Hirschfeld, Magnus (May 14, 1868, Kolberg [Kołobrzeg, Poland] – May 14, 1935, Nice), German doctor and sexual researcher. Hirschfeld is regarded as the pioneer of sexual research in Germany. One of his achievements was to outline a biological theory of homosexuality and he was a committed advocate of equal social rights for homosexuals. In 1897 he co-founded the Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee (Scientific Humanitarian Committee) for the decriminalization of homosexuality and served as its first chairman until 1929. In 1907 he was an expert witness …

Hitler, Adolf (April 20, 1889, Braunau am Inn, Austria – April 30, 1945, Berlin [suicide]), soldier, private first class, subsequently German politician (1933–1945 Reich chancellor). By Hitler’s own account, the First World War was for him “the most unforgettable and greatest period of my life on this earth” ( Mein Kampf, 1925). Even during the Second World War, he repeatedly reminded those around him of his time as a soldier from 1914 to 1918, “when nothing troubled me”; he had “passionately enjoyed being a soldier” ( Monologe im Führerhauptquartier, 1941). Living as an artist in Mu…

Serbia Established in 1882, the Southern Slavic Kingdom of Serbia was governed until 1914 by Petar I of Serbia (1844–1921), who an officers’ conspiracy had brought to power in 1903 and who was subsequently elected king by the Serbian National Assembly. Relying on the support of the Radical Party of Prime Minister Nikola Pašić (1846–1926), the king championed a Greater Serbian policy that was particularly directed against the interests of Austria-Hungary. In 1906, this policy led to a trade war, t…

Stinnes, Hugo (February 12, 1870, Mülheim an der Ruhr – April 10, 1924, Berlin), German industrial magnate. Stinnes was of the most influential industrialists of the Wilhelminian Empire and the Weimar Republic. The heir to a Ruhr family enterprise engaged in coal mining, trading, and shipping, the entrepreneur founded the Rhine Westphalia Electric Power Corporation in Essen in 1898, serving as chairman of the board after 1902, as well as the Deutsch-Luxemburgische Bergwerks- und Hütten-AG (German-Luxembourg Mining Inc.) in 1901. Stinnes advocated vociferously for the extens…