Institute for Sexology

In the years 1871/2 the "Villa Joachim" is built for the Jewish violinist, composer, conductor and music professor Joseph Georg Maria Joachim (1831-1907) and his family at the address Beethovenstraße 3/In den Zelten 10, north of the Berlin Tiergarten. 

Nearly ten years later, the adjacent building with the house number In den Zelten 9a was built in 1880.

After Joachim's death, the palace is sold to Hermann von Hatzfeldt (1848-1933) in 1910. On July 6, 1919, the Institute for Sexual Sciences can be inaugurated. In 1921, the institute is expanded. A lecture hall and exhibition rooms are built. 

The aim of the institute is to establish sexual science as an academic field of study and research on the one hand, and to create a medical and psychological contact point for diverse individuals on the other. In addition to general educational services, some of the first hormone treatments and gender-reassignment surgical procedures in history take place at Villa Joachim. Hirschfeld develops his groundbreaking theories there, from sexual intermediates, to transvestitism (separate from homosexuality), as well as transsexualism. 

The Institute rents space to various sexual policy organizations and is a point of contact for those threatened with sexual offenses. The unique place in the world therefore gathers countless researchers and international guests. The two houses pass into the ownership of the "Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation" in 1924. 

On 14.06.1933 the confiscation of the buildings without compensation takes place.

By air raid bombs in November 1944, the institute is destroyed to 84%. In 1950, the remains are blown up.

Behind the HKW on Bettina-von-Arnim-Ufer is the commemorative artwork "Die Mitteilung. Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld Memorial Stele" (1994). At the foyer entrance of the HKW, two stumbling stones commemorate the family: Recha Tobias (H. sister, laid in 2013) and Karl Giese (H. partner, laid in 2016).

Jewish Places featured this Entry for the Exhibition "Sex. Jewish Positions" at the Jewish Museum Berlin (May 17 - October 6, 2024). You can find more Information in the Additional Links.