French Embassy in Berlin will join Forces with the German Capital to celebrate the First Magnus Hirschfeld Day on May 14th
On the occasion of May 17, International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, we want to remember that the decriminalization and protection of the rights of LGBT+ people are a priority for French diplomacy
May 13th, 2024
Magnus Hirschfeld is internationally recognized for his great achievements. He was a German doctor and sex researcher. He was gay, socialist and Jewish. In 1919 he founded the first institute of sexual sciences in Berlin, where he researched sexuality and gender diversity, thus creating a safe place for people who did not fit into heterosexual or binary categories. In this way, he was fighting against article 175 of the penal code that criminalized homosexuality. His institute was located exactly where Haus der Kulturen der Welt steht is today.
On May 15, 1897, Hirschfeld founded the Wissenschaftlich together with the publisher Max Spohr, the lawyer Eduard Oberg and the writer Franz Joseph von Bülow in his Charlottenburg apartment at Berliner Straße 104, today Otto-Suhr-Allee. It was a Humanitarian Committee (WhK) and was the first organization in the world whose main objective was to decriminalize homosexuality. For Germany, this meant the abolition of the aforementioned article 175 on the criminalization of homosexuality.
Hirschfeld is considered a co-founder of the first homosexual emancipation movement and a pioneer of LGBTIQ+ rights. This is also why Berlin is the cradle of the queer community! Today, in addition to the Federal Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation, the Hirschfeld-Eddy Foundation and the Magnus Hirschfeld Society are still named after him.
On May 14, 2024, the state of Berlin will honor the life and work of the fighter for love. The community seeks, through various campaigns, to make Magnus Hirschfeld and his work known in all the neighborhoods and districts of the rainbow capital. Throughout the month of May, which is also Berlin's 10th Queer History Month, several Hirschfeld-related events will take place.
References:
- - https://de.ambafrance.org/Droits-LGBT-l-Ambassade-de-France-a-Berlin-celebre-le-premier-Magnus-Hirschfeld
- - https://magnus-hirschfeld-tag.de/
