Hans Soetaert, *The Scattered Library: The Various Fates of the Remnants of Magnus Hirschfeld's Institute of Sexual Science Collection in France and Czechoslovakia, 1932-1942*. Hannover, Germany: Ibidem Verlag, 2025.

Send us Fan Mail The Berlin book burning and the assault on Magnus Hirschfeld’s Institute for Sexual Science ("Institut für Sexualwissenschaft") in May 1933 are essential components of German memorial culture. Recently, there has been a resurgence and recognition of Magnus Hirschfeld (1868–1935) in Germany, resulting in many Germans becoming aware that this significant LGBT rights pioneer died in 1935 in exile in Nice, France, profoundly affected by the Nazis' obliteration of his life's work in Germany. This book is the first to meticulously document the events that transpired between 1932 and 1935 prior to Hirschfeld’s death, especially during the seven years that followed. Alongside detailing Hirschfeld’s last years in France, this work is the first biography of Karl Giese and Karl Fein, the key figures in the aftermath of Magnus Hirschfeld in France and Czechoslovakia.