TransTrans: Transnational Trans Histories Exhibition at the Victorian Pride Centre – 19/09/2024
Speech by Gaby Cohen – Magnus Hirshfeld’s Great Niece
Distinguished guests and all
As you have heard i am the great niece of
Doctor Magnus Hirschfeld.
I am in fact a very proud great niece.
My late father was one of Magnus’s nephews.
His mother jenny was a sister to magnus.
I am here tonight with my husband Leon,
Our son Peter and his wife Judi,
Our daughter Linda
And 5 of our grandchildren.
We have another son Andrew who lives in Sydney with his family but unfortunately he could not be here tonight.
We wish to thank Birgit and Kate and the Pride Committee for inviting us all here tonight to the opening of this important exhibition which we hope will be a great success.
My late father often spoke of Magnus, but we did not realize the extent of what Magnus had achieved during his lifetime until my husband happened to read an advertisement for a film on SBS called the Life Story of Magnus Hirschfeld – the Einstein Of Sex.
After numerous phone calls I was put in touch with Ralf Dose who is head of the Hirschfeld Society in Berlin. We have since met with him in Berlin numerous times and he has provided us with lots of information on Magnus.
We are also in touch with the Bundesstiftung Magnus Hirschfeld which is a government body.
We are very grateful to both of these organisations and all the other historians who are now doing so much research into Magnus’s Teachings, Ideologies and Theories that are as relevant today as they were in the 1920’s and thirties.
We are now extremely proud that Magnus is getting the recognition he so justly deserves, and his name is being honoured so many years after his death.
While in berlin we have visited many of the monuments which have been erected in his honour.
Magnus found a balance between medicine and writing.
He wrote numerous books which were unfortunately destroyed at the Infamous burning of the books outside the Humbold University.
He co-wrote and acted in the first film ever to feature a homosexual character. It was called “Different From The Others”
In 1919 he established the Humanitarian Committee which consisted of Einstein, Tolstoy and other prominent people to try to have Paragraph 175 rescinded from the laws which stated that homosexuality was illegal and many people had been imprisoned for it.
It took until 1994 to be rescinded.
Also, in 1919 Magnus purchased a villa in Berlin naming it “The Institute For Sexual Research” and it provided educational and medical advice for many people who had come from all over Europe to seek help and receive a clearer understanding of their sexuality.
In 1933 when in Paris Magnus saw a newsreel of the destruction of his beloved institute he was devastated.
He had gone on a world tour lecturing and was warned not to return to Berlin as he would be arrested for being both Jewish and gay.
In Paris he again opened a clinic from which a guest list has recently been published with numerous prominent names.
With his health declining Magnus went to live in Nice where he died on May 14th 1935 at the age of 67.
After his death his long-time partner Li Tang who had also fled Berlin in the 1930’s was asked to come to Nice and was given an old suitcase with numerous books and manuscripts written by Magnus.
Following Tang’s death in Canada the suitcase was found in a dumpster which a passer-by spotted.
On opening it he found it was filled with Hirschfeld’s books and manuscripts.
He contacted the Hirschfeld Society and Ralf Dose flew to Canada and brought it back to Berlin.
Its contents are now housed in the library at the society.
Magnus had an extremely difficult life and all he really wanted to do was to help humanity.
His motto “through science to justice” I feel this says it all!
Thank you to all again and we wish the exhibition every success
