14 Jun

15:00

Theater Perdu

Kloveniersburgwal 86, Amsterdam

A lecture by Hans Soetaert on the various fates of Magnus Hirschfeld's Institute of Sexual Science (1932-1942), based on his new book.

The Scattered Library - Lecture by Hans Soetaert

More info & tickets

About the Lecture

Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935) was a pioneer in the field of sexology and an LGBTQ+ activist of the first hour. In 1919 he founded the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft (Institute of Sexual Science) in Berlin. Here, groundbreaking research was conducted into sexuality, sex and gender identity, and people could seek help for sexual issues.

On May 6, 1933, the institute was raided by Nazi students. Four days later, part of the looted collection was burned. Hirschfeld was already in exile. Two years later he would die in France.

How did the life of Hirschfeld and his supporters look in those last years? What happened to the remains of the institute library and who played a role in protecting those remnants? Hans Soetaert tells about this in this lecture, based on his book The Scattered Library: The Various Fates of the Remnants of Magnus Hirschfeld's Institute of Sexual Science Collection in France and Czechoslovakia, 1932-1942 (Ibidem Verlag, 2025).

The event consists of a lecture and Q&A, with drinks afterwards. At the end of the lecture you have a chance to win a copy of The Scattered Library!

About the Speaker

Hans P. Soetaert (born 1968) is a philosopher and librarian. He is co-founder and former board member of Fonds Suzan Daniel, the Belgian LGBTQ+ archive and documentation center, founded in 1996. As an independent researcher he publishes on LGBTQ+ history.