The WhK was founded in
Berlin-Charlottenburg, a locality of
Berlin, on 14 or 15 May 1897 (about four days before
Oscar Wilde's
release from prison) by
Magnus Hirschfeld, a German
physician,
sexologist, and outspoken advocate for
gender and sexual minorities. Original members of the WhK included Hirschfeld, publisher
Max Spohr, lawyer
Eduard Oberg, and writer
Franz Joseph von Bülow. and against
§175a
Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee library copy, confiscated on 6 May 1933, annotated on the endpaper: '''''By
Reichspräsident's
decree of 28.02.1933 destined for destruction!''''' and hidden from the publique (label "Secr.") as
Nazi plunder by the
Prussian State Library. This book, and other that may have survived the destruction of the Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee and the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, are sought after by the Magnus-Hirschfeld-Gesellschaft in Berlin. The committee was based in the
Institute for Sexual Sciences in Berlin until the institute's destruction at the hands of
Nazis in 1933. The WhK was affiliated with the
World League for Sexual Reform, another group founded by Hirschfeld which had similar aims to the committee. The committee had ties to gay organizations across the world, and from 1906 onward the body which crafted the committee's policy was made up of members from several European countries. A branch in
Vienna, Austria was opened in 1906, led by Joseph Nicoladoni and
Wilhelm Stekel. The WhK took a great deal of scientific theories on
human sexuality from the institute such as the idea of a
third sex between a
man and a
woman. The initial focus of the committee was to repeal
Paragraph 175, an anti-gay piece of legislation of the Imperial Penal Code, which
criminalized "coitus-like" acts between males. It also sought to demonstrate the innateness of homosexuality and thus make the
criminal law against
sodomy in Germany at the time inapplicable. In campaigning against Paragraph 175, the committee argued that homosexuality was not a disease or moral failing, and said they reached this conclusion from scientific evidence. The group made other arguments against this law, saying for example that its repeal would reduce blackmailing behavior among
male prostitutes. Beginning in 1919 and 1920, the WhK allied with other homosexual rights groups including the
Gemeinschaft der Eigenen (Community of the Special) and
Deutscher Freundschaftsverband (German Friendship Association) to oppose the law. Another alliance held by the committee in its activism against Paragraph 175 was with the (German League for the Protection of Motherhood), especially after proponents of Paragraph 175 proposed extending it to women. The committee's opposition was not indiscriminate, as its petition did support preservation of criminal status for some homosexual acts, including cases between an adult and a minor under age 16. At the time of the original proposal, the age of consent was in fact two years lower than that for heterosexual people, at age 14; effectively they called for the age of consent to be raised as part of their campaign. Petitions were submitted in 1898, 1922, and 1925, but failed to gain the support of the parliament. The law continued to criminalize homosexuality until 1969 and was not entirely removed in
West Germany until four years after
East and West Germany became one country in 1994. Officially, the committee was
non-partisan politically, and made efforts to appeal to parliamentarians from many parties. This sometimes even included conservative parties such as the
Bavarian People's Party (BVP). However, Hirschfeld was a member of the
Social Democratic Party (SPD). Some other leaders in the group had revolutionary or pacifist sympathies. The biological deterministic tendency that Hirschfeld gave to the committee met with opposition within the WhK from the start. But it was not until November 24, 1929 that his internal competitors, above all the
Communist Party (KPD) functionary
Richard Linsert, succeeded in forcing Hirschfeld to resign. He was succeeded by the Medical Councilor Otto Juliusburger, Kurt Hiller was elected Deputy Chairman and the writer
Bruno Vogel became the third member of the new board. Juliusburger led the committee in the short time that elapsed until the committee was dissolved after the Nazi Party came to power in 1933. The committee's final meeting took place in Peter Limann's apartment on June 8, 1933, with the singular purpose of dissolving the organization. A reorientation of the WhK that freed it from its scientific isolation was the focus placed on psychological and sociological research instead of biological research. The committee was based in Berlin and had branches in about 25 German, Austrian and Dutch cities. It had roughly 700 members at its peak and is considered an important milestone in the
homosexual emancipation movement. It existed for thirty-six years. == Publications ==