Magnus Hirschfeld

Magnus Hirschfeld (14 May 1868 – 14 May 1935) was a German physician, sexologist, and LGBTQ advocate whose German citizenship was revoked in 1933 by the Nazi government due to his advocacy.

Hirschfeld was educated in philosophy, philology, and medicine. An outspoken advocate for sexual minorities, he founded the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee and the World League for Sexual Reform. During the 1920s he based his practice in Berlin-Charlottenburg. His Committee carried out "the first advocacy for homosexual and transgender rights".

Hirschfeld is regarded as one of the most influential 20th-century sexologists. He was targeted by early fascists, and later by the Nazis, for being Jewish and gay. He was beaten by völkisch activists in 1920, and in 1933 his Institut für Sexualwissenschaft was looted and its books burned by Nazis. He was forced into exile in France, where he died in 1935.