Magnus Hirschfeld, the sexologist who made Lili Elbe's gender reassignment surgery possible, remains a largely forgotten figure despite his groundbreaking work. Elbe, born Einar Wegener, underwent the pioneering operations in 1930 after meeting Hirschfeld in Berlin. But Hirschfeld's legacy was nearly erased when the Nazis burned his Institute for Sexual Research in 1933.
Hirschfeld was born in 1868 in Prussia and studied medicine, despite a passion for literature. As a secret homosexual, he was appalled by the medical community's treatment of sexual minorities, such as a patient paraded naked in a lecture after being imprisoned for homosexual acts. The trial of Oscar Wilde and a patient's suicide further drove his resolve to combat what he called 'sexual suffering'.
In 1897, he founded the Scientific Humanitarian Committee to promote research and education on sexuality, aiming to abolish Paragraph 175, the German law criminalising homosexuality. He encouraged patients to connect with Berlin's LGBT community and established weekly meetings, essentially inventing the self-help group model.
His methods emphasised careful observation and lengthy conversations with patients. Despite his family's disapproval—they urged him to study cholera instead—Hirschfeld persisted. His work enabled Elbe's transition, but his institute was destroyed by Nazis and his books burned. Through his pupils, his ideas influenced modern views on sexual minorities and gender reassignment surgery.
