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Source Record

Sexuality, Gender, and Nazi Persecution

Why this source is used

USHMM Experiencing History collection framing sexuality, gender, Hirschfeld, and Nazi persecution through historical sources.

Start with the answer

Start with the answer What happened to LGBTQ+ people under Nazi rule? Under Nazi rule, gay men and gender-nonconforming people were surveilled, prosecuted, imprisoned and in many cases sent to concentration camps under intensified Paragraph 175 enforcement. Read the topic guide Early Sexology and Nazi Persecution Early sexology and organised homosexual-rights advocacy in Germany were violently interrupted by Nazi persecution under Paragraph 175.

Source Status

Publisher
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Type
archive
Reliability
high
Cited by
4 pages

Source Links

Open original source https://perspectives.ushmm.org/collection/sexuality-gender-and-nazi-persecution Accessed 2 June 2026 Open archived copy https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://perspectives.ushmm.org/collection/sexuality-gender-and-nazi-persecution

Used by Topics

Early Sexology and Nazi Persecution

Used by Questions

What happened to LGBTQ+ people under Nazi rule?

Used by Timeline Events

15 May 1897 ActivismLegal

Magnus Hirschfeld Founds the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee

German physician and sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld co-founded the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee) in Berlin, the world's first organisation dedicated to advocating for the rights of homosexual and transgender people. The committee launched a petition campaign to repeal Paragraph 175, gathering thousands of signatures from prominent figures including Albert Einstein, Hermann Hesse, and Thomas Mann.
6 July 1919 CulturalTransHealth

Hirschfeld Opens the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft

Magnus Hirschfeld opened the Institute for Sexual Science (Institut für Sexualwissenschaft) in Berlin, the world's first centre dedicated to the study of human sexuality. The Institute provided medical consultations, performed some of the first gender-affirming surgeries, issued 'transvestite passes' allowing people to cross-dress legally, and housed an enormous library of research material. It was destroyed by the Nazis in May 1933 — its books publicly burned.