The Forgotten History of the World's First Trans Clinic

[sheshe2]

The Forgotten History of the World’s First Trans Clinic
The Institute for Sexual Research in Berlin would be a century old if it hadn’t fallen victim to Nazi ideology

By Brandy Schillace


Late one night on the cusp of the 20th century, Magnus Hirschfeld, a young doctor, found a soldier on the doorstep of his practice in Germany. Distraught and agitated, the man had come to confess himself an Urning—a word used to refer to homosexual men. It explained the cover of darkness; to speak of such things was dangerous business. The infamous “Paragraph 175” in the German criminal code made homosexuality illegal; a man so accused could be stripped of his ranks and titles and thrown in jail.

Hirschfeld understood the soldier’s plight—he was himself both homosexual and Jewish—and did his best to comfort his patient. But the soldier had already made up his mind. It was the eve of his wedding, an event he could not face. Shortly after, he shot himself.

The soldier bequeathed his private papers to Hirschfeld, along with a letter: “The thought that you could contribute to [a future] when the German fatherland will think of us in more just terms,” he wrote, “sweetens the hour of death.” Hirschfeld would be forever haunted by this needless loss; the soldier had called himself a “curse,” fit only to die, because the expectations of heterosexual norms, reinforced by marriage and law, made no room for his kind. These heartbreaking stories, Hirschfeld wrote in The Sexual History of the World War, “bring before us the whole tragedy [in Germany]; what fatherland did they have, and for what freedom were they fighting?” In the aftermath of this lonely death, Hirschfeld left his medical practice and began a crusade for justice that would alter the course of queer history.

Hirschfeld sought to specialize in sexual health, an area of growing interest. Many of his predecessors and colleagues believed that homosexuality was pathological, using new theories from psychology to suggest it was a sign of mental ill health. Hirschfeld, in contrast, argued that a person may be born with characteristics that did not fit into heterosexual or binary categories and supported the idea that a “third sex” (or Geschlecht) existed naturally. Hirschfeld proposed the term “sexual intermediaries” for nonconforming individuals. Included under this umbrella were what he considered “situational” and “constitutional” homosexuals—a recognition that there is often a spectrum of bisexual practice—as well as what he termed “transvestites.” This group included those who wished to wear the clothes of the opposite sex and those who “from the point of view of their character” should be considered as the opposite sex. One soldier with whom Hirschfeld had worked described wearing women’s clothing as the chance “to be a human being at least for a moment.” He likewise recognized that these people could be either homosexual or heterosexual, something that is frequently misunderstood about transgender people today.

Perhaps even more surprising was Hirschfeld’s inclusion of those with no fixed gender, akin to today’s concept of gender-fluid or nonbinary identity (he counted French novelist George Sand among them). Most important for Hirschfeld, these people were acting “in accordance with their nature,” not against it.

More: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-forgotten-history-of-the-worlds-first-trans-clinic/

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So much more at the link.

[LostOne4Ever]

1. The Nazis destroyed so many lives, so much history

And even science.

We can’t let them do it again!!!

[Pete Ross Junior]

2. It is good to keep this history alive, but also never forget ...

All the WWII "good guys" had similar laws and Hirschfeld's clinic would have been persecuted in any of them.

[icymist]

3. Kicking this back up.

Most useful information.

[sheshe2]

4. I was surprised when I saw this kicked up.

Thank you so much for doing so. I had wished more had acknowledged it. We all need to know our history, the world's history. That is why we can't let the GOP deny and hide the truth.

[icymist]

5. You are welcome.

I almost double posted it as I just found a copy in Scientific America.

[sheshe2]

6. Double post and perhaps put it in GD.

It might be seen there. It is well worth a repeat.

[icymist]

7. I went ahead and did that.

[sheshe2]

10. You boosted this one.

Where is yours, icymist? Please link. It's late and I am tired.

Please, I want to comment.

[icymist]

11. It's in GD. I'm on a new fangled cell phone

Don't know how to copy and paste yet. Give me about an hour or so.

[sheshe2]

12. I will look.

I have to go soon.

[icymist]

13. Here you go SheShe2

https://democraticunderground.com/100217979828

Oy! All this running back and forth!

[Behind the Aegis]

8. Historians are learning more about how the Nazis targeted trans people

In the fall of 2022, a German court heard an unusual case.

It was a civil lawsuit that grew out of a feud on Twitter about whether transgender people were victims of the Holocaust. Though there is no longer much debate about whether gay men and lesbians were persecuted, there’s been very little scholarship on trans people during this period.

The court took expert statements from historians, including myself, before finding that the historical evidence shows that trans people were, indeed, persecuted by the Nazi regime.

This is an important case. It was the first time a court recognized the persecution of trans people in Nazi Germany. It was followed a few months later by the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament, formally releasing a statement recognizing trans and cisgender queer people as victims of fascism.

more...

[sheshe2]

9. The GOP/QOP are our nazi's now.

I do not know how to correct it. I am German/Swiss/Canadian/Irish and a few other things thrown in. I am female straight and old and I don't know the answers. I wish I did, BtA.