Magnus Hirschfeld en exil

Born in 1868 in Kolberg (then in Germany, now in Poland), Magnus Hirschfeld died in Nice in 1935.

This German sexologist was a pioneer in the fight for gay rights. In 1919, he founded the Institute of Sexology in Berlin, an information center on minority sexualities and contraception, and a shelter for LGBT+ people. He also oversaw the first sex reassignment surgeries.

The rise of Nazism in Germany drove Magnus Hirschfeld—a homosexual, Jewish man with close ties to left-wing parties—into exile. In May 1933, the Institute of Sexology was looted, vandalized, and burned in one of the first book burnings staged by the Nazi regime. After a worldwide lecture tour from 1930 to 1932, Magnus Hirschfeld returned to Europe. He first stayed in Switzerland, settled in Paris in 1933, and then in Nice, where he died on May 14, 1935.

The Berlin-based Magnus Hirschfeld Society, founded in 1982 to study and preserve the scientific and cultural legacy of Magnus Hirschfeld, has presented this educational exhibition presenting the history and work of the sexologist, particularly his years of exile in Paris and Nice.