Archive for Sexology

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The following sampler gives a first impression of the documents in our collection, which contains many more items than are shown here. The entire collection can be studied on location at our archive during regular opening hours.

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Bernhard Schapiro was born in Dvinsk, Latvia. As a youth, he studied at the Rabbinical Academy (Jeshiva) in Slabodka. He later studied medicine in Zurich, Switzerland, where he received his medical degree in 1919. He specialized in dermatology under Prof. Jadassohn in Breslau (today Wroclaw, Poland). After his marriage to Thekla Feuchtwanger of Munich in 1922, he moved to Berlin where he joined Magnus Hirschfeld at the newly founded Institute for Sexology. At the Institute, he first specialized in dermatology, becoming the head of the dermatology department. He further specialized in diagnosing and treating impotence, becoming head of the respective department as well. Together with Hirschfeld, he developed several pharmaceutical products, including "Testifortan" for the treatment of impotence and "Präjaculin" for the treatment of hypersexuality. Schapiro was the first to apply hormonal treatment successfully to the problem of undescended testicles. He was, in fact, the first to employ chorionic gonadotropin (1930). Before the Institute was plundered and closed by the Nazis in 1933, Schapiro had become its medical director. Holding Swiss citizenship from the time of his medical studies, Schapiro was able to leave with his wife and four children for Zurich, where he established a successful medical practice. In 1940 he moved to New York City where he again had a successful practice (728 Park Ave.) Having been an ardent Zionist all his life, he moved to Israel in 1952, where he became the head of the departments of sexual disorders at Hadassah Hospital and Shaarey Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem. He died in Jerusalem in 1966. His wife died in 1991. For a list of Schapiro's publications, click here.

1. Bernhard Schapiro (first row center) as a medical student in Zurich 1918. [34K]	2. Front cover of an English-language brochure advertising the product developed by Hirschfeld and Schapiro for the treatment of impotence. [64K]	3. Front cover of a brochure advertising the product developed by Schapiro for the treatment of hypersexuality. [56K]

4. Carbon copy of a letter from Schapiro to Hirschfeld (April 15, 1933). [55K] For a full translation click here.	5. Carbon copy of a letter from Schapiro to Hirschfeld (April 27, 1933). [62K] For a full translation click here.	6. Letter from Hirschfeld to Schapiro (May 2, 1933). [45K] For a full translation click here.

7. (From left to right) Schapiro, Hirschfeld, and his disciple Li Shiu Tong in Switzerland in 1933 or 1934. [36K]	8. Carbon copy of a letter of recommendation written on behalf of Bernhard Schapiro by Eugen Steinach in Zurich 1940. [27K]	9. Announcement of a lecture by Bernhard Schapiro "Modern Problems of Impotence" (The Ivrith Medical Society, New York, May 22, 1943). [52K]

10. Reprint of a study by Bernhard Schapiro "Premature Ejaculation: A Review of 1130 Cases" (Journal of Urology, vol. 50, no. 3, Sept. 1943) [18K]	11. Letter of recommendation written on behalf of Bernhard Schapiro by Robert Latou Dickinson (October 22, 1946). [44K]	12. Headline and first paragraphs plus English and French summaries of an article written by B. Schapiro: "25 Years of Hormonal Treatment of Cryptorchidism" (Journal of the Medical Association of Israel, Oct. 1957). [69K]

-- Please note: All images are quick load JPEG's. To get the full size just click on them for a larger image.

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