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Four white men read pamphlets while standing on a stack printed materials scattered around a room.
An SS officer and Nazi supporters examine materials confiscated from Hirschfeld's institute in Berlin, 1933.

The Institute for Sexual Research in Berlin is the first clinic to specialize in medical gender transition.

1920s

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An SS officer and Nazi supporters examine materials confiscated from Hirschfeld's institute in Berlin, 1933.

Generally understood as the world's first clinic to specialize in gender-affirming care, the institute is led by a gay male physician, Magnus Hirschfeld. Rather than understanding gender and sexual variance as pathological, Hirschfeld advocates for the natural occurence of a "third sex." The institute will greatly influence future studies of sexuality and gender in the U.S. and around the world.

The clinic will be closed in 1933 following the rise of the Nazi party. Hitler will refer to Hirschfeld as “the most dangerous Jew in Germany" (Stryker, 2017).