Federal Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation

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Federal Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation
Legal form: Foundation under civil law
Purpose: Counteracting social discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer people (abbreviation: LGBTIQ) in Germany, initiating and promoting educational and research projects, remembering and coming to terms with the persecution of LGBTIQs since the Nazi era
Chair: Jörg Litwinschuh
Consist: since October 27, 2011
Founder: Federal Republic of Germany, represented by the Federal Ministry of Justice
Foundation capital: 11.61 million euros (as of December 31, 2015)
Seat: Berlin , Mohrenstrasse 34
Website: mh-stiftung.de

The Federal Foundation Magnus Hirschfeld (BMH) is a foundation with 11.61 million euros (as of December 31, 2015) based in Berlin . Your goals and tasks are to remember the sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld , to promote and initiate educational and research projects and to promote social discrimination against lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transsexuals, transgender, intersex and queer people (abbreviation: LSBTTIQ ) Germany to counteract.

Based on the pillars of research, education and remembrance , the Federal Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation promotes research on gender and sexual diversity as well as the history of LGBTTIQ, its discrimination, repression and persecution, its social emancipation processes (e.g. homosexual movements ) and its everyday life - mainly since the middle of the 19th century to the present day. In its LGBTTIQ-oriented educational work, the foundation supports, among other things, the networking of school education projects and initiatives in youth and adult education that address sexual diversity in order to promote the acceptance of LGBTTIQ in schools and in the world of work.

The archive of other memories represents a central foundation project to remember lesbians, gays, bisexuals, trans * and inter * people. This video archive contains life stories of LGBTTIQ witnesses who are directly or indirectly under the consequences of Section 175 StGB in the early Federal Republic respectively of Section 151 of the Criminal Code in the GDR. It is created in cooperation with the federal states as well as archives, universities and other institutions and associations.

organization

The chairman Jörg Litwinschuh

Unlike a foundation under public law, a foundation under civil law is established according to the rules of private law. In principle, the foundation's assets are preserved over the long term, as only interest and donations are used for the foundation's purpose. The Federal Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation is a member of the Federal Association of German Foundations and has three foundation bodies : the Board of Directors, the Board of Trustees and the Advisory Board.

On June 22, 2016 Jörg Litwinschuh was appointed for a second term.

Board of Trustees

Composition of the Board of Trustees as of January 2019

Advisory Board

Composition of the advisory board as of October 2016:

history

In November 2010, the budget committee of the Bundestag - in accordance with the coalition agreement of October 2009 - approved 10 million euros as start-up capital for the establishment of the Federal Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation. This was preceded by a resolution of the Bundestag from 2000 under the red-green federal government and a draft law by the FDP in 2003. The foundation was established on October 27, 2011 following the resolution of the federal government . The project was implemented under the leadership of Federal Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger . Jörg Litwinschuh was appointed to the board of the foundation on November 10, 2011. On February 27, 2012, the foundation's board of trustees approved the foundation's rules. Litwinschuh was appointed for a second term on June 22, 2016.

Foundation projects

Archive of the other memories

In 2013, the Federal Foundation started a video archive under the name Archive of Other Memories (AdaE) with interviews with contemporary witnesses and with individual experiences and memories of LGBTTIQ life stories since the 1950s and 1960s. Queer.de reported in this context about the agreement of a cooperation with the state of Berlin.

In order to also use the interviews for political education work, the Federal Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation has initiated a pilot project. In cooperation with the Chair for History Didactics at the Free University of Berlin, the Max Planck Institute for Educational Research, the Spinnboden Lesbian Archive and Library, the Center for Digital Systems and the Agency for Education, web-based education modules were developed based on four interviews.

The interviews of several hours that Wolfgang Lauinger, Anna Thomann, Harm-Peter Dietrich and Maria Sabine Augstein gave to the Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation resulted in condensed film versions. They clarify the effects of § 175 StGB on the living situation and life experience of contemporary witnesses. They are available on the BMH website.

Football for diversity, football against homophobia

The sport of soccer has only just begun to face the problem of homophobia in its own ranks in a professional manner: So far there has hardly been any positive and open approach to homosexuality by active athletes. In March 2010, Jörg Litwinschuh, who has been involved in the lesbian and gay movement for over 20 years, founded the network of experts “Football Against Homophobia”. In 2012 he transferred the rights to the “Football for Against Homophobia” brand to the Federal Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation free of charge. With its educational, research and evaluation measures, the foundation can start where it is most important: in trainer training, in youth training, with the officials, with the fans and, last but not least, with the parents of the young people.

The initiative, which was renamed “Football for Diversity, Football Against Homophobia”, aims to network officials, athletes, coaches, referees, clubs, fan clubs, parents of young athletes, sponsors, scientists and the media.

One achievement of this project is a Berlin declaration for diversity in football and against homophobia, which has been signed by 61 (as of October 2016) (Bundesliga) clubs and associations, companies and institutions since July 17, 2013.

Thomas Hitzlsperger has meanwhile become the initiative's ambassador.

Hirschfeld Days

With the Hirschfeld Days, the Federal Foundation organizes a series of workshops, networking meetings, readings, lectures and other events every two years, the aim of which is to commemorate the sexual reformer and co-founder of the first German homosexual movement, Magnus Hirschfeld, as well as contemporary and current topics relating to everyday life of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans * and intersex and queer people (LGBTIQ).

They each take place in a different federal state / federal state association and strive for sustainable networking and strengthening of regional project partners who are committed to sexual and gender diversity. The Federal Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation cooperates with local actors from the organizing federal states to investigate historical and current issues and to initiate discourses that are intended to contribute to the visibility and acceptance of LGBTIQ from different economic, political, social and cultural contexts. In addition, the focus is on strengthening self-confidence and gender self-determination as well as the interaction of identity-generating categories (gender identity, sexual orientation, social, ethnic and religious affiliation, age, impairment).

This project started in Berlin in 2012 and took place in North Rhine-Westphalia in 2014. In 2016 the Hirschfeld Days will take place in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia.

Hirschfeld Academy

The Waldschlösschen Academy in Reinhausen near Göttingen and the Magnus Hirschfeld Federal Foundation cooperate within the framework of the Hirschfeld Academy in the development and implementation of educational and qualification measures as well as the LGBTTIQ educational network.

Hirschfeld Lectures

In 2012, the Federal Foundation launched the Hirschfeld Lectures series of lectures and publications . The new series sees itself as a source of inspiration for the presentation of historical connections and current issues (e.g. in education and research) with regard to persecution, discrimination and everyday life of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender, transsexual, intersexual and queer people . (LGBTTIQ).

Together with Wallstein Verlag in Göttingen , the lectures are published in the series of the same name:

  • Dagmar Herzog: Paradoxes of Sexual Liberalization. (Hirschfeld Lectures, Volume 1). Wallstein-Verlag, Göttingen 2013, ISBN 978-3-8353-1262-3 .
  • Andreas Kraß: “My first beloved” - Magnus Hirschfeld and his relationship to beautiful literature. (Hirschfeld Lectures, Volume 2). Wallstein-Verlag, Göttingen 2013, ISBN 978-3-8353-1263-0 .
  • Thomas Bauer, Bertold Höcker, Walter Homolka, Klaus Mertes: Religion and Homosexuality - Current Positions. (Hirschfeld Lectures, Volume 3). Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2013, ISBN 978-3-8353-1325-5 .
  • Jeffrey Weeks: Sexual Equality. Gender, sexuality and homosexual emancipation in Europe. (Hirschfeld Lectures, Volume 4). Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2014, ISBN 978-3-8353-1324-8 .
  • Claudia Breger: After sex? Sexology and Affect Studies. (Hirschfeld Lectures, Volume 5). Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2014, ISBN 978-3-8353-1461-0 .
  • Robert Beachy: "I'm gay" - WH Auden in Berlin during the Weimar Republic. (Hirschfeld Lectures, Volume 6). Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2014, ISBN 978-3-8353-1563-1 .
  • Norman Domeier, Rainer Nicolaysen, Maria Borowski, Martin Lücke and Michael Schwartz: winners and losers. Contributions to the history of homosexuality in Germany in the 20th century. (Hirschfeld Lectures, Volume 7). Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2015, ISBN 978-3-8353-1677-5 .
  • Raimund Wolfert: Homosexual Policy in the Young Federal Republic. Kurt Hiller, Hans Giese and the Frankfurt Scientific-Humanitarian Committee. (Hirschfeld Lectures, Volume 8). Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2015, ISBN 978-3-8353-1727-7 .
  • Elisabeth Tuider and Martin Dannecker: The right to diversity. Tasks and challenges of sexual education. (Hirschfeld Lectures, Volume 9). Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2016, ISBN 978-3-8353-1836-6 .
  • Thomas Sattelberger: Diversity instead of simplicity. Fight for openness and pluralism. (Hirschfeld Lectures, Volume 10). Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2016, ISBN 978-3-8353-1908-0 .
  • Sabine Hark: Coalitions of Survival: Queer Alliance Politics in the 21st Century. (Hirschfeld Lecture, Volume 11). Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2017, ISBN 978-3-8353-3041-2 .
  • Gisela Wolf: Substance use in queers: permanent topic and taboo. (Hirschfeld Lecture, Volume 12). Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2017, ISBN 978-3-8353-3120-4 .

Historical LGBTTIQ biographies

As part of its commemorative work, the Federal Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation publishes biographies of LGBTTIQ personalities on its website - starting with committed people who lived in the 19th century and during the Weimar period.

So far the following biographies have been published:

  • Magnus Hirschfeld
  • Lili Elbe
  • Johanna Elberskirchen
  • Karl-Heinrich Ulrichs
  • Rudolf Brazda
  • Else Ida Pauline Kienle
  • Hilde Radusch

Commemoration and action days (examples)

Commemoration ceremony May 6, 2013

May 6, 1933. 9.30 a.m. The looting and smashing of the Institute for Sexology in Berlin; read in Günter Graus book "The Homosexuality in the Nazi Era". May 6th. The date in sexology. With the pillage, a milestone in sexology is lost. Hirschfeld's life's work destroyed. In a single day.

On the occasion of this day, a memorial event took place on May 6, 2013 in the Centrum Judaicum. It was opened by Hermann Simon (Director of the New Synagogue Foundation - Centrum Judaicum Berlin), Ulrich Baumann (Deputy Director of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe Foundation) and a representative of Federal Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger (Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Federal Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation ) .

The actor and singer Gustav Peter Wöhler read from Christopher Isherwood's autobiography "Christopher and His Kind". Afterwards, taz journalist Jan Feddersen (also a representative of the Queer Nations eV initiative on the Federal Foundation's Board of Trustees) moderated a panel discussion on the effects of the break-up of the Institute for Sexology: With Susanne zur Nieden (Center for Interdisciplinary Women and Gender Studies), Sabine Balke ( Managing Director Spinnboden Lesbenarchiv & Bibliothek eV), Andreas Pretzel (Humboldt University Berlin, Archive for Sexology) and Rainer Herrn (Institute for the History of Medicine at the Charité Berlin).

The event was musically designed by the singer Vivian Kanner, accompanied on the accordion by Maxim Shagaev.

IDAHO 2013

The Federal Foundation funded five projects for the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO) 2013. As in 2012, the Federal Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation and the blu Initiatives called on people to submit ideas for events related to this day of action. The Federal Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation supported 5 projects with up to 800 euros each.

Other Projects

Other BMH projects are and were, among others: Charity Dinner and the Hirschfeld Science Congress . The foundation is currently starting a project with refugees called "Refugees & Queers".

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rainer Hörmann: Funds for the Federal Foundation for Equal Opportunities for Homosexuals approved . In: Saturday is a good day. The gay blog. November 12, 2011, accessed December 7, 2019.
  2. ↑ About the Foundation | Federal Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation. In: mh-stiftung.de. Retrieved October 18, 2016 .
  3. ↑ Advisory Board | Federal Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation. In: mh-stiftung.de. Retrieved October 18, 2016 .
  4. ↑ Robert Niedermeier: Paragraph 175: An apology is not enough. In: queer.de. March 29, 2014, accessed August 14, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Biographical video interviews in political education | Federal Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation. In: mh-stiftung.de. Retrieved October 18, 2016 .
  6. ↑ Federal Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation. In: www.mh-stiftung.de. Retrieved October 18, 2016 .
  7. ^ First charity dinner of the Federal Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation in the Waldorf Astoria