The Importance of Hirschfeld's Testimony

In 1907, Hirschfeld was called on as an expert witness during the Eulenburg affair. This was part of a huge scandal and press campaign led by journalist Maximilian Hardin. Some of his colleagues at the Scientific Humanitarian Committee advocated releasing the names of prominent gay people to try to undermine the legitimacy of paragraph 175. And Hirschfeld never agreed with this strategy, but he tried to frame his testimony in a way that he hoped would have the same general outcome. The conservative press was outraged over these statements. So while Hirschfeld hoped that his testimony would help normalize the idea of homosexuality, in the minds of many, he was just committing slander.