8. Nazi Punks Fuck Off, Pt 1: Magnus Hirschfeld

History is Gay

Leigh Pfeffer

History, Society & Culture

4.6 • 536 Ratings

🗓️ 21 May 2018

⏱️ 78 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We're not a fan of nazis around these parts, and not just for the obvious reasons. Did you know that one of the most iconic images of them burning books is from when they burned the library of a gay, Jewish, communist sexologist well known for his research on sexuality and gender, including trans identity? Until this episode, we didn't either! In this first part of a two part series (so far!), we dive into the fascinating life of Doctor Magnus Hirschfeld, the "Einstein of sex." His approach to sexuality, gender, and race was decades ahead of the likes of Alfred Kinsey and Harry Benjamin, and who knows were society would be had his research not been destroyed. So come join us as we say, "Nazi punks, fuck off!"

Outline

0:00 – Introduction
3:38 – Content Warnings
5:40 – Social Context: Taboos and Mores
12:50 – Social Context: White Supremacy
17:43 – Social Context: Romanticism and the German Wilhelmite Period
24:50 – Social Context: Volkish Movements and Nazism
26:47 – Who Were They? Bio Time
31:00-31:53 – Content Warning: Discussion of Suicide
55:45-59:00 - (Not So) Fun Segment: Word of the Week
1:06:48 - Why Do We Think They're Gay?
1:11:40 – How Gay Were They?
1:14:30 – Closing and Where to Find us Online

Find our full list of sources and bonus content at www.historyisgaypodcast.com. Get at us on twitter @historyisgaypod, tumblr at hishistoryisgaypodcast, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts! Don't forget to rate and review so more folks can see the show!

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello, and welcome to History is Gay, a podcast that examines the underappreciated and overlooked queer ladies, gents, and gentle enbies that have always been there in the unexplored corners of history, because history has never been as straight as you think.
0:33.9	Yeah. Hey, folks, I'm Lee, and I'm Gretchen.
0:41.5	And in this episode, we are taking on Nazi scum and talking about Magnus Hirschfeld,
0:48.1	the gay Jewish sexologist and founder of the first LGBT advocacy group who hated Nazis,
1:00.9	hated colonialism, and won a place in our hearts. Yes. Oh, yes. He's a big fan of feminism, being gay, and being Polly, and was very much not in favor of basically the majority of, like, late Victorian to like early 20th century society.
1:07.6	He's pretty awesome.
1:09.3	Generally, generally a fan of good things and not bad things. It's going to be really
1:13.3	refreshing to like have a conversation about somebody and say fuck colonialism and they agree
1:18.4	with us. Right, right. And we're not going like, this person was great, except for that pesky
1:22.8	colonialism. Right. Damn it. And also it seems what's interesting is that it's really timely. The day we're recording this is the 15th, but Magnus Hirschfeld was actually born and died on May 14th. Like he was born and died on the same day, not literally the same day. You know what I mean? How many years later. Wow. He got a lot done.
1:43.7	Accomplished so much in that 20, in that less than 24 hours.
1:48.0	But also, I believe that was it today or yesterday that Quist told me that the institute that he founded, or the society, the first society that he founded was founded around this time period as well. So, um, man. Yeah. Significant times. Yeah. He's, he's very timely for the middle of May. Yeah. We didn't even plan it. It just happens. You'd think it's- It just happened. It's lovely. Um, yeah, so this is actually going to be a two part, a two-pronged episode. So today we're talking about Magnus Hirschfeld, but this is actually going to be the first episode in a two-part little mini-series that we have that's just called Nazi punks fuck off. I mean, this is really mostly just an excuse to use that as an episode title. I was like, Gretchen, I kind of want to talk about these kind of things, and I just want to title it. Nazi punks fuck off. I'm going to figure out a good way to do this. But yeah, so we'll have another topic with another person for the next episodes. This is part one. Part one. I'm excited. We've been very fired up.
2:50.1	Right. Right. If you hate Nazis as much as we do, then these episodes are for you.
2:56.7	Yay.
2:57.6	Because they're all about...
2:58.2	These episodes are for everyone.
2:59.7	They're all about fucking Nazis.
3:01.2	Go home, go away.
3:02.5	Nope.
3:03.1	Fuck off.
3:03.7	Yeah.
3:03.9	We don't like you.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Leigh Pfeffer, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Leigh Pfeffer and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.