Prostitution in The Third Reich — rare archival footage

The topic of prostitution in Germany during the Second World War has always been taboo, only in the 90s German publications began to cover this layer of history. This is hard to believe, because as soon as they came to power, the National Socialists began by adding a paragraph to the Criminal Code, according to which it was possible to get behind bars for disturbing a citizen with a depraved proposal.

In Hamburg alone, about one and a half thousand women accused of prostitution were detained for six months. They were caught on the streets, sent to camps and subjected to forced sterilization. Those women who sold their bodies, combining prostitution with government tasks, were somewhat more fortunate. We are talking here primarily about the notorious "Kitty Salon", sung in the painting of the same name by Tinto Brass.

In the 19th century, the establishment of brothels was welcomed in Germany to avoid numerous diseases. Men accustomed to the accessibility of the female body did not deny themselves habits and did not consider it immoral to remove a prostitute. The tradition was preserved under Nazism, therefore, in connection with numerous cases of rape, homosexuality and diseases of soldiers,

On September 9, 1939, Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick issued a decree on the establishment of brothels in the occupied territories. To account for frontline brothels and prostitutes, the military department created a special ministry. The cheerful Frau were listed as civil servants, had a decent salary, insurance, and enjoyed benefits.

It is impossible to discount the fruits of the propaganda work of Goebbels' department: the German philistine, who had a son or brother in the war, was reverent towards the Wehrmacht, and even among prostitutes, along with professionals, there were, as they say, many who went to serve front-line soldiers out of patriotic motives.

The highest quality service was supposed to be in the hospitals of the Luftwaffe, Goering's favorite brainchild, where it was envisaged that there would be one full-time frau for 20 pilots or 50 technicians from ground service personnel.

According to the strictly enforced rules of conduct, the prostitute met the pilot in clothes, with neat makeup; immaculately clean underwear, as well as bed linen, had to be changed for each "iron falcon".

In the army, where the service was put on stream, there was no time to get dressed every time, and the girl was waiting for a new guest in bed. By the way, sheets and pillowcases in soldiers' brothels were supposed to be changed after every tenth client.

It is curious that for the soldiers of the satellite armies, access to German sex establishments was closed. The Reich fed them, armed them, equipped them, but shared them with Italians, Hungarians, Slovaks, Spaniards, Bulgarians, etc. their frau was considered too much.

Only the Hungarians were able to organize a kind of field brothels for themselves, the rest got out as best they could. The German soldier had a legal rate of visits to a brothel — five to six times a month. In addition, the commander could give himself a coupon to the distinguished person as a reward or, on the contrary, punish him with deprivation for a crime.

Soldiers' and sergeants' brothels moved directly behind the troops and were located in a locality not far from the location of the unit. The dismissal note was accompanied by a coupon pass: blue for soldiers, pink for sergeants.

An hour was allotted for the visit, during which the client had to register a coupon, where the girl's name, surname and registration number were entered (the soldier was ordered to keep the coupon for 2 months — just in case of fire), get hygiene products (a piece of soap, a towel and three condoms), wash (according to the regulations, it was necessary to wash twice), and only after that was allowed to the body.

Barter flourished in the divisions: ladies' men exchanged coupons from those who liked to eat more sex for marmalade, schnapps, cigarettes. Some daredevils indulged in tricks and used someone else's coupons to sneak into sergeant's brothels, where the girls were better, and someone even penetrated into the officers' rooms, risking getting ten days in case of capture.

This is what the intimacy room looked like.

Capitulating on June 22, 1940, France provided its numerous brothels to the German occupiers.And in the second half of July, two orders on the suppression of street prostitution and the creation of brothels for the Wehrmacht had already arrived.

The Nazis confiscated the brothels they liked, recruited management and staff, adhering to the criteria of Aryan racial purity. Officers were forbidden to visit these establishments, special hotels were created for them.

Thus, the Wehrmacht command wanted to stop sodomy and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases in the army; to increase the incentive and resilience of the soldier; to stop intimate relationships on the side, because of fear of espionage and the birth of the inferior; and to saturate sex to stop sexual crimes that undermine the ranks of the army.

Only foreign women worked in these brothels — mostly Poles and Frenchwomen. At the end of 1944, the number of freelancers exceeded 7.5 million. Our compatriots were also among them. Raising the economy of the warring Germany for a penny, living in closed settlements, they had the opportunity to buy a ticket in a brothel, which was encouraged by the employer.

A coupon with the value of 1 Reichsmark.

To visit the brothel, the prisoner had to make an application and buy a so-called Sprungkarte worth 2 Reichsmark. For comparison, a pack of 20 cigarettes in the dining room cost 3 Reichsmark. Jews were forbidden to visit the brothel. The prisoners, weakened after a hard day's work, did not willingly go to the houses of tolerance provided to them by Himmler. Some for moral reasons, others for material reasons, the boarding pass could be profitably exchanged for food.

In the French city of Brest, a brothel is located right in the synagogue.

It is clear that fruits appeared from such employment. Many women were reluctant to have an abortion and preferred to give birth anonymously in the so—called Nazi orphanage - "Lebensborn". The Nazis themselves welcomed the soldiers' ties with the women of the fraternal Aryan peoples.

Norway, Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands were the breeding countries of "children of good blood". Only about 100 thousand registered children were born, and these children could be adopted, taken away from their mother and taken to Germany. France was not a model of bloodlines, but according to the statistics of the National Socialists, about 80 thousand German children were born during the 4 years of occupation.

In March 1942, Commander-in-Chief Jerez ordered the creation of brothels in the occupied territories. The Nazis were afraid of partisans and venereal diseases. The girls were strictly selected. Latvians, Lithuanians and entrenched Germans were especially welcomed. A similar motel "Great Britain" exists to this day.

A freeloader pays for a prostitute. On the wall there is a sign "Only for foreigners!"

Good blood is an eternal source! Ideal, according to Nazi parameters, for working in brothels.

Not all the girls went involuntarily, there were also those who saw salvation in the work of a concentration camp prostitute.

Prisoners in Auschwitz. Girls selected for brothels were given calcium injections, forced to wash in disinfection baths, irradiated with ultraviolet lamps and fed better than other prisoners.

The gates of the Dachau concentration camp. "Labor liberates."