hmTv at HMTC Podcasts Ep 296: Legacy Chronicles with Donna Rosenblum and guest Daniel Brook on hmTv
Ep. 296: The Einstein of Sex: Magnus Hirschfeld’s Legacy of Tolerance
Host: Donna Rosenblum | Guest: Daniel Brook | Produced by hmTv – The Holocaust Memorial & Tolerance Center
In this captivating episode of Legacy Chronicles, host Donna Rosenblum sits down with author and journalist Daniel Brook to discuss his groundbreaking book, The Einstein of Sex: Magnus Hirschfeld and the Invention of the Modern Sexual World.
Together, they explore the remarkable story of Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld — a German Jewish physician, psychiatrist, and pioneering advocate for LGBTQ+ rights whose revolutionary Institute for Sexual Science in 1920s Berlin was a beacon of progress long before its time. Brook traces Hirschfeld’s courage in the face of persecution, his scientific innovations, and his visionary belief that humanity exists on a seamless continuum — where identity, gender, and race are more connected than divided.
From Berlin’s early queer rights movement to the tragic Nazi book burnings that destroyed Hirschfeld’s life’s work, this episode uncovers a hidden chapter of history with powerful lessons for today.
A profound discussion about courage, compassion, and the enduring fight for equality — reminding us that tolerance isn’t modern; it’s timeless.