About the foundation

The Bundesstiftung Magnus Hirschfeld (BMH) was established by the Federal Republic of Germany, represented by the Federal Ministry of Justice, on 27 October 2011. The office is located in Berlin. The BMH is named after the physician, sexual researcher and co-Founder of the first German homosexual movement, Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935).

The Foundation has set itself the goal of preserving the memory of Magnus Hirschfeld, promoting educational and research projects and counteracting any social discrimination of queer persons in Germany. The foundation aims to promote the acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans*, intersex and other people who do not conform to heterosexual, binary or cisgender ideas.

The foundation’s work is based on three pillars: research, education and remembrance. The statutes and the research and education program describe the details of the foundation’s tasks and activities. Since February 2015, two departments have been working in the BMH in the spirit of the research and education program: the Department of Society, Participation and Anti-Discrimination and the Department of Culture, History and Remembrance. The Department of Media Work and Event Management has been added since 2019. .

The Foundation promotes research into gender and sexual diversity. This involves perspectives regarding social sciences, health science, political science, history, sexology, cultural studies and psychology. Recent women’s and men’s studies are included too. The Foundation wishes to provide targeted impulses and advance networking. The work of archives as well as publications on the findings of educational and research projects are to be supported too. Furthermore, the medium and long-term goals include developing a research base with universities and archives and the BMH’s own fellowship programme. The Foundation lays particular emphasis on the following fields of research.

History
The BMH sponsors research into the history of the LSBTIQ* communities, the discrimination, repression and persecution they have faced, their societal emancipation processes (for example, homosexual movements) and their everyday life – primarily from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day.

Diversity
The Foundation supports research into sexual and gender diversity, LSBTIQ* life styles and the usefulness and advantageousness of acknowledging diversity in economic, political, social and cultural contexts.

Intersectionality
The BMH promotes research into the interaction of identity-forming categories – above all, gender/gender identity, sexual orientation, social, ethnic and religious affiliation, age and disability. This includes the processes of stereotyping and the ideological emphasis and suppression of such categories. Furthermore, the Foundation participates as an external investor in third-party research projects that serve the purposes of the Foundation.

Along with its research programme, the BMH regards the initiation and promotion of measures and projects of LSBTIQ* lifeworld-oriented educational work in Germany and their evaluation as an important task. The expansion and networking of school education projects, youth and adult education and educational work addressing sexual diversity is intended to advance the acceptance of LSBTIQ* both in schools and in the world of work. The project “Refugees & Queers” has been providing political education at the interface of LSBTIQ* and flight/migration/asylum” since 2016.
For example, the Foundation cooperates in the educational field with the Stiftung Akademie Waldschlösschen: seminars and further education courses on the lifeworld of LSBTIQ* are offered jointly in the Hirschfeld Academy.

The BMH supports or initiates events on memorial and action days. Examples of this are for example the date of birth and death of Magnus Hirschfeld (14 May, e.g. at the Hirschfeld Stele in Berlin-Charlottenburg), memorial days related to the NS dictatorship and the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia & Biphobia (IDAHOBIT, 17 May). The Archive of Other Memories constitutes a central project for remembering lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans*, intergender and queer people. This video archive was created in cooperation with the federal states (for example, the state of Berlin), archives, universities and other institutions and associations. It includes the biographies of the interviewed LSBTIQ* persons who suffered directly or indirectly under the consequences of paragraph 175 German Criminal Code (StGB) in the early Federal Republic or paragraph 151 StGB in the German Democratic Republic. The cooperation project with the Institut für Zeigeschichte München-Berlin (IfZ) on research into the persecution and repression of LSBTIQ* likewise has a commemorative and educational mandate.

Since 2012, the BMH has been financially sponsoring numerous external projects as part of its research and educational programme. The Foundation decides on its project funding once a year. The approval of financial grants depends on the financial resources of the Foundation and the thematic priorities identified by the committees in the context of the legal mandate of the Foundation.

The foundation organizes both regular events and special occasions, sometimes together with cooperation partners. These include scientific lectures such as the Hirschfeld Lectures as well as Symposia and commemorative events. The Hirschfeld Lectures are a series of scientific lectures and publications supported by the foundation, the publications of which are published by Wallstein Verlag. The foundation organizes its own symposia and other events – for example in memory of Magnus Hirschfeld and his Institute for Sexual Science 1919-1933, for the queer people persecuted and murdered under National Socialism or on queer diversity in educational research. Book premieres and readings as well as specialist lectures on a smaller scale are also part of the foundation’s event repertoire. In the first few years after its founding, the BMH organized the 1st LSBTTIQ scientific congress „Gleich-Geschlechtliche Erfahrungswelten“ in 2013.

Three committees (executive bodies) of the Foundation are involved in planning and implementing the projects that serve to achieve the goals mentioned: the Board of Trustees, the full-time Managing Director and his team in the main office and the Advisory Board. The incumbent Federal Minister of Justice presides over the Board of Trustees.
The Board of Trustees makes the main decisions of the Bundesstiftung Magnus Hirschfeld and monitors the work of the Managing Director. It consists of members elected or nominated by members of the German Bundestag, five federal ministries and nine LSBTIQ* organisations. They work on an honorary basis. The Board of Trustees must in particular approve the following: decisions regarding the principles of the research and educational programme; the award of the foundation funds for research assignments and educational work; financial management and important budget and personnel matters.
The Managing Director is a natural person. The latter conducts the business of the Foundation unless it is assigned to the Board of Trustees. The Managing Director works for the Foundation on an honorary basis. The term of office is five years.
The Advisory Board is composed primarily of academics and educational experts who have made a name for themselves in one or more specialist areas related to the foundation purposes. They are elected by the Board of Trustees for a period of office of four years and like it work in an honorary capacity. The Advisory Board provides advice in particular on the grant of foundation funds by drawing up expert opinions on grant applications or statements on behalf of the Board of Trustees or Managing Director.

The Foundation finances its work from the returns on the Foundation’s assets as well as other contributions (e.g. donations, grants it has applied for to fund the Foundation’s own projects, other third-party funds). Since 2017, the Federal Government has supported the BMH with an institutional grant from the budget of the Federal Ministry of Justice amounting currently to 706,000 euros annually (as of: 2024). The grant is related to the rehabilitation of those convicted under the former Section 175 German Criminal Code. The Foundation may also accept donations and estates. The assets of the Foundation amounted to about 76 million euros on the reference date 31.12.2022.

The Bundesstiftung Magnus Hirschfeld collaborates with strong cooperation partners to achieve its goals. Among others, these include: the Institute for Contemporary History Munich-Berlin (IfZ), the Akademie Waldschlösschen (Reinhausen near Göttingen), the Magnus Hirschfeld Society, the Max Planck Institute for Human Development (Berlin), the State Agency for Equal Opportunities against Discrimination of the Senate Administration for Labour, Integration and Women (LADS, Berlin), the Freie Universität Berlin, Spinnboden Lesbenarchiv and Bibliothek Berlin and the Federal Antidiscrimination Agency. The publication series of the Foundation appears in the Wallstein Verlag (Göttingen). A complete list of the foundation’s cooperation partners will be published on this website as part of the Transparent Civil Society initiative. .

The BMH publishes its activity report once a year. The foundation provides ongoing information about funded and its own projects on its homepage and in social networks (e.g. Facebook, Instagram and BlueSky), through press releases and press reviews, and at its own events. .