Archive for Sexology

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• A Trip Around the World

The following sampler gives a first impression of the documents in our collection, which contains many more items than are shown here. The entire collection can be studied on location at our archive during regular opening hours.

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The map on the right shows Hirschfeld's itinerary around the globe. Already in 1930, Hirschfeld was no longer able to continue his work in Germany. Increasing attacks in the Nazi press, the regular disruption of his public lectures by Nazi goon squads and other problems prompted him to accept an invitation by Harry Benjamin to give a series of seminars in New York. Further invitations led him to Chicago, Los Angeles (Hollywood), San Francisco, Tokyo and other cities in Asia, so that, eventually, his trip turned into a world journey. At each stop, Hirschfeld gave public lectures, thereby earning just enough income to proceed to his next destination. Eventually, the journey took over 500 days. During this time, he visited many friends and colleagues with whom he had corresponded in previous years, and he met many prominent scientists, artists, and politicians. He gave over 150 public lectures and collected a great deal of material, which he sent to his Institute in Berlin. There, it was lost during the 1933 plundering along with the rest of his collection. It is not known what happended to the materials still in his possession at the time of his death.

Click here for a full size map.[101K]

1. Hirschfeld in the United States

1. George Sylvester Viereck who acted as a promoter and chef interviewer for various newspapers during Hirschfeld's stay in the US [38K]	2. Title page of George Sylvester Viereck's "Glimpses of the Great", London. 1930. [26K]	3. Table of Contents of the same book listing chapters on Freud, Steinach, Moll, and Hirschfeld, "The Einstein of Sex" [70K]

4. Newspaper article announcing Hirschfeld's arrival in the U.S. (New York American, Nov. 16, 1930.) [121K]	5. Newspaper report in the New York American, Feb. 2, 1931. The writer George Sylvester Viereck wrote a series of interviews with Hirschfeld for various American newspapers. The excerpt presented here describes a visit to Broadway nightclubs. [511K]	6. Hirschfeld on a movie set in Hollywood January/ February 1931. For more details click here. [56K]

7. Front page article on Hirschfeld in the San Francisco Examiner, Feb. 25, 1931. In San Francisco, Hirschfeld visited old friends, among them the urologist Victor G. Vecki. He also spoke before the Commonwealth Club and over the radio station KFRC. In addition, he visited San Quentin prison, where he talked with Mooney and Billings, figures in a famous labor case. Convinced of their innocence, Hirschfeld signed an appeal for their release. [588K]

8. and 9. Letter, written in San Francisco by Hirschfeld to Harry Benjamin. [173K and 193K] Click here for a full size translation.

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