Rejuvenation and Regen(d)eration: Der Steinachfilm, Sex Glands, and Weimar-Era Visual and Literary Culture

The 1920s saw the publication of considerable scientific research on hormones and their impact on gender and aging. Interest in Germany was especially intense, in part due to the blockbuster feature-length movie, Der Steinachfilm, that premiered in Berlin in January 1923 at the Ufa Palast am Zoo and then toured the country for months afterwards. Introducing its viewing public to the work of pioneering endocrinologist Eugen Steinach, the sensational film helped to spawn a widespread fascination with the sex glands that is reflected in the visual and literary culture of the era.