Topic Guide
Early Sexology and Nazi Persecution
Short answer
Early sexology and organised homosexual-rights advocacy in Germany were violently interrupted by Nazi persecution under Paragraph 175.
- Status
- reviewed
- Reviewed
- 2 June 2026
- Sources
- 7
- High trust
- 6
Overview
Germany produced both early LGBTQ+ rights organising and one of the most destructive anti-LGBTQ+ persecution regimes in modern history. Karl Heinrich Ulrichs helped open public debate on same-sex rights before Hirschfeld built a wider scientific and organising movement. Paragraph 175 criminalised sex between men after German unification. Magnus Hirschfeld and allies organised against it and built the Institute for Sexual Science, a major centre for sexuality and gender research. The Nazi regime destroyed that world, intensified Paragraph 175 enforcement, closed Hirschfeld's institute, and sent many gay men and gender-nonconforming people into prison and concentration camps.
Paragraph 175
Paragraph 175 created the legal foundation for criminalising sex between men in the German Empire and later became a tool of intensified Nazi persecution.
Hirschfeld and the institute
Magnus Hirschfeld's Scientific-Humanitarian Committee and Institute for Sexual Science connected research, healthcare and organised advocacy.
Nazi destruction and persecution
The Nazi regime attacked Hirschfeld's institute, expanded policing and punishment under Paragraph 175, and deported many men to concentration camps.
Key Timeline Events
Karl Heinrich Ulrichs — First Known Public Coming Out
German lawyer and writer Karl Heinrich Ulrichs addressed the Congress of German Jurists in Munich, publicly arguing for the repeal of anti-homosexual laws — widely regarded as the first public 'coming out' in recorded history. He was shouted down before finishing his speech but continued writing and campaigning. He coined the term 'Urning' (Uranian) to describe same-sex attracted people and argued that homosexuality was natural and innate.
Paragraph 175 — German Criminalisation of Homosexuality
The unification of Germany under Prussian leadership led to the adoption of Paragraph 175 in the new German Penal Code, criminalising sexual acts between men across the entire German Empire. The law would remain in force — with a brief relaxation during the Weimar Republic and a devastating tightening under the Nazis — until its final repeal in 1994.
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.
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.
Nazi Persecution of LGBTQ+ People
The Nazi regime targeted LGBTQ+ people—especially gay men—under Paragraph 175, resulting in thousands of arrests and deportations to concentration camps where they wore pink triangles.
