The attack on Magnus Hirschfeld's Institut für Sexualwissenschaft took place in Berlin, where members of the Deutsche Studentenschaft, an organization aligned with the National Socialist German Workers' Party, stormed the institute. Hirschfeld, a Jewish physician and sexologist, had established the institute in 1919 to study human sexuality and advocate for the rights of sexual minorities. The scholars and activists affiliated with the institute promoted a scientific approach to sexuality, which conflicted with the growing ideological and cultural conservatism in Germany at the time. The students, fueled by Nazi propaganda, perceived the institute as a bastion of 'degeneracy' that threatened traditional German values. They raided the building, violently destroying research materials and archives. This event marked a significant turning point as it symbolized the beginning of the Nazi regime’s systematic repression of sexual minorities and intellectual discourses that contradicted their ideology. The event was part of a broader campaign in which Nazis sought to cement their control over German society by eliminating cultural institutions that promoted liberal thought. While the destruction had immediate consequences for Hirschfeld's research and the German sexual rights movement, it also highlighted the increasing authoritarianism of the regime. The books and research that were burned were not only vital contributions to the field of sexology but also represented the progressive values of the Weimar Republic.