Photos of the Institute for Sexual Science

These photos show different rooms at the Institute for Sexual Science in Berlin, the first institution to offer systematic medical and legal advice to trans people. On the first photo, which was published in 1929 in a crime magazine, Dr. Felix Abraham, one of the institutes doctors, is counselling a trans person. The second photo was taken in 1933 and shows a ravaged office.

On May 6, 1933, first students and later the SA, stormed the institute. They transported thousands of books from it's extensive library and other documents to the student house on Oranienburger Straße. The documents were thrown into piles and viewed there. In public book burnings, such as on May 10, 1933, thousands of documents from the institute were burned. Thus not only a large number of unique materials, but also a huge amount of queer knowledge was destroyed. The first contact point for trans health care had been ruined.

The Institute for Sexual Science had been opened in July 1919 by Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, a German Jewish and gay sexologist and doctor. It soon had developed into a hub not only for researchers from all over the world, but also for trans people. The institute's doctors had written numerous reports and had helped some trans people receive medical care and legal recognition.