Beyond All Binaries: Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, the German-Jewish Queer Rights Activist Who Took On the Nazis

In a world where most saw binaries of "us" and "them," Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld saw humanity as a seamless continuum of "we." Applying this insight first to sexual orientation, then to gender, and finally to race, Hirschfeld worked to rally the world against rising fascism. Nearly a century after the Nazis burned his archive and drove him from Berlin, Hirschfeld's outlook has much to teach us as we face down book bans and weaponized xenophobia today. The event features Daniel Brook, author of The Einstein of Sex: Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld Visionary of Weimar Berlin (Norton & Co., 2025).

Registration:
This virtual event is free and open to everyone; however, registration is required. Register here.

Additional Information:
This event is part of a special collaboration between Queensborough Community College’s Harriet & Kenneth Kupferberg Holocaust Center; LGBTQIA+ Consortium; English Department; Communication, Theatre, & Media Production Department; and PRIDE Center. It is co-sponsored by the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center in White Plains; the Center for Genocide and Human Rights Research in Africa and the Diaspora at Northeastern Illinois University; the Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights at Rutgers University; the Holocaust, Genocide & Interfaith Education Center at Manhattan University; the Ray Wolpow Institute for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity at Western Washington University; the Reiff Center for Human Rights & Conflict Resolution at Christopher Newport University; the Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention at Binghamton University; the Cohen Institute for Holocaust & Genocide Studies at Keene State College; and the Martin-Springer Institute at Northern Arizona University.

This event is linked with a 2025-2026 series on "Gender and Genocide" being offered by the Cohen Institute. Speakers in this series represent a wide range of scholarly research and views; guests' perspectives should not be taken as representative of the Cohen Institute or Keene State College as a whole.

This event is part of the Cohen Center calendar.