Sexology, Popular Science and Queer History in Anders als die Andern (Different from the Others)

In 1919, the same as year Anders als die Andern (Different from the Others) was released in cinemas all over Germany, the Berlin sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld exclaimed that ‘those who work to educate people about sexual matters not only have the right, but the duty to use film, in addition to the spoken and written word’. Film apparently offered an alternative way to transmit ideas, but what could the new medium of film achieve that other forms of dissemination, such as lectures, public talks, monographs, scientific journals or popular science books could not? In this article, I investigate how sexology looks different once we understand it in the context of the institution of cinema and the medium of film. In doing so, I examine the contributions, but also the challenges, risks and difficulties of this new medium for the sexological project. Different from the Others was directed by the Austrian film‐maker Richard Oswald, in collaboration with Magnus Hirschfeld. The film is said to be the first of its kind to explicitly and sympathetically portray homosexuality and to demand the decriminalisation of homosexual acts between men. Different from the Others follows the tragic events in the life of Paul Körner (Conrad Veidt), his relationship with his student, Kurt Sivers (Fritz Schulz), his encounter with the blackmailer Franz Bollek (Reinhold Schünzel), Körner's public humiliation and finally his death by suicide. The climactic moment of the film is a lecture given by an unnamed sexologist (and portrayed by Magnus Hirschfeld himself), which explains the plight of sexual minorities. The lecture is attended by Körner, who is accompanied by Kurt's sister, Else (Anita Berber). Today, the film exists only in fragments. Of the original, approximately ninety minutes in length, only fifty‐one minutes remain. The reconstructed film is based primarily on a fragment of the re‐edited, abridged version of Different from the Others entitled Gesetze der Liebe: Aus der Mappe eines Sexualforschers (Laws of Love: From the Portfolio of a Sexologist), a 1927 anthology work consisting of several short films, which re‐used parts from Different from the Others and which was preserved by Gosfilmofond in the former USSR. This film is important for our understanding of the relationship between film and sexology because, despite its fragmented nature, it is the only remaining example of a collaborative film project between a sexologist and a film‐maker. While the following article wil