Prudish attitudes do not always result in absurdity. Sometimes they generate a brutal and callous response. The case of Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, German sexologist, is particularly illuminating. In 1921 he had been attacked by Anti-Semites in Munich and left in the street for dead. In 1933 his famous Sex Institute in Berlin was destroyed by the Nazis. I quote from "The Brown Book of the Hitler Terror".

"On the morning of May 6th, the Berliner Lokalanzeiger reported that the cleansing of Berlin libraries of books of un-German spirit would be begun that morning, and that the students of the Gymnastic Academy would make a start with the Sexual Science Institute...

". . . an attempt was made to remove for safe-keeping some of the most valuable private books and manuscripts; but this proved to be impossible, as the person removing the books was arrested

. . . The students demanded admittance to every room, and broke in the doors of those which were closed... they emptied the ink bottles over manuscripts and carpets and then made for the book-cases..."

Books, manuscripts, charts, and other material were destroyed. When the students were told that Hirschfeld himself was abroad, suffering from an attack of malaria, they replied, "Then let's hope he'll die without our aid: then we shan't have to hang him or beat him to death." They later carried Dr. Hirschfeld's bust in a torch-light procession and threw it into a fire. The Nazi report devoted to this "deed of culture" carried the headlines - Energetic Action Against a Poison Shop, German Students Fumigate the Sexual Science Institute. The report spoke of the institute as an "unparalleled breeding ground of dirt and filth" (Angriff, 6 May 1933).