Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935) was born in Kolberg, Germany. His work with patients inspired him and convinced him that negative attitudes toward homosexuals were inhumane and unfounded. Because Hirschfeld was independently wealthy, all of his work was supported by his own funds (V. Bullough, 1994).
Using a pseudonym, Hirschfeld wrote his first paper on sexology in 1896. In this paper, he argued that sexuality was the result of certain genetic patterns that could result in a person being homosexual, bisexual, or heterosexual. He fought for a repeal of the laws that made homosexuality and bisexuality punishable by prison terms and heavy fines. In 1899, he began the Yearbook for Sexual Intermediate Stages, which was published for the purpose of educating the public about homosexuality and other sexual “deviations.”
Thousands of people came to him for his help and advice about sexual problems; and, in 1900, Hirschfeld began distributing questionnaires on sexuality. By this time, he had also become an expert in the field of homosexuality and sexual variations and testified as an expert witness in court cases of sexual offenders. Hirschfeld used only a small amount of his data in the books he published because he hoped to write a comprehensive study of sexuality at a later date. Unfortunately, his data were destroyed by the Nazis before they could be published.
Even though many books had been published by Krafft-Ebing, Havelock Ellis, and others, Hirschfeld was the first to develop an Institute for Sexology, which contained his libraries, laboratory, and lecture halls. Over the next few years the Institute continued to grow in size and influence. In 1933, as the political climate heated up, Hirschfeld left Germany and soon learned that his Foundation in Berlin had been destroyed by the Nazi government, its contents publicly burned, and those who were working there sent to concentration camps. Hirschfeld stayed in France, continuing his work until his death in 1935. In 1994, after the reunification of Berlin, the Robert Koch Institute opened a sexological information and resource center in Berlin, with the goal of protecting sexual health by providing education.