I am shocked. Yesterday evening, I was searching for more material about Hirschfeld on YouTube. I found a short documentary about him and the Institute for Sexual Science and began watching. It started as expected: Hirschfeld was born in 1868 in Kolberg, and he wanted to fight for the rights and knowledge about ‘sexual intermediaries,’ etc. However, suddenly, the documentary took a disturbing turn. It shifted to discuss how Jews had allegedly turned Weimar Germany into a place of decadence, claiming that they were responsible for spreading transsexuality and homosexuality and profiting from child prostitution. This was a shocking and disheartening narrative.

The documentary seemed to suggest that the Nazi takeover of Germany was a positive development, implying that it cleansed the country from these perceived moral issues, with harmonious music playing in the background. Even the burning of the Hirschfeld archive was portrayed as a beneficial act, saving the German people from what was referred to as ‘smut.’

What made it even more unsettling was that this was a relatively new American film. This experience deeply shocked me. It serves as a reminder that the ongoing struggle for freedom, democracy, and an equal society built on kindness, wisdom, and respect is a continuous battle that we must never give up on.