 1933. Failing to obtain a visa for a "safe" country, he committed suicide in Czechoslovakia, when Hitler's army occupied that country in 1938. [48K]


4. Karl Giese giving a public lecture in the institute's Ernst-Haeckel-Saal. [153K]	5. Richard Linsert, a leftist sexual reformer, worked at the Institute on various publications, but died young in 1933 of pneumonia. [48K]	6. Pamphlet written by Richard Linsert on "Marxism and Free Love". [125K]


7. A historical collection of contraceptives in the institute's department of sexual reform. [105K]	8. Invitation to a guided tour of the institute on the occasion of the first International Congress for Sex Research organized by Albert Moll in 1926. Since Hirschfeld had not been invited, he sent this invitation to the congress participiants. [48K]	9. The institute's large collection enabled Hirschfeld and his collaborators to produce many books and educational films. In particular, it allowed Hirschfeld to publish the first comprehensive textbook of sexology "Geschlechtskunde" (Sexual Knowledge, 5 vols. 1926 - 1930). Shown here is the title page of the first volume. [143K]


10. Book version of an educational film made by Hirschfeld using the resources of his institute: "The Laws of Love" (1927). A Russian version of this film is being preserved at the "Bundesarchiv/Filmarchiv" in Berlin. [48K]	11. Title page of the American (unillustrated) edition of Hirschfeld's "Sexual History of the World War" (1934). The original German edition had been published in three volumes in 1930 and had been amply illustrated with rare historical documents. [62K]	12. Newspaper clip reporting the plundering of Hirschfeld's Institute on May 6, 1933. Hirschfeld himself saw the destruction of his life's work in a newsreel in a Paris movie theater. (New York Herald Tribune, May 17, 1933.) [218K]


13. Letter from Harry Benjamin to Hirschfeld of May 23, 1934. [337K]	14. Letter announcing the establishment of a new Institute in Paris 1934. However, because of insufficient funds, this project was abandoned soon after it had begun. [106K]	15. Admission ticket to a lecture by Hirschfeld in Paris, 1934. At this time, Hirschfeld's institute had been moved to Paris. [97K]