Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.

com

www.Ebook777.com
Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com

www.Ebook777.com
VOLUPTUOUS PANIC
THE EROTIC WORLD OF WEIMAR BERLIN
EXPANDED EDITION
BY MEL GORDON

FERAL HOUSE
 Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com

Voluptuous Panic ©2000, 2006 by Mel Gordon

All rights reserved

ISBN: 1-932595-11-2

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Feral House
PO Box 39910
Los Angeles, CA 90039

Send SASE for complete catalogue of publications

www.feralhouse.com — a site for sore eyes

Book and Cover Design: Sean Tejaratchi

Printed in China.

www.Ebook777.com
 This book is dedicated to Barbara Ulrich, my co-conspirator. It is also dedicated to three Weimar

wildchildren, Henry Marx, Felicity Mason, and Tonio Stewart. Each was a master raconteur. They spent

much precious time with me, telling me about their Berlin years and their many adventures there

and in exile. All of them passed away before I finished this project. They will be sorely missed.

Greatly appreciated was assistance from Michael Thaler, Ulrich Sacker, Tony Kaes, Jean-Marie

Pradier, Ingrid Eggers, Christophe Bourseillier, Nina Hagen, Ute Kirchhelle, Shade Rupe, Jennifer M.
Kapczynski, Rosa von Praunheim, Greg Day, John and the boys upstairs at Moe’s.
Preface..................................................................................................... v

1. Once In Berlin ................................................................................... 1

2. The Collapse ................................................................................... 10
3. City of Whores ............................................................................... 28
2. Girl-Culture and the All-Night Bummel .................................. 50
5. Berlin Means Boys ........................................................................ 82
6. Hot Sisters ..................................................................................... 102
7. Crossed Boundaries .................................................................... 118
8. Laughing Nudity .......................................................................... 130
9. The New Calculus of Desire...................................................... 150
10. Algolagnia .................................................................................. 170
11. Sex Magic and the Occult ....................................................... 192
12. Crime on the Spree .................................................................. 210
13. A World in Flames .................................................................... 222

Map of Erotic and Nighttime Berlin ............................................ 231

Directory............................................................................................. 234
Sources ............................................................................................... 283
 Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com

PREFACE
shadowed her gaunt shoulders and

a pair of patent-leather pumps. One

year, Berber made her post-midnight

entrances looking like a drugged-out

Eve, clad only in those heels, a fright-

ened pet monkey hanging from her

neck, and an heirloom silver brooch

packed with cocaine.

On Berlin’s cabaret stages, Anita

Berber danced out bizarre erotic fanta-

Voluptuous Panic began as research for an out-of-control sias—scenic displays, fueled by noxious concoctions of ether-and-

theatre piece. In 1994, I wrote and directed a nightclub extrava- chloroform, cognac, morphine injections, and a chic, pan-sexual

ganza for the German Queen of Punk Rock, Nina Hagen, entitled disposition. Satiated Berliners, after a few riotous seasons in the

The Seven Addictions and Five Professions of Anita Berber. The early Twenties, finally tired of Berber’s libidinous antics. The high

theme of the production was the tragic and dreamy life of Anita priestess of choreographic decadence died a pauper’s death in

Berber, the most glamorous decadent personality from Berlin’s 1928, the result, more or less, of a desperate attempt to quit cold-

Golden Twenties. turkey from her most beloved of addictions, cognac.

Berber consciously broke every social and theatrical convention Nina Hagen and I rejected the notion of Anita Berber as a

of her time, and then proclaimed some startline theory to justify doomed flapper or artistic victim of Berlin’s uncaring, patriarchal

her provocative, outlaw behavior. She haunted the Friedrichstadt public, For us, she was the first postmodern woman: a vibrant

quarter of Berlin, appearing in hotel lobbies, nightclubs, and Marilyn Monroe with the devious, adolescent mind of Norman

casinos, radiantly naked except for an elegant sable wrap that Mailer. Her life needed to be celebrated.

www.Ebook777.com
 I decided to organize the performance like an invented language books on the subject of interwar Berlin con-

German cabaret evening with discrete units of wild tained pitiful numbers of the provocative visuals that

1920s-going-into-the-1990s, Weill-Hollaender music; erot- the production concept demanded.

ic Expressionist sketches, hardcore Berber dance (with My brain reeled. Did the Nazis or frightened Berliners

sacred dildos and morphine syringes as props); smutty destroy every suggestive publication during the politi-

poetry-recitations-in-the-nude, and loops of Weimar por- cally sobering Thirties and Forties? Were Allied firebomb-

nography—all running in a side-show sequence and intro- ings equally responsible for the incineration of Berlin’s

duced by an evil, beyond-Joel-Grey MC, delivering witty, debauched past? Or maybe such print or photographic

narrative commentary. material from the orgiastic Weimar era never really exist-

Finding authentic erotic images of Twenties Berlin for ed as I imagined them.

my show would be the simplest of a dozen directorial Relying on private European contacts and antiquar-

tasks. I figured two of three days (tops) in the public library ian bookstores, I launched a feverish search for all bits

would suffice. To my initial surprise, there were relatively of data and representations from pre-Hitler Germany.

few lurid Weimar pictorials, other than the obvious George Within a few months, I had acquired dozens, then boxes,

Grosz and Otto Dix etchings of grotesque whores, war- of extraordinary Weimar Berlin paper items, erotic news

cripples, and bald-headed exploiters. magazines, cabaret postcards and playbills, sexy hotel

The authoritative history of racy men’s periodicals, brochures, Galante journals, verboten travelogues, illus-

Mark Gabor’s The Pin-Up (Bell Publishing: New York, trated “Moral Histories” (Sittengeschichten), underground

1972) maintained, “In Germany, there were no girlie tabloids, popular crime weeklies, and naughty, what-to-

magazines of consequence until after 1945.” [In fact, do-after-midnight guidebooks. These saucy remnants

I later learned over 80 such mags could be found in contained not just pictures and photographs but descrip-

Berlin kiosks in 1930.] The researchers for Bob Fosse’s tions, exposés, and print enticements of every sort.

film Cabaret, which was shot on location in Berlin in The living ephemera of a lost Berlin, if only a few hun-

1971, also reported a remarkable lack of erotic docu- dred scraps, had fallen into my hands. Now I had consider-

mentation; one of them complained to The New York ably more than a cache of weird material to brighen up a

Post, only literary routines and political satires remained wild performance project. Scattered around my copy stand

of the old cabaret milieu. Even contemporary German- was enough arcane junk for a book. Or two.
x
 A disgusting city, this Berlin, a place where no one believes in anything.
Cagliostro, 1775

And now we come to the most lurid Underworld of all cities—that of post-war Berlin. Ever since the declaration of peace, Berlin
found its outlet in the wildest dissipation imaginable. The German is gross in his immorality, he likes his Halb-Welt or underworld
pleasures to be devoid of any Kultur or refinement, he enjoys obscenity in a form which even the Parisian would not tolerate.
Netley Lucas, Ladies of the Underworld, 1927

ONCE IN BERLIN
Berlin means depravity. Moralists across the widest spec-
trum of political and spiritual beliefs have condemned by rote this

chimerical metropolis as a strange city, built on strange soil. Even

the alkaline air around the Prussian capital (Berliner Luft) was said to

contain a toxic ether that attacked the central nervous system, stimu-

lating long-suppressed passions as it animated all the external tics of

sexual perversity. In the center of Europe, mesmerized audiences were

warned, sits a nightmare municipality, a human swamp of unfettered

appetites and twisted prurient proclivities. The American writer, Ben

Hecht, self-described bon vivant and one-time foreign corespondent for

the Chicago Daily News, characterized the expansive pre-Nazi cityscape

succinctly as the “prime breeding ground for evil.”

Amazingly, the legend of wicked Berlin, the international sex-tour-

 Mythological Roots of Weimar
Contemporary knowledge of life in Twenties Berlin

principally springs from mass-market films and plays.

But the number of Lost-in-Weimar costume-dramas

is surprisingly small. Motion-picture shorthand nor-

mally brings to mind the haughty personas of Marlene

Dietrich, Lotte Lenya, Joel Grey and Liza Minnelli—each

iconically attired in a lacy garter belt, black silk stock-

ings, and shiny, elevated footwear.

Although Josef von Sternberg’s early talkie The Blue

Angel (shot simultaneously in German, English, and

French in 1930) was based on Heinrich Mann’s 1905

Previous Left: ist Mecca of the Twenties and early Thirties, endures
Self-strangulation,
Speedy Schlichter, into the twenty-first century. Two full generations after
1928
its Sodom and Gomorrah-like demise in March 1933,
Previous Right:
Sebastian Droste,
hundreds of American and British filmmakers, pop nov-
the husband of
Anita Berber,1923
elists, fashion photographers, playwrights, academics,
Above
Anti-German and twenty-something website designers still play out
propaganda,
London, 1915 the enchanting tale of a debauched, twentieth-century

Right: Eldorado that disappeared in flames. With Babylon and

A sexual exposé,
The Forbidden
Nero’s Rome, Weimar Berlin has entered into our topo-
Book, 1929

logical thesaurus as a synonym for moral degeneracy.

2
novel, its dark atmospheric rendition of sexual debase-

ment at least belonged to a then present-day Berlin.

In fact, the Blue Angel cabaret of the movie title was

directly modeled on a Berlin North dive known as The

Stork’s Nest. Even Marlene Dietrich’s chair-straddling

Lola-Lola character had more than a passing physical

likeness to the Nest’s real-life star fatale, Lola Niedlich,

who was not above hawking her own dirty postcards

between other singers’ acts.

(Dietrich, of course, later claimed her glamorous,

cold-hearted inspiration was sparked by a nameless

male transvestite, an anonymous fashion-plate she

admired at the Silhouette, Berlin’s HQ for glam-dom

gender-benders. Maybe, maybe not.)

Another émigré, Lotte Lenya, the diminutive

Viennese chanteuse, arrived in New York in 1936 with

equally high hopes. Although her composer husband her evil-if-matronly bisexual predilections. Moreover, Above:
Sites of Berlin
Kurt Weill dutifully pushed her career forward, Lenya’s Lenya herself disturbingly epitomized the cartoon- Prostitution,
1930
star rose only in the post-World War II period when ish whores from George Grosz’ pornographic oeuvre,

the Weill/Brecht Weimar confection The Three-Penny another Weimar import that was gaining popularly in

Opera became the surprise Off-Broadway musical hit the Eisenhower-Marlborough Book Club-Kennedy era.

of 1954. Lenya achieved immediate cult status as a The writer most responsible for the myth of “Sodom

novel avatar of Berlin sexuality—the saucy shrew with on the Spree” was, of course, the British Peter Pan,

the delectable, whiskey-and-cigarette rasp. Everything Christopher Isherwood. His semi-autobiographical Berlin

about Lenya radiated High Camp (not yet defined Stories were written in the Thirties but only found a

but rapturously appreciated in the Greenwich Village wide readership decades later when they were appro-

habitat of the time) from her ironic stage delivery to priated for Broadway and Hollywood vehicles.
3
 The first dramatization of the Isherwood vignettes,

I Am a Camera (staged in 1951; filmed in 1955) intro-

duced the American public to the character of Sally

Bowles and the sinister “demonic Berlin-Nazi takeover”

theme. These adaptations, however, were essentially

cerebral renderings—in the inimitable “Playhouse 90”

black-and-white television style—not helped by their

tame erotic imagery (nary a nipple or garter in sight)

and conventional Fifties scenario: serious, artistic type

lands in a dangerous and sexually-charged environment

(usually a foreign stand-in for Manhattan), becomes

involved with a promiscuous female, realizes the folly

of his ways, and returns with newly-minted enthusiasm

to his trustworthy wife/fiancée/home (that is, the Opposite:

Popular
domestic tranquility of Levittown). representations
of wicked Berlin
Hal Prince’s Broadway musical version of the Isher-
Above and left:
Contemporary
wood stories, Cabaret (staged in 1966) provided an
accounts of
Berlin’s nightlife,
entirely fresh and titillating look at nocturnal Berlin. His 1929 and 1931

scenic designer, the Russian-born Boris Aronson, actu-

ally spent several months in the city during the depths

of the 1923 Inflation. And the book by Joe Masteroff

attempted to both restore the “divine decadence” of

Isherwood’s about-to-be-fascist Berlin while updating

5
 torched and looted without consequence. Feminists

talked a lot about their bodies. Towering drag queens

in ever-swelling groups sauntered through the big-city

night. Prince’s Cabaret really hit home. Sally Bowles

could have been any investor’s (or reviewer’s) daugh-

ter from the suburban North Shore.

Nazi Sexuality expanded into a hot S&M and leath-

er subset of mail-order pulps and 16mm smokers. The

backstreet Ventura County shlockmeisters, naturally,

were just following in the footsteps of Fifties’ Men’s

magazines, which long bandied about the sick-sex by

Germans-in-wartime scenario. Finally, highbrow Euro-

pean film directors mounted the Berlin-to-Auschwitz

bandwagon, notably with The Damned (1969), The

Night Porter (1973), and The Serpent’s Egg (1976).

Above: its obvious message toward a middle-class/middle- Like Edwin S. Porter, Christopher Isherwood had unwit-
Guide to
“Decadent” aged (largely Jewish) New York audience. tingly devised a free-wheeling multinational staple
Berlin, 1931
Prince’s Cabaret was shot through with the anxiet- that knew no cultivated bounds or embodied much

ies of 1966 America in Year Three of the Great Society. historical truth.

Counterculture live-in arrangements, drug use on cam- Fosse’s Hollywood musical Cabaret (1972) jettisoned

pus, The Factory, and debutantes-gone-wrong were the sweet comic interludes of the Masteroff stage

already stock-in-trade Life magazine features. Censor- script. He sharpened the juxtapositions of fetish-strewn

ship in Hollywood and on the newsstands was fast Berlin with the smartly-uniformed avengers of the New

eroding, thanks to the ACLU, which helped suburbanize Germany. Yet again mass audiences were allowed to

the Sexual Revolution. Halloween-masked radicals partake in the polymorphous confusion of old Weimar—

paraded down Fifth Avenue while Silent Majority hard- via a doll-faced Joel Grey in nifty drag and big-eyed Liza

hats menacingly chewed their hoagies. Inner-city teens in shameless, junior Marlene getup—while rationally
6
 Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com

condemning it. Although the Fosse film laboriously

plotted out the dangers of female promiscuity and pred-

atory homosexuals (of the duplicitous cross-dressed or

monocle-wearing varieties), its harsh social message

was less apparent to Seventies adolescents. Cabaret

(and, by extension, Weimar Berlin) signified nothing

more than wild clothing and wild sex. Bad Boy, Bad Girl,

mean, mocking, in-your-face Sex.

This newest trend in Weimarism was a kick, impart-

ing graphic life to Karl Lagerfeld, David Bowie (on his

third go-round), German neo-noir costume film-epics,

the Plasmatics, Macy’s lingerie ads (especially pre-

ceding Mother’s Day), Marquee-”O”-and-Skin glossies,

Madonna-in-Gaultier-garb, a mini-genre of gay Holo-

caust weepies, Marilyn Manson, and a smash, broth- Above:

So It Seems—
elized import of that old workhorse, Cabaret. Berlin! 1927

Left:
For the erotic trailblazers of the pre-millennium, the
Berlin:
What’s Not
reimagined Weimar Berlin remained a cutting-edge, in the
Baedeker
mythic terra firma. But even their heightened visions Guide, 1927

were still not as fantastic as history’s erotic metropolis.

“Berlin is Still Berlin”

How Berlin transformed from a minor neoclassical

outpost in Goethe’s time to the third largest city in the

world (with over four million registered citizens in 1930)

is the subject of an immense body of urban-studies

literature. While the external and sociopolitical factors

7

www.Ebook777.com
 San Francisco) would have to be considered as one of

the most faithless—or heathen—cities in the Western

world. Much of the unvirtuous Berlin ethos can be

explained by global events (the mass influx of French

Huguenots and Central European Jews; the rise of mod-

ern capitalism) and ideological shifts (the weakening of

Lutheran doctrine; trickle-down faith in scientific inquiry

and Nietzschean vitalism); but, mostly by the creation of

a self-conscious urban identity.

Before 1900, the archetypal Berliner was character-

ized by his crude—almost American—demeanor and

breezy attitude toward aristocratic codes of conduct.

He was deadly cynical, possessing a Berliner Schnauze

(Berlin snout or “trap”), spoke in a side-of-the-mouth

patois, and never missed an occasion to deliver a

schpritz of wiseguy wisdom. A city of such characters

Above: of Berlin’s development have been analyzed in stu- was a distinct liability to the stodgy monarchy.
Ruth Margarete
Roellig, Berlin's pendous detail, one ineffable aspect has been largely The harsh imposition of Wilhelmian law and threats
Lesbians, 1928,
a guidebook ignored in these academic tomes: the unconventional of Prussian discipline kept the anarchistic urban-
with an intro-
duction by
religious profile of native Berliners throughout the nine- swamp in check. But in 1919, with the Kaiser gone
Dr. Magnus
Hirschfeld
teenth and twentieth centuries. and a democratic constitution about to be proclaimed
Opposite:
Manassé, If it was possible to objectively measure the spiritual in Weimar, those legal strictures basically expired.
The Forbidden
Book life of a city—through the language of its municipal The tapped-down moral restraints of bratty Berlin

charter, the legislative influence of its church leaders, suddenly burst at the seams. The once quaintly rogu-

the ratio of religious institutions to residents, its weekly ish German metropolis was now an open city—open

church attendance, the judicious enforcement of Blue for sex. Or, as its many provincial detractors decried,

Laws, and so forth—then Berlin (with Montevideo and “a new Hell on earth.”
8
 The Great War was the greatest sexual catastrophe that has ever befallen civilized man.
Magnus Hirschfeld, The Social History of the World War, 1930

An ecstasy of eroticism cast the world into chaos.

Hans Ostwald, The Social History of the Inflation, 1931

THE COLLAPSE
All wars, in the iron cosmology of Berlin’s leading
sexologists, were a function of the male sex impulse

and civilization’s attempt to manipulate it. Even the

declarations of hostility, victory, conquest, and defeat

have been oedipally recast into clear eroticized lan-

guage and imagery. National opponents were said to

be not mere adversaries but rampaging savages and

demons, hell-bent on torture, violation of defenseless

communities, and mass rape. Armed teenagers fighting

in the service of their motherland were praised by writ-

ers of epics (or modern propagandists) as de facto

protectors of the race, guardians slumped up against

the bedroom doors of frightened mothers.

 The Kaiser’s Wand
The Great War, World War I, exaggerated the

erotic fears and longings of its warring nations. For

one, the heroic enterprise stretched out endlessly,

endangering the morale and mental stability of both

the conscripted soldiers and civilian populations. What

was to be a five- or six-month, lightning-like military

campaign, according to the Central Powers and Allied

High Commands, soon stagnated into a battlefield

morass. The wholesale human slaughter, thanks to the

new technology of weaponry, actually hardened

political attitudes and impeded the war’s conclusion.

Given the astronomical numbers of casualties sus-

tained in combat, no government could tolerate a

defeat. There were also the perceived sexual issues,

heightened by skilled propagandists.

When the Archduke Ferdinand and his wife Sofia

Previous Left: Few national conflicts have been fought without were assassinated by Serbian nationalists in Sarajevo in
Keystone, Berlin
these psych-war stratagems, or, more to the point, 1914, much was made in the world press about the
Previous
Right: erotic inducements and rewards for its soldiers. The fanatical character of Balkan politics, Austrian arrogance
Play Money,
1924
elevated levels of testosterone that biologically steel (Ferdinand deliberately chose June 28th, the Serbian
Above:
G. Sieben, post-pubescent bodies and cloud the instinct for self- national day of mourning, to tour newly incorporated
Balkan Torture
preservation also increase sexual desire in young men. Bosnia), and the Great Power consequences. But during
Opposite:
Manassé, So it is little wonder that societies have traditionally the six weeks between the shooting of Austro-Hungary’s
War
accorded their warrior class (and consorts) dispensation heir apparent and the actual war, German propaganda

from chastity and monogamous regulation. played up one minor aspect of the Saravejo event:

the Serbian Black Hands had needlessly murdered an

12
 Right:
Ernst Hiller,
Revolution

Below: provinces were delivered to work destinations in

Doodles by
a German
Berlin’s war ministries and federal bureaus, filling minor
soldier on the
Western Front,
1915 positions once held by male secretaries and clerks. A

kind of radical feminism and shared sisterhood, long

dreaded by conservative elements in the German gov-

ernment, began to form in the epicenter of the

Wilhelmian Empire. No longer wide-eyed innocents,

these newly enfranchised women had also witnessed

an implosion of moral values in their own native vil-

lages and cities.

aristocratic woman. This was further proof of the sexu- As the national euphoria and jingoistic enthusiasm

al perfidy of Slavic men. Serbs, Russians, Ukrainians, for modern warfare waned, even in the patriotic coun-

Macedonians, Poles, and all their lesser cousins were tryside, an insidious Chicago-style corruption spread.

in need of the civilizing canon of the German army and Butchers who honorably served families for genera-

its partners. tions were noticeably pressing their thumbs on the

More than any country in Europe, Imperial Germany

was prepared for war. Its High Command, over a tense

decade, assiduously mapped out the grand project. And

a circus atmosphere reigned in Berlin during the August

mobilization. Kaiser Wilhelm II waved madly to the

enlistees while a tennis racket dangled listlessly from

his withered left hand. Yet the conflagration that erupt-

ed in September was anything but sporting.

The Home Front

The war years of 1914–1918 upended everything in

Germany proper. Trainloads of young women from the

14
edges of regulated meat scales; for-

merly virtuous small-town mayors

and church officials were implicated

in preposterous scams and bizarre

sexual improprieties. For the first

time in a century, black-market

survival and fears of illegitimate

pregnancies became more than just

neighborhood gossip for middle-

class households. Worst of all,

Germanic faith in the sacrosanct

world of mustached, steely-eyed

men—that is, the Kaiser and his

General Staff—began to erode.

The pernicious hypocrisy and mur-

derous bluster of the ruling patriarchs

at every social level, the inescapable

sights of disfigured and hollow-eyed soldiers wandering scarce or obsolete. Only foodstuffs mattered. The profi- Above:
Otto Griebel,
Berlin’s streets and parks, the long-delayed (if heavily teering and theft of them were abetted by a distracted A Slice of
European
Ham (Made in
censored) official postings of the millions dead, missing, government, intent on victories in the field. Those poor
Germany),
1922
or captured created a novel and creepy psychosexual souls without food sources or connections had just one

vacuum. The realm of shared national purpose and other commodity to haul to the public market: sex.

manly virtue was challenged by more primitive philoso- At first, young war brides, branded “straw-

phies of day-to-day survival. widows,” offered their carnal services to the available

For most German families, trade—either in heirlooms males of Berlin, then it was the provincial youth of

or stolen merchandise—earned subsistence to endure both sexes, and finally the children of bourgeois fami-

the month or week. But eventually these items became lies. Prostitution lost its exact meaning when tens of
15
 thousands were involved in complex sex attachments, public health officials and social workers for help. The

all of a commercial nature. The vaguely Wilhelmian war had spiritually corroded the old order at home.

underpinning of middle-class

Berlin slowly cracked and, over Trench-Life and the Etappe

time, collapsed. In the conquered areas of Belgium and Polish

Venereal disease, not flesh- Russia, German servicemen behaved strangely, too.

peddling, threatened the imme- Hundreds, then thousands, experienced a headlong

diate well-being of the capital. release from all peace-time constraints. Homosexual

Syphilis and gonorrhea spread at affection and cross-dressing amusements became com-

an alarming rate. The city fathers, monplace activities in the musty trenches and isolated

once proud watchdogs of the campsites. Instead of pictures of their sweethearts to

moral code, turned to Berlin’s inspire them, pockets of combat-weary troops stared in
16
frozen rapture at S&M and fetishistic photographs that

they cradled in their palms. Public and habitual mastur-

bation, manifestations of shell-shock, grew to epic

proportions, shaking morale as well as becoming an

embarrassing disciplinary problem. In the countryside,

the brutal corralling and rape of foreign women, usu-

ally peasant girls, by German recruits was reported with

some frequency in the early dispatches. Some national-

istic officers defended their underlings’ misbehavior as

a healthy discharge from the tedium of building fortifi- spies, like the legendary Mata Hari, sometimes Opposite
Above:
cations and other noncombatant duties. frequented these command centers, wrangling battle- Alexander
Szekely, Scene
from a German
The High Command, alarmed that the Imperial field secrets from lust-smitten German administrators
Brothel in
Ghent
Army was aping the uncouth ways of their despised and military leaders.
Opposite
Serb and French brethren, responded with Prussian Sex, the historical lubricant for rallying a nation to Below:
Postcard,
efficiency. They permitted local brothels to open under armed conflict, was destroying the Kaiser’s war. Behind the
Lines
the strict supervision of military physicians. Every front- Other unforeseen factors, like the American Expeditio-
Above:
line soldier was issued a ration book of sex coupons; nary Forces and mutiny in the hinterlands, also under- Postcard,
The Price of
Flesh Has Fallen
the frequency of contact, number of minutes, time of mined General von Hindenburg’s scheme for the occu-

day, and class of whores allowed was determined pation of eastern France and military triumph. By 1918,

mathematically by rank and combat unit. The booklets it was evident that the Central Power alliance had splin-

were as treasured as tobacco. tered irrevocably under the onslaught of Allied armies.

In the staging grounds behind the active theatres of Each nation was ready to sue for a separate peace.

war, or the Etappe, senior officers also engaged in

nightly debaucheries. Local pretties were treated to The Paper Republic

luxurious outings, champagne dinners, risqué naked On November 9th, 1918, a German republic was

recitals, and crates of pilfered goods. Roman-style declared, replacing the Wilhelmian Second Reich. Within

orgies became synonymous with Etappe life. Female 24 hours, the Kaiser abdicated his monarchy and fled
17
 Above: with his family to the Netherlands. Two days later an Some radicals opted for a Soviet solution. But Lenin,
A. Szekely,
The Settlement Armistice was signed with the Western powers. the supreme revolutionary commander, already knew

All fighting ceased. Germany had lost the Great War. what the seditious leaders of Bavaria and Hamburg

Now a stunned populace, reeling from new eco- would soon discover to their regret: Germans were

nomic chaos and terror in the form of revolution and incapable of fomenting Socialist revolution; when

counter-revolution, watched in disbelief as top-hatted ordered to storm a railroad station, they would stand in

politicians attempted to transform their vanquished line first to buy tickets. By March 1919, the period of

nation into a model constitutional republic. Germany in romantic left-wing insurrection had been checked.

1919 had no traditions of democratic consensus, only Private Nationalist militias, in league with the centralist

an embittered electorate in search of quick political authorities, had assassinated the Red leaders and over-

fixes. Extremist parties of the left and right attained turned their “peasant-proletariat” communes. Berliners

immense power in the first national election and then returned to their business of pleasure.

ultimately dominated the workings of the Weimar The municipal chiefs of the great city had little to

Assembly. say about prostitution, which, resulting from an over-

18
supply of females (primarily war-widows), had shown

a massive increase since the Armistice. The dignitaries

had other moral concerns. Two public acts were now

strictly forbidden: fishing by hand grenade in the lakes

and rivers around Berlin, and social dancing inside the

city bounds. On a single day in January 1919, five dance

halls were raided by Berlin vice squads while frumpy

streetwalkers and cocaine-Schleppers watched in

bemused stupefaction.

Through much of 1919, Berlin waged a war against

the promoters of popular dance. But the universally

reviled campaign was doomed from the start. A deliri-

um for social dance (Tanztaumel) had swept the city

and much of Germany since the cessation of fighting.

Klaus Mann, the son of the Nobel Prize laureate, imported American music and the new women’s fash- Above:
Carlo Jung,
recalled the choreographic outbreak as “a mania, a ion that emphasized silk stockings and revealing skirts. A Fine Family

religion, a racket.” Secret dance parlors, hidden in the What was once the shocking mode of film stars and

Friedrichstadt and in Berlin North, became the craze. In drunken aristocrats now availed itself to everyone. Even

workers’ quarters, Apache-like tango dances, cake- at formal dances, clothing shrank to practically nothing.

walks, and foxtrots played out under streetlights and in Variety houses and cabarets featured rows of naked

parks. Life in postwar Berlin had become bizarrely women, but many found it impossible to compete with

eroticized and dance-madness was its improbable the risqué styles in the audience.

visible symptom. At first the city made a purely Kantian appeal: if

Social and popular dances took place in an array of every Berliner tripped the light fantastic, full economic

venues: at lavish balls (like the Bad Boys’ Ball or the recovery could never be achieved. But there was a

Pretty Leg Festival), in sleazy corner bars, at private growing sense of prosperity in Berlin anyway. Despite

clubs near resort areas, but mostly it was stimulated by the ubiquitous presence of beggars and hideous
19
 Right:
W. Krain,
Berlin Illustrirte
Zeitung,
Naked Dance,
1920

war-wounded, demobilized aristocrats and the children selves with their silly exercise in extreme social recti-

of Germany’s affluent classes gravitated to the country’s tude. Dance was made legal and censorship in Berlin

financial and cultural center. basically ceased.

Then thousands of posters from the health minis- A dizzying panic overtook Berlin in October 1919.

try warned, “Berlin, Your Dance Partner is Death!” The Not since Paris in the 1860s had a European city expe-

admonishment in garish Expressionist script weirdly rienced the Edenic flush of total erotic freedom. With

coupled brain-damaging syphilis with all-night tan- prostitution and all-night dancing already accepted fea-

gos. In no time, the slogan inspired trunkloads of tures of contemporary Berlin life, what else could be

caustic sketches by cabaret artists and provided the added? Drugs and over-the-counter pornography

ideal catchphrase-refrain for dozens of dialect song appeared first.

parodies. Cocaine powder, morphine solution in vials, and

In April 1919, a new tactic was tried. A few of the opium balls were hawked on street corners. Chinese

largest dance halls were allowed to reopen. However, entrepreneurs from the former German concession of

ballroom dance remained verboten elsewhere in Berlin. Kiaochow installed a string of opium dens in Friedrich-

Closures of defiant bars, mass arrests, and costly law- stadt cellars, but these were far too claustrophobic for

suits resulted. By late fall, the entire civic enterprise had German tastes. Invented sedatives—like Anita Berber’s

to be abandoned. The city fathers discredited them- breakfast elixir, chloroform and ether—seemed more
20
modern and daring. (The C-and-E cocktail was ingested

by swirling white roses in the potion and then biting off

the frozen petals. Really the designer drug of its time.)

The most sought-after pornographic postcards and

films had been imported from Paris or Budapest before

the war. Now Berlin was patriotically producing its own

brands in oversized graphic portfolios, “bachelor”

Galante magazines, photo-sheets, and smokers. Even

German nudist journals that were published for decades

took on darker tones. The sweet qualities of Gallic porno

were supplanted in Berlin studios by the psychopathic

scenarios from Krafft-Ebing. Forced, intergenerational,

scatological, and obsessive fetish sex prevailed. Sunny

pics of bob-haired, smiling French beauties in nude

repose (often in sylvan settings before gleaming,

immobile sedans) gave way to queasy, regressive fan-

tasies—Gymnasium masters and nannies administering their equally lowbrow clients. In truth, the Nachtlokals Above:
Erich Schütz,
instruments of torture and humiliation to their naked catered to a much more naive class of patron. Raiding the
Nacktlokal
charges. The distinct erotica of Berlin was sold in spe- Usually the potential customer was discovered on a

cialized bookstores and here and there on the street. midnight Bummel (urban stroll) somewhere near the

The Nachtlokal, or private nightspot, was another Friedrichstadt. A scruffy teen working for the Lokal, the

crude expression of the new era. In 30 or so Berlin Schlepper, would then approach the target, luring him

hideaways, gentlemen and sophisticated couples could with promises of covert erotic entertainment and, if

encounter the latest erotic sensation, the Naked Dance. alone, female companionship. A picturesque journey

Cynical journalists compared these postwar Berlin through a Byzantine circuit of courtyards and passage-

“nightclubs” to Tingel-Tangels, ugly Wilhelmian whore- ways followed. Finally, the disoriented sucker was

bars where honky-tonk entertainers intermingled with delivered to the secret club hidden in an out-of-the-
21
 Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com

tables and join free-spending customers for more bra-

zen contact. Genital frisson in the form of lap-dancing

or foot-sex (with the woman perched on the tabletop)

was a customary enticement.

Newspapers and magazines had a field day exposing

these tourist traps. The kitschy symbol of a nineteenth-

century orgy, bald-headed men downing Sekt from the

shoes of giggling whores, appeared repeatedly in their

pages as sidebar photographs and sketches. (Waggish

columnists opined that such a practice must have

enhanced the inferior quality of the foaming swill.)

Neither a source of fine entertainment nor a legiti-

mate venue for intercourse, the Nachtlokals were lam-

basted as embarrassingly ersatz. But they provided

Berlin with a psychic opening. Wild sex and all-night

way apartment complex. Once inside, the Suitor paid a antics could be made anywhere. In private flats, hotel

horrific tariff (in the form of an overpriced bottle of rooms, and rented halls, drug parties and nude “Beauty

German champagne, Sekt) just to sit at a table. An Evenings” were constantly announced and held. A gala

improbably upbeat Russian balalaika band normally atmosphere enveloped 1919 and 1920. The entire city

filled the air with musical static. transformed into a Nachtlokal for its liberated youth and

Around one or two in the morning, a smutty revue still comfortable bourgeoisie.

commenced. The nature and duration of the show var- The stimulants and fashions changed too. “Radium

ied considerably, mostly consisting of few naked cremes” and tincture of yohimbé bark from West Africa,

whores and their daughters, prancing in mock Isadora which augmented female and male desire, were

abandon. Poor sightlines and erratic seating arrange- manufactured in little shops and advertised in Galante

ments were offset by the itinerant activities of the monthlies. Seamstresses—mostly White Russians and

performers, who would erotically tease Suitors at their former noblewomen—added a Berlin touch; they rein-
22

www.Ebook777.com
vigorated Flapper-era couture by utilizing materials

associated with male fetishism and slashed dresses to

mimic pornographic renderings. Exhibitionism compet-

ed with voyeurism as the city’s outrageous draw. Every

single Berlin night before June 1920 began to resemble

New Year’s, or Sylvester’s, Eve.

The Great Inflation

When the Weimar Republic signed the Treaty of

Versailles in 1919 there was a mutual understanding

that the emotional issues of German national boundar-

ies, demilitarization, and war reparations would

be negotiated at future parleys. But the subsequent

conferences in the early Twenties proved disastrous for exchange tumbled to 550/1 in August. In the summer Above:
Paul Kamm,
the Republic. Angered by German bickering that reject- of 1922, a mere dollar traded for 7,500 German marks. 1923

ed their resolute demands for immediate disarmament By January 1923, the official rate was 22,400/1, then in

and sharply redrawn borders, French and English politi- May the mark slid further to 54,300 per dollar. An all-

cians tripled the amount Germany would owe the vic- time low was reached on October 12, 1923 when the

tors—six billion gold marks in raw materials and indus- once-vaunted German note plummeted to the stagger-

trial goods to be paid over a 42-year period. ing equation of 4.2 billion marks to the dollar.

The terms of the 1921 Reparation Act more than Germans on fixed incomes and pensioners lost

bankrupted the German federal treasury; it ensured the everything in those years. Once again wartime barter

end to any hopes for a stable commercial life in the was a favored means of livelihood. Religious chari-

struggling Republic. Its currency would eventually ties, like the Catholic Relief and the comically

become worthless. But the scope of the monetary American Salvation Army, fanned out across Berlin.

freefall was not clear at first. Seven marks bought one Crank indigenous cults also dished out thin soup with

American dollar in January 1921, then the rate of apocalyptic homilies.

23
 rows of marks to pay taxes or purchase bread

while their grandchildren built toy fortresses

in alleyways, using stacks of the discarded

bills as architectural blocks.

The Great Inflation complicated Berlin’s

sexual folkways but did not really alter them.

The so-called moral collapse had already

occurred. Erotic amusements, prostitution, and

narcotics were all readily available before the

inflationary madness. But now the purveyors

of commercial sex and other decadent offer-

ings had a more acute economic incentive.

Berlin was suddenly inundated with hard-cur-

rency tourists, looking for Jazz Age bargains.

Swedes, Dutch, French, and detested hordes of

Turks and Japanese flocked to the open city.

Their modest assets in the form of kronen,

guilders, francs, lira, and yen metamorphosed

the plucky foreigners into multimillionaires the

Above: Most urban employees were paid by the day and moment they disembarked at the Stettiner Bahnhof.
George Grosz,
Down with scurried to exchange-banks in the morning before the In postwar Paris, a traveler could engage the ser-
Liebknecht,
1919 value of their salaries declined by half in the late after- vices of a streetwalker for five or six dollars; but during

noon. German towns issued emergency paper scrip for the Inflation in Berlin, five dollars could buy a month’s

its bewildered citizens; by the bitter fall of 1923, the worth of carnal delights. The most exquisite blowjob or

nationwide legal tender was valued chiefly as a com- kinky dalliance with a 15-year-old never cost more

bustible for apartment furnaces. French newsreel-cam- than 30 cents, or 65 million 1923 marks. The widows

eramen captured mustached Burgers hauling wheelbar- of famous Wehrmacht generals rented their bodies and
24
bedrooms for a few precious kronen. Even upright

bourgeois couples exhibited themselves in marital

embrace for a solid hour if anyone was interested in

that kind of theatre.

Ilya Ehrenburg, the Russian writer, remembered

going to a flat in a respectable neighborhood during the

Inflation and discussing Dostoyevsky with the excited

middle-class residents. After a glassful of lemonade

mixed with spirits, the staid Berliners brought out their

young, nubile daughters, who promptly executed a

striptease before the shocked eyes of their celebrated

guest. For American money, the mother proposed to

the Communist ideologue, there was much more to be

had that evening.

The Nachtlokals in particular teemed with non- Kaiser’s Germany, in the minds of many, was finally Above:
Wolfram
German speaking thrill-seekers. For the newest clien- repaying its war debts. Kiesslich,
Queen of
tele, humiliation and sexual degradation served as an On November 20th, 1923, the financial dementia Currency,
1922

equal attractant as the old Naked Dance revue itself. In lifted. The administration in Weimar introduced a new

one Lokal favored by Dutch vacationers, businessmen currency, the Rentenmark, which overnight stabilized

and their wives tossed foreign coins to any female the internal economy and Germany’s standing in the

German in attendance willing to strip completely nude. international marketplace. Worth about 20 cents, or one

Outside the tourist hotels and downtown pensions, trillion marks, the Rentenmark was itself replaced

knowing gigolos and pretty boys, dolled up in rouge by the Reichsmark in 1924. But confidence in Weimar

and mascara like wax mannequins, displayed their governance, at least until 1929, was restored. The

androgynous wares. To the merry-making Ausländer, glorious period known as Germany’s “Golden Twenties”

Berlin was conducting a clearance sale in human flesh. catapulted into history with champagne toasts and an

Sex was everywhere and obtainable on the cheap. The intoxicating roar.
25
 Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com

Sex is the business of the town.

Anita Loos, 1923

There were men dressed as women, women dressed as men or little school-girls, women in boots with whips (boots and whips
in different colors, shapes, and sizes, promising different passive or active divertissements). [...] Young, well-washed, and pretty
females were abundantly available. They could be had for the asking, sometimes without asking at all, often for the mere price of a
dinner or a bunch of flowers: shopgirls, secretaries, White Russian refugees, nice girls from decayed good families.
Some of them pathetically wept on the rumpled bed after making love when they accepted money.
Luigi Barzini, The Europeans, 1983

CITY OF WHORES
The end of the Great Inflation did not stanch the perv invasion

of Berlin. In fact, fascination with the amoral city intensified as soon as the

Reichsmark proved a stable currency. Weimar Berlin, while shedding the scin-

tilla of menace and social volatility, retained its transcendent reputation as

Europe’s newest illicit playground. Along with cruises down the Rhine and

Munich’s Oktoberfest, the Grieben guidebooks added Berlin’s Friedrichstadt at

midnight as a must-see tourist adventure.

The very first thing foreigners noticed in Berlin were whores, thousands

of tarted-up females on the streets, in hotel lobbies, and seated at cafés and

clubs. How many Beinls made their living in Berlin during the Golden Twenties

was impossible to calculate. The estimates ranged from a low of 5,000 to

the oft-published figure of 120,000 (which didn’t include the 35,000 male

www.Ebook777.com
 BERLIN PROSTITUTE
TYPES (OUTDOORS)
prostitutes). It all depended on one’s definition of the

BOOT-GIRLS—Identified by their furs and calf-length, Wilhelmian-era, black- term. Berlin was like no other European city when it
leather boots or (after 1926) in shiny, patent leather versions. Lacquered gold,
came to the sheer magnitude of sexual possibility.
cobalt blue, brick, “poisonous” green, or maroon, the iridescent footwear
indicated the Girl’s specialty. Freelance Dominas, they attracted frugal provin-
cial German Suitors, who were led to nearby pensions. Estimated numbers (in “Controlled” Prostitution
1930): 300–350. During the late Renaissance, most German towns
GRASSHOPPERS—Lowly streetwalkers without “room money,” who serviced
established boundaries for free-wheeling bathhouse-
men in the corners of the Tiergarten and around Bülowplatz. [Ironic variant
taverns, brothels, and street prostitution. These areas
name: FRESH-AIR WOMEN.] Estimated numbers: 600.
GRAVELSTONES—Unattractive sex-workers on Oranienburgstrasse. Included were marked by Striche, painted lines or stripes.
women with missing limbs, hunchbacks, and other deformities. [Also known Draconian punishments awaited sex traffickers and
as WOODCHUCKS.] Estimated numbers: 400.
adulterers caught outside the Line. Wayward prostitutes
HALF-SILKS—[literally “Half-Baked”] Amateur, occasional prostitutes, the vast
majority of the Friday-night trade. Often secretaries, shopkeepers, and office
clerks supplementing their incomes after work. [During the Inflation Era, they
were called DODGERS due to their unregistered status and FIVE O’CLOCK LADIES
because of their preferred time of contact.] Estimated numbers: 40,000–55,000.
KONTROLL-GIRLS—Three defined classes of legal prostitutes who reported to
the Berlin vice authorities on a regular basis and were checked for venereal
disease by police physicians. Before 1927, they were concentrated in the
Friedrichstadt and Berlin North. Typical romantic opening: “So, sweetheart?”
[Variant names: BONE-SHAKERS, LINE-GIRLS, and JOY-GIRLS.] Number of Berlin
“Control Books” issued to street prostitutes and CHONTES in 1930: 8,750.
MÜNZIS—Pregnant girls and women who waited under the lampposts on
Münzstrasse for “old money” clients in search of this erotic specialty. Very
expensive sessions. [Also known as KABNIS (from Viennese Romany argot)].
Estimated numbers: seasonal, under two dozen.
NUTTES—Boyish, teenage girls. Coquettishly dressed and working in secret from
their families, they treated prostitution as a form of dating. Often traveled in
pairs. Thought of as primarily gold diggers. Standard pickup line: “Don’t you
think we should have a coffee first?” Estimated numbers: 25,000–30,000.
TAUENTZIENGIRLS—Bubikopfed streetwalkers in the latest fashions (some-
times in mother-and-daughter teams), who silently solicited customers on
were tied naked to a pillory, which usually stood in the Previous Left:
Böhm,
village commons. Special constables administered pub- Stocking Gold

lic floggings. And afterward, citizens could taunt the Previous Right:
Kamm, Minette

culprits, beat them, spit on them, or even urinate on

Left:
Hans Baluscek,
them. A Nutte at the
Carnival, 1923
In western and southern cities, female violators of

the Strich were confined to stocks. A thick leather strap

was laced around the woman’s neck and hollows of her

knees, and then tightened. In this excruciating, fetal-

like position, the offender was placed in a wooden-

stock frame, which had openings for her head and

naked posterior. The sex criminal was finally subject to

a hail of brutal blows and kicks to her exposed areas

during the course of an afternoon. The upright Burgers the foremost attributes of a Queen revolved around her

and their women often inflicted permanent damage to sexual mastery (evidently vaginal and manual skills)

the prostitute’s body. and a quick wit; the conventional standards of physical

Inside the Strich, a counter-ecclesiastic world beauty were eschewed here. Interestingly, the local

reigned. Pleasure enterprises, although controlled and lawmakers recognized the

highly taxed, provided a bit of heaven for sinners. Food authority of the Queen and

and intoxicants, gaudy entertainment, and sex were all made her responsible for

available for a price. A furtive jargon—a mix of vulgar enforcing their ordinances

Yiddish, thieves’ argot, Romany, and low-German dia- throughout her sovereign rule.

lects—developed into the Strich’s lingua franca. In each Municipally-confined areas

town, separate rules and folkways emerged. for commercial sex traffic in

During May celebrations in Mainz and Nuremberg, a the German-speaking world

“Whore-Queen” was chosen in a free-for-all competi- evolved naturally from the

tion. According to the upside-down culture of the Strich, Strich concept. A single neigh-
Tauentzienstrasse, south of the Memorial Church. T-Girls were celebrated for their
borhood, under police supervision, delimited and
down-to-earth, brash attitude. Beloved species to Berlin’s press corps, even those
contained all the city’s lewd merrymaking. Urban cen-
working for Conservative and Nationalist dailies. Estimated numbers: 2,500.
ters elsewhere in Western Europe designated similar

“Zona Rosas” to control their vice problem. Most

BERLIN PROSTITUTE endured into the 1930s.

TYPES (INDOORS) No visitor doing the town in Paris, Rome, Barcelona,

Hamburg, Vienna, Budapest, Antwerp, or Marseilles in

CHONTES—[From Galizianer-Yiddish] Low-grade Jewish whores. Polish-born. pre-World War II Europe could avoid traversing these
Mostly found in the Alex near the police station or in Transient-Quarters. [Also
notorious “Red” or “Chinese” districts. Depending on
known as LUBLINS (illegal immigrants from the Polish industrial city)].
DEMI-CASTORS—[From French underworld jargon—literally: “half-beavers,” or the current political climate, their integration into the

“amateur hookers.”] Young women from good families who supplemented local culture, and financial boon to the civic coffers,
their allowances by working in secretive, high-class houses in Berlin West.
each of these Zonas varied considerably in size and
Normal hours of operation were late afternoon/early evening. [Variant name:
public toleration. To a great degree, they defined the
MANNEQUINS.] Estimated numbers: 500.
DOMINAS—Leather-clad, mesomorphic women who specialized in whipping, secret and cosmopolitan life of the city. And among
 Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com

humiliation, and other forms of erotic punishment. Active in lesbian nightclubs

that permitted kinky heterosexual couples and free-spending male clients. Also
found in phony “Body-Culture” clinics. Estimated numbers: 1,500.
FOHSES—[Corruption of French underworld argot for “vaginas.”] Independent them, Pigalle (in Paris’ colorful Montmartre quarter)
whores, who advertised in newspapers and magazines as manicurists and
bustled with the most naughty panache, Ooh-la-la
masseuses. Sometimes seen by Kudamm outdoor display cases. [Also known
fashion, and Bohemian picaresque charm. One could
as QUALITY WOMEN.] Estimated numbers: 2,500.
MEDICINE—Child prostitutes, ages 12–16, who were “prescribed” by pimps, honeymoon there.

posing as physicians. The “patient” indicated the “length of his illness” Only Berlin, among the great metropolises, lacked a
(requested age of the girl) and color of pills (hair tint). Transaction took place
Strich or Zona Rosa.
in Berlin West “pharmacies.” Estimated numbers: less than 100.
MINETTES—[French for “female cats.” A common Parisian expression for inde-
pendent, sexually active women.] Exclusive call girls who enacted S&M fantasy “Berlin Is Becoming a Whore”
scenes, often involving foot worship, bondage, and forced transvestitism. A 1792 statute (with 24 clauses) from the time of
Located in all the large Friedrichstadt hotels. Estimated numbers: 350.
Friedrich II gave rise to Berlin’s exceptionalism in all
RACE HORSES—Masochistic prostitutes who enjoyed being beaten or
matters sexual. In keeping with strict Prussian decorum,
whipped. Worked in “Institutes for Foreign Language Instruction,” where
the “schoolrooms” were equipped with instruments of torture and bondage no brothel quarter could be legally sanctioned within
furniture. Patrons were carefully screened before their first session. Estimated the city proper. Commerce in sex was declared illegal
numbers: 200.
but—according to the confusing edicts—female and
TABLE-LADIES—Berlin’s version of the Geisha. Employed in private nightclubs
on the Kudamm, Table-Ladies were reputed to be ravishing and multilin- male prostitution itself was to be placed “under govern-

gual. Each conformed to a specific national type: Demonic German, Exotic ment surveillance” (in effect, authorized). The unin-
Eurasian, dark-eyed Gypsy-Girl, blonde Nordic, or Spanish Aristocrat. A
favorite of politicians, movie moguls, bigtime capitalists, and Scandinavian
tourists. Customers paid “table-money” to the club—often in excess of 100
marks—for an evening of champagne, fancy canapés, scintillating gossip, and
a private backroom encounter. Estimated numbers: 400–500 before the 1929
Crisis; half as many after.
TELEPHONE-GIRLS—Child prostitutes, ages 12–17, who are ordered by tele-
phone and then delivered to clients in limousines or taxis. Usually given
the names of stage or film stars, like Marlene Dietrich or Lilian Harvey, that
described their prepubescent physical features. Often billed as “virgins.”
Extremely expensive. Estimated numbers: 3,000.

www.Ebook777.com
tended consequence was whimsically clear

to the inner-city inhabitants and the newly-

arrived Napoleonic authorities: by default,

unregulated street vice and whorehouses

surfaced everywhere in city (although they

were most visible in the Friedrichstadt and

the areas just north of it).

Sex for hire was stated to be unlawful

but, bafflingly, also technically permitted.

The city administrators were of several

minds in dealing with this judicial conun-

drum. Whoring was, through the Wilhelmian

era, alternately tolerated, then banned,

then yet again “placed under surveillance.”

No matter what was decreed, however,

prostitutes and the citizenry who engaged

their services always found ingenious ways

to circumvent the murky codes. Only two

sanctions were consistent: 1) Berlin refused to allot a (which in Berlin was anywhere). How they were Previous Left:
Minette at work,
legal district for the practice of harlotry—the supposed to drum up business in outlying or unfamil- 1932

Previous Right:
“Mediterranean” solution, and 2) public solicitation for iar quarters was solved with inimitable Berlin logic:
A Half-Silk, 1926

sex was strictly prohibited. because streetwalkers could only be arrested for ver- Opposite Left:
Jeanne Mammen,
A relatively small number of prostitutes—around bal solicitation, an elaborate gestural and dress code Boot-Whores

4,000 in 1914—were granted Kontroll-cards, which quickly arose. Customers could recognize the compli- Above:
Fritz Burger,
subjected them to monthly inspections by eight vice- ant goods instantly by their characteristic packaging. Off the Track

doctors, or Pussy-Pressers. This allowed the certified In other words, whores would promote themselves by

sex-workers to maintain their vocation on the Line looking like whores.

33
 example, advertised their services pedalogically

through a semaphore-like language. Black, green, scar-

let, red, and brown leather footwear promised differ-

ent mise en scènes of sexual torment and debasement

(i.e., green boots and gold shoelaces meant an eve-

ning of enslavement with a scatological conclusion;

red-on-maroon denoted flagellation and discipline; and

so forth). Naturally only devoted aficionados could

decipher such specific messages with confidence.

Other potential clients had to buy special primers,

where Berlin’s complex street semiotics were thought-

fully decoded for the uninitiated.

Topology of the Sex Trade

Above: The problem, unfortunately, became acute in the Altogether, there were eleven or twelve major sex
Casparius,
A Grasshopper Weimar period when prostitute fashion was widely zones in Berlin during the Twenties, none of them “offi-

Opposite: imitated by Berlin’s more virtuous females. For instance, cially” delineated, but each with distinctive attractions
G. Hahn,
The Flowergirl
one historical badge of shame for Strich-violators, short- and an overall licentious atmosphere. The most con-

cropped hair, became the common emblem of the spicuous was called the “Alex,” a ten-block slum cen-

Tauentziengirl (a variety of Berlin streetwalker)—at tered around the Alexanderplatz in Berlin North. Site of

least for a year or two. Then in 1923, the short pageboy the lowest-grade whores in the city (Class Three

coif, or Bubikopf, achieved universal popularity as the Kontroll-Girls, Chontes, and Gravelstones) as well as the

stylish cut for trendy Berlinerinnen. central police station and a luxurious brothel for straight

Prostitutes had to change and update their pro- women, the Alex contained at least 320 houses of ill

vocative attire constantly in order to retain a legal repute. Only a dozen or so resembled tranquil maisons

means of solicitation. Dress also communicated sex de tolérance of the Parisian variety. The rest were

practice. Boot-Whores near the Wittenberg Platz, for essentially fuck pads, where street prostitutes serviced
34
 once when the madam closed in the early

morning; towels and linens sometimes went

unchanged for days.

Innocuous storefronts in the alleyways

around the Alex and coal cellars also dou-

bled as Transient-Quarters. One celebrated

ice cream parlor on Mehnerstrasse trans-

formed into a handjob factory precisely at

ten o’clock in the evening. (A jaunty travel

writer suggested that the hum from the

freezers must have acted as a powerful

stimulant for Berlin’s hardcore cold fetish-

ists.) The whole operation was finally busted

when a local Kontroll-Girl complained to a

sympathetic Bull (vice-officer) that her brood

of children was spending far too much idle

time at the all-night confectionery.

The Friedrichstadt beckoned with more

Above: their clients. The sex was quick and cheap. In an “Hour elevated temptations. A mile-square downtown pre-
Kontroll-Girls
on the Hotel,” the John paid about one dollar for the use of the cinct, compromised of federal ministry buildings, “grand”
Friedrichstrasse,
1930 room and 35 to 75 cents for the Kontroll-Girl. At the hotels, state-funded museums, revue-houses, and high-

200-plus “Transient-Quarters,” or mini-brothels, money rise compounds for financial and publishing conglomer-

(usually in the dollar range) was paid first to the ates, the Friedrichstadt doubled as a tawdry Luna Park

Kupplerin (house madam) and then the Flea was when the workday concluded. Between five o’clock tea

directed into a bare room for a ten-minute transaction. and three in the morning, this was home to hundreds of

Hygiene levels were notoriously un-Germanic. The Nepp-Lokals, strip clubs, gay Dielen (bar-lounges), mas-

wash basins in a typical Quarter were emptied only sage parlors, greasy Wurst restaurants, and the Linden-
36
 Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com

Passage, a dilapidated arcade lane where two to three section in Berlin’s proletarian South, featured Erwin Below:
Posed
hundred Doll-Boys (underage boy prostitutes) posed Piscator’s Communist theatre as its best-known night- photograph
of a Racehorse
before hesitant Sugar-Lickers (gay pederasts). Hard- time draw. One could also find a surfeit of cocaine and

faced Minettes applied their psychodramatic skills in S&M clubs just to the south of Walter Gropius’ temple

top-floor rooms of pensions and tourist hotels. of Red art. Another six blocks further south and east

The Tiergarten, Berlin’s dimly-lighted park preserve was the clandestine land of black-curtained homosexu-

at the city core, attracted young freelance Line-Boys al lounges and Racehorse salons for the delectation of

and Grasshoppers (female specialists in BJs), who con- straight sadists.

gregated in groups near the park’s edge after

dark. South of the Tiergarten peered fashion-

able Berlin West and its elegant midway, the

Kurfürstendamm (or the Kudamm). At this

nexus of expensive nightclubs, pleasure palac-

es, lesbian cafés, transvestite cabarets, and

American-style bars, high-end call girls, or

Fohses, by the dozens, positioned themselves

between the free-standing display cases set in

front of glitzy Kudamm boutiques. (“Shiny mer-

chandise by shiny merchandise” one guidebook

ballyhooed.) Half-Silks (amateur prostitutes)

and Boot-Whores respectfully staked out their

claims slightly eastward, in the esplanades and

street corners by the Kaiser-Wilhelm Memorial

Church. Fancy whorehouses and sham fronts for

underage sex were tucked away in the quiet

neighborhoods abetting the Potsdamer Platz.

The Nolldendorfplatz, an out-of-the-way

www.Ebook777.com
 Above: On the Line The lowest (or Class Three) were known on the
Kontroll-Girl
Kontroll-Girls crowded Berlin’s streetcorners in flush street as Bone Shakers. Older and most experienced

times and bad. They formed the nucleus of the 30,000 than the others, they looked down upon the undocu-

round-the-clock itinerant whores. By 1930, nearly mented Grasshoppers (or Fresh-Air Girls), who per-

9,000 possessed Kontroll-Books that testified to their formed similar duties under the inviting skies of the

fine venereal health. (The others had allowed their Tiergarten. Class Two included Tauentziengirls, a viva-

medical papers to lapse or ignored the Pussy-Pressers cious streetwalker type, found on the Tauentzienstrasse

altogether.) The Bulls categorized the K-Girls into three and characterized by their flapper-style wardrobe and

grades based on appearance, age, and number of bathing cap-like hats. Curt Moreck, a Sittengeschichte

clients per day. chronicler, compared them to swamp lilies and praised
38
them as “an iridescent, demonic

perversity.” Because of their fresh

attitude (Berliner Schnauze) and

frequent pairing with identically

dressed daughters, journalists

enjoyed quoting their droll respons-

es to otherwise complex, current-

event issues and national trends.

Boot-Whores, although rela-

tively few in number (300 or 350),

provided Berlin nightlife with its

most ubiquitous local color. Arriving

in Berlin during the Inflation, Klaus

Mann remembered walking past a

group of the outdoor dominatrices,

“Some of them looked like fierce

Amazons, strutting in high boots

made of green, glossy leather. One

of them brandished a supple cane

and leered at me as I passed by. ‘Good evening, tumed in red and black attire like nineteenth-century Above:
Tauentziengirl
Madam,’ I said. She whispered into my ear, ‘Want to be horsewomen. Snapping a riding crop, the tallest Amazon team

my slave? Costs only six billions and a cigarette. A bar- bellows menacingly, ‘Who will be my slave tonight?’”

gain. Come along, honey!’” Eight years after Mann’s First-Class Joy-Girls were generally the youngest and

encounter, Moreck reported on the same corner: “One most desirable of the K-Girl bunch but they faced

favorite tourist site is located near the Passauer and enormous competition from yet another unique Berlin

Ansbacher streetcorners, west of Wittenberg Platz. erotic phenomenon, Half-Silks. Mostly fresh-faced sec-

There, a trio of six-foot tall Boot-Girls are garishly cos- retaries, minor government clerks, department-store
39
 apparel) and, in summer months, teddy

bears. It was said that the majority engaged

in serious prostitution only during the last

third of the month or in the difficult period

just before payday.

Nuttes was a term used to describe very

young, kittenish flappers. Sometimes it

referred to teenaged Joy-Girls or coltish Half-

Silks. Most Berlin sexologists viewed Nuttes

as a separate prostitute type. Physically they

resembled androgynous boys with short hair,

flat chests, and long legs, accentuated by

extremely short skirts, lustrous silk hosiery,

and high heels. Usually rebellious teens from

bourgeois families, the Nuttes, through their

flirtatious demeanor and playful manners,

inhabited an enticing middle ground between

the brash Kontroll-Girls and often fickle Half-

Silks. A successful Berlin Alphonse (pimp)

liked to have a handful of Class 3s and one

or two Nuttes in his intimate stable.

Above: employees, and salesgirls by day, these amateur hook- Indoor Varieties
A Chonte
ers roamed Berlin West by the tens of thousands in the From Renaissance times, Gypsies and Jews were

early evening. They were easily recognized by their closely identified with white slavery in Central Europe.

girlish makeup and unusual accoutrements, like large By 1920, their participation was largely vestigial in

cloth handbags (where they secreted their daytime Germany. Romany culture became submerged in gooey
40
Viennese, Hungarian, Parisian, and Spanish renditions. the exception of two picturesque types: Kupplerinnen Above:
Posed
Gypsies themselves disappeared from German urban (procuresses) and Chontes—zaftig whores from south- photograph
of a Münzi
life although they were the theme of a vast, mostly ern Poland. In general, Chonte-Harbors (Jewish broth-

invented, erotic literature. els) were not well regarded in Berlin’s sex guides but

Weimar Berlin had a large Jewish population they appeared to attract a sizable working-class and

(around 9% if one includes Ostjuden [immigrants from indigenous clientele.

Eastern countries] and thoroughly assimilated/con- The other varieties of indoor Berlin prostitutes were

verted/hidden Jews). While they dominated certain substantially higher-brow. Fohses frequently made their

cultural fields in pre-Nazi Berlin, especially publishing, initial contacts in public gatherings, negotiating prices

law, medicine, theatre, graphic art, cinema, music, and scenes, but were never considered streetwalkers

architecture, and popular entertainment, relatively few since their work fell under the (even then) comic rubric

Jews were still involved in common prostitution with of “Massage Therapists.” Upscale Demi-Castors were
41
 peans, captured this Weimar excess best

in his farcical recollection of the Alex:

I saw pimps offering anything to anybody,

little boys, little girls, robust young men, libidi-

nous women, or (I suppose) animals. (The story

went around that a male goose of which one

cut the neck at the ecstatic moment would give

you the most delicious, economical, and time-

saving frisson of all, as it allowed you to enjoy

sodomy, bestiality, homosexuality, necrophilia,

and sadism at one stroke. Gastronomy too, as

one could eat the goose afterward.)

Actually, in Berlin North, Alphonses and

independent whores organized their per-

verse attractions in the manner of market-

day vendors: like-with-like. Mehnerstrasse

(site of the ice cream/masturbation shop)

Above: essentially the picky Half-Silks of the closed-door broth- was known as “Old Mädchen Street.” For those with an
Albert Birkle,
Fohses el set. And Table-Ladies (Berlin Geishas) applied their itch for mature K-Girls (40- to 60-year-olds but looking

exclusive trade in snooty nightclub backrooms and at considerably older) or a sympathetic motherly touch,

bachelor pads. there were three infamous Transient-Quarters and a few

storefront chambers of the same. On Landwehrstrasse

Acquired Tastes were only beautiful stout Beinls. Weighting an average

Sophisticated het tourists came to Berlin for erotic of 220 pounds, these gorgeous street creatures in

“specialties.” Luigi Barzini’s social memoir, The Euro- groups of three and four provided ideal subject matter
42
for smirking painters of the Neue Sachlichkeit ilk.

Other corners near the Alex (like the faraway

Tauentzienstrasse) were talking grounds for

mother-and-daughter crews. In Berlin North,

however, the age difference between the parent

and child was striking and even exaggerated. The

amusing twin-sister look of the T-Girls faded on

Gollnowstrasse into a dark incestuous fantasy.

One French journalist, Jean Galtier-Boissiere,

described, in sickly pornographic detail, the creep-

ing horror of feeling a nine-year-old’s tiny, but

proficient, fingers stroking his upper thigh while

her broken-toothed mother covered with his face

with hot sucking kisses.

Two street types were deemed important enough Münzis were knocked-up streetwalkers who adver- Above:
Waiting at
to be granted a separate nomenclature: Gravelstones tised their condition on Münzstrasse, about seven the Bridge,
1931
and Münzis. Like Berlin’s war-wounded, the Gravel- blocks from Gravelstone territory. Conscious of their

stones had their own hideous allure. Outcast prosti- temporal appeal, the Münzis charged triple rates for

tutes with grim deformities—acid-scarred faces, sessions and organized themselves on the “Münz”

hunchbacks, crippled or missing limbs, disfiguring skin (“Coin”) according to their stage of pregnancy. Like the

conditions—they created their own informal society on Boot-Whores, the Münzis became a much in-demand

Oranienburgstrasse in Berlin North. By the late tourist sight.

Twenties, the Gravelstones came into their own; men S&M prostitutes publicized their presence in trade

in chauffeured limousines appeared with some fre- newspapers and hotel flyers. Dominas were to be

quency to chat with them and if their malformation found in “Body Culture” clinics and sometimes

proved compelling and unusual enough, an all-night approached randy foreign couples in lesbian and trans-

arrangement was gamely struck. vestite nightclubs. More discreet were the Racehorses,
43
 Child Prostitution
Child prostitution was a searing social issue long

before and after the Inflation era. It involved both

female and male children, sex-workers’ progeny, run-

aways, and troublesome adolescents. There seemed to

be almost no bottom age for those seeking physical

companionship with children. And virtually no end to

willing girls and boys.

One unsettling example: In January 1932, a Berlin

tabloid exposed a “prostitute ring” of ten-year-old girls

who worked independently at the Alex U-Bahn Station.

Each girl stood demurely inside a subway entrance

foyer, hoping to catch the eye of an impulsive Cavalier

(heterosexual pederast) on his way to work. Astonish-

ingly, the prepubescent vixens had been whoring unim-

peded for months before the story broke.

Of course, all major cities had to confront this

Above: young masochistic prostitutes, who were billed as pressing and psychologically debilitating civic prob-
A Domina
“teachers” at “Institutes for Foreign Language Instruction” lem, particularly during hard times. But in Berlin the

or “masseuses” in Berlin South “Beauty Salons.” quandary of kiddy-prostitution was partly resolved by

Minettes, unlike their French namesakes, enacted stan- a more cynical, free-market approach: the opening of

dard domination and fetish scenarios (i.e., angry board- child brothels.

ing-school mistress; new secretary; enraged customer; How many children were actually pressed into sex-

Madga Lupesco and King Carol; best friend’s mother; ual service/slavery is unknown. Magnus Hirschfeld

industrial spy; blackmailing student; boss’ sadistic reported on one such lucrative operation on Alexand-

daughter; old girlfriend) for hefty fees in fashionable rienstrasse, where a “rapacious harem” of 14-year-old

hotel suites. Russian girls “lewdly beguiled” wealthy Cavaliers from

44
 Left:
Medicine,
1932

Berlin’s industrial elite. The house was, remarkably, enumerate the exact years he suffered from some

shut down by the municipal court after a sensational malady—although the nature of the illness was always

trial shrouded in political intrigue and late-night govern- left unnamed. The answer had to be in the 12-to-16

ment machinations. range since it signified the age of the child-prostitute he

Other child dens of iniquity sidestepped the Bulls was requesting. The attending “physician” (who had a

through a ruse of codewords and cheesy disguises. On diploma in hairdressing on the wall) then responded by

Bülowbogen in Berlin West, a pederast could enter a searching the back cubicles for the properly aged

storefront “Pharmacy,” where he would be asked to Medicine, which was dispensed in hourly “tablets” of
45
 purchase the services of the “child-star,”

who was whisked in a waiting motor vehicle

to his domicile. What would appear to be a

rather singular perversion among the Berlin’s

high society was in fact a favored divertisse-

ment. Theatricality, pederasty, star-fucking,

and technology all meshed in ways that

would have likely startled the wizened flesh-

peddlers of Nineveh and Shanghai.

Kietz
The Kietz, or underworld life of the Berlin

prostitute, was presented in countless ways

during the Weimar era. Songs, revues, film

melodramas, faits divers all doted on the

loony spectacle. Police reports and tabloids

emphasized the Kietz’ ugly and dangerous

nature. Religious leaders and health officials

warned of its spiritual and physical repercus-

sions. And graphic artists naturally recorded

“blonde, brown, brunette, or Gypsy-black.” the Kietz’ ironic juxtapositions as a telling panorama on

More popular (and far more profitable) was the human mendacity and deceit.

trade in Telephone-Girls. Attractive 12-year-old girls Like other workers in debased professions, the

and young teens were made up and dressed to resem- people who inhabited the Kietz saw it differently. They

ble adult female celebrities—typically Lya da Putti, felt nothing but contempt for outsiders (except for the

Marlene Dietrich, Dolly Haas, or Lilian Harvey. Lonely Bulls, who normally treated them with good-natured

Cavaliers telephoned one of six or seven agencies to respect). Most prostitutes claimed their lives were infi-
46
 Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com

nitely more liberated and interesting than those of their customs, sources of satisfaction, entertainments, taboos, Opposite
and Above:
lumpenprol sisters. The Kietz had its own system and codes of honor. For four years, it even produced its Telephone-Girls

Left:
of justice, language, familial relationships, annual own weekly newspaper, Der Pranger (“The Pillory”).
A Domina

And while public servants ranted about infectious

venereal disease, for instance, the average Kupplerin

could cite statistics from League of Nations studies that

found Berlin to have rather low rates of syphilis and

gonorrhea, compared to, say, London and Paris. “Big

and Little Jelly” were occupational hazards but so was

mangling a hand in a stamp-press or daydreaming

while brushing down a wheat-thresher.

Life in Weimar Berlin could be unpredictable and

very unpleasant, but real street violence—a sure cata-

lyst for inner-city anxiety and dread—was exceedingly

rare, at least until the political situation outside the

Kietz began to sour.

47

www.Ebook777.com
 Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com

Berlin nightlife, my word, the world hasn’t seen anything like it! We use to have a first-class army; now we have first class perversions.
Klaus Mann, The Turning Point, 1942

Everyone Once in Berlin!

City of Berlin Tourist Slogan, 1927

GIRL-CULTURE AND THE

ALL-NIGHT BUMMEL
Berlin glorified in its image as Europe’s showcase of sin.
Its own police commissioners often boasted that vice and debauchery

were the city’s prime industries. (Actually manufacturing, finance, and

publishing produced more revenue.) But over 150,000 Berliners made

their living in the Kietz or were employed in related businesses, nota-

bly Nachtlokals, seedy hotels, pornographic studios and cinemas,

unlicensed casinos and bars, naked boxing and wrestling arenas,

private torture dungeons, and like-minded flimflam operations.

On any given weekend in Berlin, six to seven hundred emporiums

promised nonpareil sexual pleasures and sights—indulgences unknown

even to the orgy-seeking miscreants of ancient Rome and Asia. In

each nighttime establishment there was a conspicuous effort to

appeal to a specific and novel perversion or erotic taste. Lesbians

alone in 1930 could select from 85 same-sex Dielen, risqué night-

www.Ebook777.com
Previous Left:
A Nutte and
pharmacist on
the town

Previous Right
and Opposite:
Uhu, 1931

Right:
Schlichter,
Tingel-Tangel,
1920

clubs, and dancehalls. Some of these private concerns replaced by more fluid categories of dress, bodily

barred straights and gay men outright, others welcomed appearance, age, and sexual disposition. Even the stan-

them, and still others restricted their female clientele to dard categories of desire—male/female; gay/straight;

circumscribed types or tribadic couplings. normal/abnormal; latent/public—were shaken in such

The carnal advantages of class and wealth intensi- fundamental ways that they astonish even now.

fied in Sodom, although they appeared at times to be Hidden away in Berlin East, for instance, was a tiny
50
honky-tonk, the “Monte Casino,” where working-class expect and spend, and fantasize how their dream

husbands partook in boy sex. While their understanding, Bummel or session might unfold. These lurid Baedekers

prole wives sipped beer and applauded the transvestite of the night were indispensable pilots for lost souls.

revue, the otherwise straight men quietly excused them-

selves and tramped back to the greenroom cubicles. “Girl-Culture”

There they negotiated oral sex with the sweaty, bewigged Not every Berliner—or tourist—was swept away in

kid performers. A few Reichsmarks lighter, the lusty ste- the Weimar sex-rush. But the aggregate who partici-

vedores eventually retired to the dining tables of their pated in some commercial aspect of the Kietz,

ever-patient mates. Life was truly a cabaret then.

French journalists, in particular, were impressed by

the diverse throngs of harlots and exotic Strich trade

that the German Gotham featured. But their Descartesian

minds boggled at the sporting menu of bizarre classifi-

cations and typologies that substituted for natural local

color. In the thinking of these fun-loving Frenchmen,

wicked Berlin was overly determined and taxonomical,

devoid of romantic camouflage, leeringly ironic, inten-

tionally perverse, and far too Germanic. The ancient

human exchange between money, sex, and psychic

fulfillment had never been so complicated, they claimed;

it required a new calculus.

Fortunately there were books for the uninformed.

Directories of nocturnal Berlin (in adventurous straight,

S&M, gay, lesbian, or nudist versions) could be had at any

train station, hotel lobby, or downtown kiosk. Foreigners

and provincials alike could plot out, with a thumb-flip,

where or where not they were wanted, calculate what to

 Poisonous fumes or no, the Sittengeschichten schol-

ars of the time understood how the whore milieu per-

meated workaday Berlin. Advertising, music, mass-

market periodicals, clothing styles, stage interpretations

of Shakespeare and Schiller, high literature, dining

arrangements in restaurants, and election propaganda

were all indelibly stamped with this new image of

female sexuality and the independent woman. In the

mid-Twenties, it acquired a name: Girlkultur.

An abiding brainstorm of Flo Ziegfeld, the epony-

mous American producer, “Girl-Culture” redefined the

psychology and bodily form of the desirable female. In

Above: especially during the Inflation or the approaching

Poster for
The Crooked depression, was extraordinarily high. Probably 20 to 25
Mirror cabaret,
1928
percent of adult Berlin dabbled in the midnight amuse-

ments in the year before Hitler was anointed Reichs-

chancellor. While newcomers thought the erotic mad-

ness was, more or less, a function of the uncertain

economic times, Berliners themselves jokingly blamed it

on their amphetamine-like air (that Berliner Luft), which

many swore kept their hearts racing at night and then

thoroughly revitalized them for the morning commute.

52
heavily-promoted publicity campaigns and

on the stage of his New York Follies,

Ziegfeld advanced and constantly reshaped

this modern fantasy creature. She was

urbane, slim, not much interested in chil-

dren, socially irreverent, leggy, charmingly

vain, and a sexual predator. The Ziegfeld

Girl had all the basic physical attractions of

the Parisian Flirt, but her gold-digging

motivations were refreshingly undisguised

and externalized.

The American Flapper persona fit snug-

ly into the unsentimental machine-age Zeitgeist. It The dazzling sex cards they held were short-lived and Above:
Heinz von
universalized femme-fatalism. Sex appeal was no lon- not a danger to the gender status quo. The roles of good Perckhammer,
A Nachtlokal
ger a mysterious inborn construct but a purchasable and bad women in Weimar had become reversed. Any on the
Friedrichstadt

commodity, available to the entire female-of-the- Bubikopfed teen was a potential Lulu, or Nutte.

species. And seduction could be played out for better Girl-Culture also referred to the precision chorus

rewards than bourgeois marriage—and far longer—when line, which Ziegfeld’s choreographers contrived from a

its ultimate goals were money (or diamonds, gold blend of French Can-Can and the American fascination

jewelry, furs, penthouses) and emotional dominance. with Taylorist motion economy. Stunning Girl-Groups

Berliners, far more than Manhattanites, adapted from Anglo-Saxon countries demonstrated synchro-

Ziegfeld’s provocative concept to their mentality and nized kick displays that beat the hell out of the prewar

lifestyle. It glamorized and extended the war between Tangel-Tingel leg shows. Each angelic dancer, the iden-

the sexes. Women and men each possessed something tical duplicate of the other, resembled an interchange-

the other passionately desired in the big-city tango. In able machine part or a blank-faced soldier in a Prussian

fact, Berlin’s professional Beinls were often looked upon army drill. Here, the New Woman was automated,

as the heartfelt, unadorned subset of the New Woman. made trainable, streamlined, remolded into a robotic
53
 doll. Both aspects of Girl-Culture—the Demonic Sex

Right and Object and the Rationalized Sex Object—enthralled and

Below:
Walter animated Berlin.
Pantikow,
Berliner Leben,
The pairing or struggle between these modern
1928

archetypes largely replaced the old brunette/blonde

conflict inside Berlin’s venerable theatre prosceniums.

Male characters in sex farces and jazzy operettas no

longer had to deal with the classic dilemma, the penis

versus the heart. The ingenues-in-question were each

beddable hellcats. Which succubi to wed or follow to

Paris became the novel contentious denouement.

In Fritz Lang’s epic film, Metropolis (1927), where

Berlin’s social and cultural conflicts were projected into

a science-fantasy future, the theme of Girl-Culture was

handled with recondite humor and a hokey melodra-

matic touch. One year later, Brecht and Weill bested the

movie with their avant-garde musical, The Three-Penny

Opera. By adding cynical dollops of Berliner Schnauze

and restituating the Berliner erotic typology to Victorian

London, the unlikely modernists perfected the titillating

master narrative. Virtually the entire Berlin press corps

hailed the brilliant rendering. The Marxist poet Brecht

54
insisted, in his contrarian manner, that the play was a

comic, left-wing indictment of capitalism, but the critics

knew better. Three-Penny was Girl-Culture in song.

What Berlinerinnen felt about Girl-Culture is a

contentious subject for feminist scholars. Interviews

(that I conducted) with women who were teenagers

and 20-year-olds in Weimar Berlin and a perusal of

popular women’s magazines of the period indicate a

high degree of personal satisfaction. Suddenly females

from Wilhelmian families were accorded social and

carnal opportunities that made them the envy of their

older sisters. One woman called Girl-Culture sexual suf-

frage. Female novelists and Berlin’s feminists, as was

their wont, were considerably more critical of the

invented revolution.

Cabaret
Cabaret was, of course, the signature entertainment

form of Weimar Berlin. Born in the backhalls and min- cabarets in the Parisian mode: shows with alternating Above:
Max Liebermann,
iature variety-houses of fin-de-siècle Montmartre and acts of musical comedy, poetry reading, topical mono- Erotic Grotesques,
1920
Vienna, the cabaret melded lowly amusement genres logues, torch songs, sleight-of-hand routines, dramatic

to Bohemian sensibilities, in the service of a middle- sketches, and the like. In a sense, these were hip

class audience on the slum. In Berlin, the “tenth muse” Music-Halls presented within an intimate restaurant

unraveled, returning to its maverick roots: the brothel setting. The evening’s mood in these houses shifted

and concert-café. expeditiously, from laughter to tears to awe to artistic

Of the 150 Berlin commercial outlets that advertised appreciation and finally back to laughter, with each suc-

cabaret revues, only a dozen or so were traditional ceeding act. In the standard Jägerstrasse Kabarett,
55
 however, there were only two moods: the bitterly

CELLY DE RHEIDT sardonic and the heart-thumpingly erotic.

DANCE TROUPE
IN A TYPICAL EVENING: “THE DANCE OF BEAUTY” (1923)
Oddly enough, Kander and Ebb got this part right.

The literary and political cabarets, because of their high

Harry Seveloh, the husband of the lead dancer, delivers a short introduc- artistic content and celebrity casting, received substan-

tion to the program. He enthuses that Berlin high society has now grown tial print coverage, which survived (in bits and drabs)
mature enough to enjoy the sights of naked female performers without lewd,
to be analyzed and deconstructed by post-World War II
sensual stimulation. The spectator’s appreciation of the girls’ exposed beauty
historians. The more popular erotic cabarets hardly
should be of a purely intellectual or aesthetic nature.
merited notice, except in the downtrodden Galante
Scattered applause from the mature audience. The curtain is drawn, expos-
monthlies.
ing a tiny stage.
 Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com

legal problems that dogged its cre-

ators. Described in remarkable detail Opposite:

Rudolf Koppitz,
by Hirschfeld, Paul Markus (“PEM”), 1925

and several Berlin newspaper report- Below:

Scene from the
Haller-Revue
ers, the performance revealed a

relatively early attempt to stitch the

naughty cabaret impulse to the pro-

tective frame of Ausdruckstanz

(Expression Dance).

Celly De Rheidt’s brazen troupe

was forced to disband shortly after

this engagement. Her entrepreneur-

ial husband, Seveloh, a former army

lieutenant, was penalized 1500

Inflation marks, which he managed

to delay paying until the following

summer when the fine’s actual

One sensational production mounted at the Black Cat dollar value approached a near-zero decimal. Celly

Cabaret, “The Dance of Beauty,” achieved widespread divorced him, remarried in Vienna, and settled down to

notoriety due to its novelty during the Inflation and the be an upstanding Hausfrau, never to heard from again.

www.Ebook777.com
 Gypsy violin music slowly ushers in a line of

female artistes.

A waltz, danced by Celly de Rheidt and her

ballet group, wearing short transparent dance-

dresses, commences. A violet light illuminates

them as they float across the dance floor, slowly in

the beginning, then in a furious pace. Their bodies

freeze, silhouetted against the background of the

closing curtain.

A short violin interlude. Again the Girls appear

and dance a wild bacchanal under a reddish-purple

light. They wear transparent dance-dresses that

expose one breast. The wild twirls are followed

by a brightly illuminated dance scene: a spring

serenade with the music of Lecombe, performed

by Celly and a young attractive dancer. Each wears

a short, fluttering chiffon skirt below a nude torso.

The girl suddenly collapses. She is startled out of

her dream state and begins to leap rapturously in a

flower movement. Her body sways outward, as she

lifts her breasts to the warm, life-giving sun. After the Black Cat affair, naturally, no Berlin cabaret

The stage darkens as a circle of barefoot girls in peasant dresses rush was stupid enough to flaunt its fleshy wares as high
forward to execute a vibrant Hungarian folk dance. art in the face of the authorities or, if it did, forget to
An erotic pantomime, the “Opium Slumber,” ensues in quick succession. It
compensate the local Polenta for their impeccable criti-
begins with the shadow of a Chinaman smoking wanly on an opium pipe. After
cal faculties.
a few minutes, an evil femme fatale appears and seductively enslaves him to
Foreign tourist guides, true to their calling, champi-
be a victim for her mélange of sadistically lewd games. The club spectators

watch this with a special intensity. oned the Kabarettwelt’s indecent rep. Jägerstrasse, the

This is followed by a carnal “Bullfight,” performed to the clicking of casta- home to 14 or 15 Nachtlokals, was publicized as Berlin’s

nets. Celly, the female matador, disrobes with exquisite deliberation and uses hothouse citadel of forbidden sights. Yet, around 1927,
her diaphanous garb to sexually torment and subjugate the hapless beast. The a natural downturn occurred. The dark hedonism of the
dance concludes with the defeated bull lying supine next to the high heels of
erotic cabaret could be explored in other, more com-
the triumphant—and now naked—matador.
fortable and accessible surroundings: in ritzy dinner
clubs, private Dielen, a few showy restaurants, the

“Pleasure-Palaces,” even on an evening’s Bummel of

the Kudamm.

Most “Golden Age” Berliners patronized the non-liter-

ary cabarets for their ineffable atmospheres, the cynical

mood (Berliner Stimmung) that enveloped the stale,

smoky air, and only occasionally for the overpriced

intoxicants and nude tableaux. Usually, the cabaret con-

férenciers, or Masters of Ceremonies, were the chief

draw. These tuxedoed wits did not exist anywhere else.

While Friedrichstadt Lokal producers experimented

with endless sexual and thematic innovations, one out-

landish idea succeeded. A malicious conférencier, Erwin

Lowinsky, known in the trade as “Elow,” rented the for-

mer Weisse Maus cabaret on Jägerstrasse from its new Opposite:

Poster for the
lesbian owners. Running only on Café Monbijou’s dark Celly de Rheidt
Ballet Beauty
night, Monday, Elow called his enterprise the “Cabaret of Dances

Above:
the Nameless.” Instead of hiring professional entertain-
Comic “Jack the
Ripper” scene
ers, Elow did just the opposite; his stage was open only in a cabaret,
1926
to amateur performers, 15 per evening.

Elow chose for his off-night cabaret the most thor-

oughly talentless types he could possibly find, includ-

ing—for the greater delight of his demented public—

utterly delusional and rapturous sickies. Berlin intellec-

59
 Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com

The menacing cadence of an Inca sacrificial ceremony is pounded out

by the orchestra. On a mountain plateau, a bevy of pearl-necklaced, naked

virgins are forced to participate in the ritual murder of their sisters and then

given drugs by a High Priest so they may delight in erotic worship with the tuals compared the milieu of the Nameless to the

nubile corpses. Roman Coliseum where Christians were savagely mar-

Finally, a fully orchestrated Spanish mystery play, based on Calderon’s The tyred, to neighborhood bullfighting rings in Mexico
Nun, is enacted. A cello solo establishes the somber mood. Then a procession City, and to the execution of criminals by guillotine on
of nuns and monks, led by a bishop, moves through the audience to the stage,
Paris’ sidestreets.
which is arranged like the interior of a church and lit in dark purple columns.
The majority of Elow’s nonprofessionals were
The procession is accompanied by the sound of harpsichord, violins, and the
cajoled into believing that their appearance would hurl
cello. A trembling young Sister, played by the histrionic Celly, is brought before

the altar of the inquisitorial court. The Father declares her unchaste, worthless. them into cabaret stardom. Generally, they were

Despite her mad pleas, the errant “Daughter of Christ” is mercilessly expelled Berlin’s losers: Gogol-like office clerks who believed

from her Order. Before a statute of Mary, the distraught teenager rips off her that their true calling was comic recitation or juggling;
habit and begs for divine intervention. The Holy Virgin magically steps forth, frustrated housewives who once trained in Bayreuth;
passionately kisses the Nun, fondles each of her breasts with a slow, icy touch,
incompetent teenage magicians; tin-eared composer-
and then presents the Sister with a silver crucifix—all before the eyes of a
and-lyricist teams; hypnotists who were banned from
stunned clergy. Lights out!
the variety circuit because of their chronic inability to

bring their volunteer subjects out of deep trance; mad

www.Ebook777.com
 ber. (A few really schizophrenic or severely inca-

pacitated performers were told by an effusive

Elow that their painfully conceived routine was so

absolutely smashing that they should restart the

whole thing.)

The toxic Stimmung at the Nameless was fur-

Opposite:
ther enhanced by Elow’s abusive taunts directed at James-Klein
Revue,
the hard-drinking spectators, who often responded The World
Unveiled,
with hearty anti-Semitic invective. The Cabaret of 1924

the Nameless played to full houses almost into the Left:

“Indian Goddess”
in revue sketch
Nazi period. Elow, the peripatetic imp, ended up in
Below:
Hollywood, where he vanished into American Grit and Ina
van Elben’s
show-biz obscurity, leaving behind just an archive dancing-machine
at the Tingel-
of his Berlin press clippings. Tangel, 1931

Napoleonic-posturing poets; and psycho-

logically impaired dilettantes who assumed

their renditions and imitations of Winter-

garten headliners were superior to the

originals.

At the low point in each act—and

Berlin’s journalists reported many such

moments—Elow jumped on the stage and

mockingly polled the audience whether or

not to allow the “artiste” to continue. Only

the most pathetic and hopeless creatures

were encouraged to complete their num-

 extravagant choreographic and musical dis-

plays. In the revue, however, an underlying

aesthetic and dramatic thesis held the evening

together. A single team of creators assembled

and molded the production. Foreign dance

troupes or renowned starlets could be dropped

into the show at any time, but their indepen-

dent routines had to further the revue’s “plot.”

Although conceived in Paris and New York,

the erotic revue blossomed in sensation-hungry

Berlin. It was mammoth, hectically paced, thor-

oughly cosmopolitan, and oozed Girl-Culture sex.

Berliners flocked to the revue-palaces, bought

the Tin Pan Alleyish recordings, marveled at the

chorus girls’ legs (which became iconic images in

Right: The Erotic Revue

The Tiller Girls
In the mid-Twenties, erotic revue,

another Ziegfeld invention, supplanted

cabaret as Berlin’s stylish Jazz Age desti-

nation. It combined the lavish features of

operetta and Music Hall in the old cabaret

format. Like the variety show, its principal

competitor, the program of the revue

unfolded in episodic set pieces. Olio acts

followed spectacle numbers; comic inter-

ludes punctuated the space between

62
the pictorial monthlies). Revues were a testament to

Berlin sophistication—what other city had its own Gesamt-

kunstwerk erotica? But the revue structure also spoke, in

a subterranean way, to the Germanic need to control

desire through objectification and derision.

Each of the eight major revue-theatres had its own

distinct appeal and style of presentation. One was noted

for its exquisite dance numbers and kaleidoscopic scen-

ery; one hired better composers and Schnauzer lyricists;

another veered to the experimental or hot topical issues;

still another was famed for using only glamorous Girl-

Groups from aboard. But no revue-producer was more

detested by his colleagues or more beloved by the voy-

euristic public than James Klein, who excelled in mount-

ing season after season of hit shows blanketed with

excessive amounts of gratuitous female nudity.

A typical James Klein Revue began with a simple

dramatic premise: an obese Oriental prince learns that

he will be disinherited in five years if he does not marry

and produce male heirs. (Big naked harem number.) The

chubby, disgruntled simp immediately enlists his lackey

Cohen (incidentally all the revue directors were Jewish) continent, although the nude aboriginals are always Above:
Scala
to find the finest specimen of raw feminine beauty on milky-white and look suspiciously French, with stop- Revue
Girl
the entire planet. Cohen then subcontracts the onerous overs in Berlin’s Kietz and a heavenly apparition of 74

task to two Berlin playboys, who obediently traverse the perky, rouged breasts. (Count ‘em!)

world’s fleshpots in order to win the million (post-infla- The 1929 depression brought down the curtains on

tionary) mark reward. Their journey takes them to every Klein’s erotic dreamscapes. His last show was titled
63
 Above: Goddamnit! 1,000 Naked Women!, which might have venue for their pursuit of the extraordinary: environ-
Futuristic
fashions been a tad ambitious. Klein remained in Berlin in the mental restaurants and Gargantuan nightclub retreats.
from Klein’s
Everyone Thirties, contented that he avoided his creditors and
Naked, 1927

bankruptcy proceedings. Nothing is known about his Theme Restaurants

fate afterwards. It was assumed that he fell victim to and Pleasure Palaces
the Nazi genocide. In 1932, the city of Berlin approved licenses for 119

Klein’s fellow revue-directors lost their theatres as “luxury-class” nightclubs, 400 bars or Dielen, and

well during the economic tailspin. Yet the hard-partying 20,000 restaurants. This meant Weimar Berlin had one

denizens of Berlin were unfazed. They discovered a new dining establishment for every 280 residents (the ratio
64
 Left:
James-Klein
Revue program
cover,
Take It Off!,
1928

in New York City in that year was 1 to 433). For the One unusual joint was the “Hackepeter,” north of the

most part, the food in Berlin was not of great interest Alex. Named after the Rheinish specialty (chopped raw

to the non-German tourists; Paris, Vienna, and Rome pork and minced onion drizzled in hot, bubbling lard), the

satisfied that craving in spades. Instead, Berlin had doz- restaurant featured a “Hunger Artist.” Encased in a sealed

ens of “theme” and “event” restaurants. They rivaled glass booth, Jolly sat in his underwear and chain-smoked

the cabarets and revue-houses in popularity. cigarettes. Two funeral-attired “observers” alternated
65
 Nuttes came to the Hackepeter just to mar-

vel at their unshaven prince-in-a-cage.

(Male columnists thought he looked more

like a frozen lizard than a hunk.) Among the

worshipping female hordes was the young

American heiress, Evelyn Rockefeller. In a

lovesick plea leaked to the press, Evelyn

proposed immediate marriage, a Monte

Carlo honeymoon, and eventual retirement

on her New York estate.

In March 1926, Jolly completed a 44-

day fast, surpassing all known records. To

celebrate, Lotte Schulze, the Hackepeter’s

owner and a war widow, invited the entire

corps of city-desk editors to a sumptuous

banquet of Rheinish delicacies. Jolly’s

observers and the midget joined in the

festivities but the champion hunger artist

absented himself. He was with Evelyn.

Opposite: during the 24-hour proceedings, ensuring no food ever At the end of the month, Jolly rejoined his place at
G. Breuer-Courth,
She Admires graced the hunger artist’s lips. During dining hours, a the Hackepeter and issued a public statement, rejecting
Her Beauty
midget announced the number of days and hours that the millionairess’ marital offer. Jolly maintained that he

Jolly fasted in his binge of voluntary starvation. Usually had fallen into a deep “spiritual depression” after his 44-

the Hackepeter regulars showed their appreciation by day ordeal, which was why he foolishly agreed to the

tapping against beer steins with their greasy utensils. engagement in the first place. Jolly since realized that no

Besides being an object of carnival-like fascination, hunger artist can both wed and be true to his calling.

Jolly was also considered a romantic idol. Starry-eyed The Berlin journalist Adolf Stein (a.k.a. Rumpel-
66
Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com

www.Ebook777.com
 Rockefeller dynasty’s family tree

(as far as I can tell) or in the New

York Social Registry of the period.

The theatricalization (or erotici-

zation) of Berlin restaurants took

many peculiar forms. “Heaven and

Hell” dropped the two afterlife

locales side by side, like movie-

Above: stilzchen) thought Jolly changed his mind once more, sets, within a single restaurant-nightclub, supplying
Jolly on display
years later, and followed Evelyn to her Long Island separate menus and styles of service. “Café Braun”

mansion. Where Jolly—and Evelyn—really wound up is masqueraded its help as world leaders and show-busi-

unclear, since Evelyn’s name does not show up in the ness personalities. The “Quick Bar” brought a bit of

68
Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com

www.Ebook777.com
 or
MAX, PIETZSCH, AND THE GIRL
A Game for Adults
Max, Pietzsch, and the Girl is ideal for whiling away
the hours. Ideal for groups of dance partners, for flirting
at health resorts, for Sunday afternoon outings, in short,
for all of those moments when one would like
to—but wouldn’t dare say so. The players are Max,
Pietzsch, and the The Girl. Success will follow.
The game affords opportunity for appropriate and
also inappropriate remarks. You should expect the
game to last several years.

Basic Rules:
The game is played with a die. Players should
choose appropriate objects to serve as game pieces. For men: col-
lar buttons, trouser buttons, etc. For women: thimbles, small hair
clips, stocking fasteners, or pralines.

Main Rules:
If a player lands on a square which is already occupied, he forms
a couple with that player. Each player rolls for himself, but brings
his partner along when advancing by regular rolls. When a player
lands on a colored square, he alone
may make an advance, and the couple
separates. As usual. The author cannot
prevent that, in this game, two men
may also form a couple.
The first player to reach the goal
receives two-thirds of the pot, and
the second receives the last third. If
a couple takes first place, it receives
the entire sum. It is the responsibility
of the man in the couple to pocket or
fritter away his half, or to pass on the
amount to the The Girl. Which we
certainly hope he will do.

Starting the Game:

Each player pays ten items into the
“Bank.” (Items may include: pfennigs,
thalers, kisses, chocolate cookies,
cigarettes.) The Bank should be held
by the Marriage Licensing Bureau.
Payments and withdrawals are made
at the Bank throughout the course
of the game. Filching from the pot is
strictly forbidden.
SPECIAL SQUARES
Max—Pietzsch—The Girl—All Players
16 Max spots a girl. Must wait for the next female player to pass. Skip all
turns until that time.
24 Entry into the family bathing hall. Entrance fee: 2 items. Max enjoys
himself there.
27 Max has no bathing trunks. Thrown out by the manager.
Pay penalty of five items and move back to Square 8.
28 Max meets a lovely creature. Must take her directly to the dance hall.
Without rolling, move to Square 51.
35 A row with the lady-friend. March, march, back
to Square 13.
41 Big engagement. The player must kiss the
woman closest to him on the board twice. It costs
him a little something. For men, five items for
the cost of the bridal bouquet, for women, 5 items
for lingerie.
43 Engagement trip to Paris. Move directly to
Square 70.
51 Entry into the dance hall.
53 Max has a keen eye. Sees a dancer and must
escort her immediately to the bathing hall. Move
back to Square 24. (The player selects his female
partner, and the two then play as a couple.)
57 Max has lost his bride. Must wait until the next
member of the opposite sex passes by. Receives
a liqueur as consolation. Award of two items.
62 Max receives an inheritance. Move to
Square 100.
69 Paris. Lengthy stay. Lose two turns.
75 Max is caught cheating. Penalty of 10 items. If a young
female lands on Square 75, she receives 10 items. But she
must kiss all the other players in order to receive the award.
(As in life, she can naturally refuse.)
79 Max has to go see a venereal doctor. Lose one turn and
pay five units.
80 Max meets a wealthy acquaintance. They drive in his
auto to Monte Carlo. Move directly to Square 91
87 Max asks for the daughter’s
hand. Rejection. Back to Square 1.
92 Success in Monte Carlo.
Receive two items. Player now has
the option of moving back twenty
spaces or to continue gambling. If
he rolls 4 or higher in his second
pass, he wins ten items. But if he
lands on Square 93 (in the next
turn), ten items are paid to the
Bank. Monte Carlo in miniature.
93 Gambling losses in Monte
Carlo. Pay two items.
98 Max chokes on a fish bone.
Calls the doctor. Fee of five items.
But dies anyway. Exit the game.
100 The Marriage Licensing
Bureau.

Rösler, 1926
 Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com

exotic Americana to European shores. At its

oval counter, one could order just milkshakes

or Martinis from a toothy, white-capped

soda-jerk. In the Quick dining hall, breath-

taking beauties, incongruously dressed in

Puritan-Shaker outfits, took orders for dubi-

ous Blue Plate Specials.

Theme-restaurants, nightclubs, and dance

halls began to overlap in the Twenties to form

the newest enclaves of Berlin’s nonstop

action. But among the fortresses of Girl-

Culture, still anoaher modern concept was

added to the glamorous melange, the depart-

ment store. Instead of cabbing from Diele to

restaurant to nightclub, one could experience

everything in a single, multi-leveled building.

Two of these Pleasure-Palaces became world-

renowned, “Haus Vaterland” and the “Resi.”

Occupying an entire city block, Haus Vaterland radi- The twelve dining arenas were devoted to interna- Opposite:
Manassé,
ated modernism. Like a still from Metropolis, the tional and provincial cultures—mostly fabricated—and The Unconscious
in the Mirror
domed roof of Vaterland was crowned with a Futuristic appropriate culinary spreads. One could select from
Above:
Lutz Ehrenberger,
ring of neon bands. The arresting sight was said to Turkish, Bavarian, Spanish, Viennese, Baden, Rheinish,
At the Nightclub
Heaven and Hell
resemble the head of a giant phallus. Inside its five Japanese, North German, Italian, Hungarian, Prussian, or

floors were twelve restaurant-”environments” and a American cuisines. And the amusements were site-

separate variety house. The Vaterland issued its own specific too. The glittering motto of the Vaterland illumi-

magazine, The Berolina, and could accommodate 6,000 nated the Potsdamer Platz entrance, “Every Nation

patrons at any given hour. Under One Roof!”

73

www.Ebook777.com
 Above and The theatricalization in Haus Vaterland was extreme.
Opposite:
Images of For instance, in the Rhineland Wine Terrace, an artificial
Haus Vaterland
river flowed at the edges of a 70-foot panorama of the

Rheinish countryside and a castle ruins. Stationed inside

the mock fortification stood a student a cappella group,

the “Cologne Boys.” For 55 minutes of each hour, the

Terrace was bathed in sweet synthetic sunshine; sud-

denly, on the hour, the music stopped and “the Storm

on the Rhine,” a five-minute environmental “event,”

started up. First, an ominous cloud-cover darkened the

entire room—so dark that partygoers couldn’t even

locate the sauerkraut on their plates. Charges of simu-

lated lightning and a huge clap of thunder resounded.

Then a mechanically operated rain shower swept across

the entire vine-garlanded enclosure. The “Storm” con-

74
cluded with a blinding sunburst from a battery of elec-

tric apparatuses and a cheery rainbow. These five

minutes were said to be the best theatre in Berlin.

The Resi offered another kind of diversion. It was

an interactive pickup bar-cum-wired nightclub.

Designed in another monstrous Baroque style, Mont-

martre Music Hall crossed with UFA spaceship, the Resi

sported several tiers of dining, dancing, and infantile

play. One of its many ceilings was a motorized glass

dome, painted with images of squawking birds and

exotic flora. Mechanical geysers erupted with three-

foot streams of sparkling, dyed water and 100 mir-

75
 This Page rored-balls continuously revolved and then split
and Opposite:
Images of open, like welcoming orchids, when the overhead
the Resi
lights went down. There was a downstairs private

rendezvous wine-room, competing bands and bar

counters, a parquet dance floor for one thousand

box-steppers, even a gigantic “Carousel and

Shooting Gallery” for drunken revelers, attempting

to relive adolescent Luna Park memories.

Mostly patrons came to the Resi for its promis-

cuous atmosphere and helpful technology. On 150

tables and 50 balcony stations, numbered tele-

phones allowed celebrants to dial up complete

strangers from across the palace and converse in

76
 Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com

naughty word-play or whisper instructions

which bar to meet at. Additionally, an ingenious

pneumatic system, built into the Resi handrail-

ings, allowed guests to send small goodies to

potential comrades-of-the-evening. On request,

waiters brought gift-menus. Lovestruck custom-

ers selected from a list of 135 pocket-sized

presents, like a bottle of perfume, cigar-cutter,

or travel plan for a secret weekend (encased in

leather). The luxury item was then placed in a

sealed container, rocketed through hidden

pneumatic tubes, and finally landed with a

dramatic whoosh in a basket at the edge of the

intended’s table.

Resi flyers assured the nocturnal public that

this was “Berlin at its most beautiful.” The institu-

tion outlasted Weimar and became a favorite

attraction during the 1936 Nazi Olympics. Allied

bombers smothered its randy charms in a devas-

tating nighttime raid in 1944. The last Pleasure-

Palace of Berlin finally imploded.

www.Ebook777.com
 Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com

Along the entire Kurfürstendamm powdered and rouged young men sauntered and they were not all professionals;
every high school boy wanted to earn some money and in the dimly lit bars one might see government officials
and men of the world of finance tenderly courting sailors without any shame.
Stefan Zweig, The World of Yesterday, 1943

Berlin has become the paradise of international homosexuals.

Ilya Ehrenburg, 1931

BERLIN MEANS BOYS

A Prussian military garrison for most of its history, Berlin
had long been identified with soldierly “sex inversion” and homosexu-

al prostitution. The “shame of Berlin” and its “ever increasing vice”—a

subject that caused Lutheran ministers to contort in apoplectic rage—

referred explicitly to uranic (or homosexual) activity, not to the more

prevalent sight of Beinls carousing in Strichless taverns. 180 years

before Christopher Isherwood bade bittersweet farewell to the city of

smooth-skinned Line-Boys, Berlin had already been tagged a “bugger’s

daydream.”

In the 1750s, Friedrich the Great, the father of modern Prussia,

decreed that his Praetorian Guard must forgo the august rites of mar-

riage. German women, he proclaimed, weakened the fighting skills of

his Spartan-trained regiment. Following the example of their chivalrous

leader and his effeminate brother, Prince Heinrich, the Guardsmen

www.Ebook777.com
 BERLIN GAY TYPES
ANDROGYNES—Highly refined male homosexuals with distinct feminine fea-
tures. Often recognized by their plucked eyebrows, “Belladonna” eyes, face
powder, lipstick, and heavy use of perfume. They sported sleek Bubikopf or Eton
haircuts and modeled themselves after Rudolf Valentino and Conrad Veidt.
AUNTIES—Older, large-framed gay men. Usually cross-dressers attired in over-
sized dressing gowns. [Variant pejorative names: FAT DADDIES, HAUSFRAUS,
MALE MENSTRUATORS, or PAWNBROKERS.]
BAD BOYS—Mostly 20-year-olds who traveled in packs of six to eight. Often
costumed in garish, leather fetish outfits. On weekends, they moved from Diele
to Diele, carrying their own stimulants.
BUBES—Handsome, well-built, working-class men. Typically open-faced and
cheery. [Variant names: BURSCHEN or BUTCHERS.]
BRESLAUERS—Men with large penises. [After the German city.]
turned to boys for their sexual pleasure—as did much of
CELLAR-MASTERS—Top men. [Also known as CANAL-MEN, MOUNTERS, or
YOUNG BUCKS.] the Prussian Officer Corps and the elite cadets from

COOLIES—[Originally from the Hindi, referring to a low-working caste.] Older Gross Lichterfeld, who could wed without dishonor.
Gymnasium or university students who hired LINE-BOYS. Frequently claimed
Homosexual attachments were freely acknowl-
to be straight.
edged and officially tolerated at Berlin’s military acad-
DOLL-BOYS—Youngest gay hustlers, from nine years old to 13. Virtually penni-
less, most worked solely for food, cigarettes, or lodging. Favorite hangout was emies. It was rumored that half the Potsdam militia

the Anatomical Museum in the Linden Passage. Estimated numbers in 1930: could be found in the arms of boy prostitutes in the
2,000–3,000.
Tiergarten on any Saturday night. Prussian penal codes
KITTY-RECEIVERS—Bottom men. [Also known as KITTY-SUCKERS.]
formally forbade sodomy, calling it “purposeless and
LADIES—Male transvestites. [Variant name: SISTERS.]
LINE-BOYS—[Sometimes translated in British guidebooks as “Avenue-Boys,” obsolete,” but its effect on barracks’ couplings or anon-
“Trick-Boys,” and “Game-Boys.”] Teenage male prostitutes, from 15 to 19. ymous street encounters was nil.
Seen everywhere in Berlin, most conspicuously in gangs of four or five in fancy
Throughout the nineteenth century, Berlin acted as
hotel lobbies, gay Dielen and bars near the Alex, and in the Tiergarten. [Also
known as BLUE BOYS and YOUNG LIONS.] Estimated numbers: 20,000–25,000. a magnet for pretty German boys from the countryside,

PISS-ROOM BAIT—Predatory Line-Boy pimps. bisexuals, and cross-dressers. The city’s jumbled record
SCHWULEN—Generic slang term for all overtly gay men. [Variant names: HOT
on Strich regulation and its proximity to the garrison
BROTHERS, HOT UNCLES, 1-7-5ERS (after the infamous paragraph of the German
encouraged a growing traffic in Line-Boys and the slow
Penal Code), and SOUTHLANDERS.]
establishment of a homosexual subculture.
 Previous Left:
Manassé,
Das Magazin,
1931

Previous Right:
A Line-Boy,
Der Eigene,
1924

Opposite:
In the Bathroom,
1925

Left:
All males
at the
Marienkasino

Below:
Otto Schoff, Boys’
Love, 1925

By the end of the Wilhelmian era, it was impossi- pickpockets all participated in it. (Some to their public

ble to ignore Berlin’s distinctive queer nightlife, which disgrace and sorrow.) In the Friedrichstadt and adja-

suddenly flaunted its size and diversity. Socialists, cent neighborhoods alone, one could count 38 Dielen

advisors to the Kaiser, schoolboys, federal judges, and and cabarets that were devoted to a same-sex male

clientele. (After the Collapse, these numbers tripled.)

Every dreaded vision that the village preachers had

predicted came frightfully true and then some;

German-speaking faggots had found a home and an

arena for experimentation.

The “Homosexual Question”

During the 1860s and 1870s, when the old

Napoleonic and local ordinances were being revised,

German doctors and jurists began to grapple with the

physiological and social issues of “man-to-man love.”

The questions they raised were remarkably prescient

81
 Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com

SOCIETY MEN—Outdoorsy and heavily-bearded men. Mature, over-50-year-olds.

Elaborate facial hair. Bears.
SUGAR-LICKERS—Nighttime gay pederasts.
TREE-STUMPS—Middle-aged homosexual clients in working-class gay Dielen and crucial to the overall development of German sex-
who passively observed the preening boy trade.
ology and organized gay life in Berlin.
WILD-BOYS—Homeless, 12-to-18-year-old gang members. Lived and traveled in
First, the medical and psychological inquires: Was
small groups on the outskirts of Berlin. Traded sexual favors for cigarettes and
meals in low-class Dielen. Estimated numbers in 1929: 1,500–2,500. homosexual lust an inborn or inherited condition? Were

there “constitutional” portents of the pederast charac-

ter? (Many physicians believed then that an unusually

tapered penis or an anus with a funnel-shaped cavity

were clear biological indications of the uranic personal-

ity.) Did an “unhealthy” family dynamic arouse male-

bonding and a physical rejection of female sexuality?

Could a lifetime of same-sex attraction be acquired

through brief exposure to an all-male environment, say,

during camping or military school?

Then the legal issues: Under which circumstances

should sodomy be considered a criminal offense? Only

www.Ebook777.com
 Opposite Left:
Photograph from
Die Insel, 1931

Opposite Right:
Christian Schad,
On the Corner,
1929

Left:
Sergei Eisenstein,
Spoiled Berlin,
1933

when it involved children? Could homosexual desire be or the “habitual seducer” to imprisonment and fines.

reversed through medication, behavioral recondition- (Female-to-female sex was utterly ignored in the

ing, hypnotic suggestion, or penal threats? And if male Code.) Unfortunately for the puritanical German mag-

seduction was a premeditated transgression—and not istrates, the precise meaning of “paracoital” was left

the product of biological orientation—what punish- undefined. In the Weimar era, it was understood to be

ments were appropriate and effective? just anal penetration and “intercrucal intercourse” (leg

In 1871, the judicial aspect of homosexuality was and thigh humping). Street-smart Nazi legislators

finally resolved in the new Federal Criminal Code. immediately added oral sex, mutual masturbation,

Germany had consolidated into a single Wilhelmian and other forms of gay sexual contact, including flirta-

state, the Second Reich, and immediately formalized its tious glances, to the Paragraph in 1935. They also

statutes and regulations according to the dictates of the considerably augmented the punishments for second-

Kaiser’s Assembly. time offenders.

Paragraph 175 covered homosexual relationships:

“paracoital” activities between males subjected them

83
 GERMAN GAY
MAGAZINES
German Gay Responses
Blätter für Menschenrecht—(“Journal for Human Rights”), “Official Paper of Paragraph 175 provoked many political and scien-

the League of Human Rights, ‘the Organization of 12,000.’” Motto: “For Truth tific responses among German intellectuals and ulti-
and Justice.” Weekly edited by Friedrich Radszuweit, head of the “German
mately galvanized homosexuals in Central Europe to
Friendship Union.” Serious publication with united goals for gay, lesbians,
organize for the protection of their legal rights and
and transvestites. Alternated between Third-Sex and Libertarian philosophies.
[1922–1929] communal lifestyle. (This was two generations before

Der III Geschlecht, Die Transvestiten—(“The Third Sex, the Transvestites”), the Stonewall Revolution in New York.) “One-Seven-
a periodical for “ordinary” transvestites. Lots of fashion tips. Published by
Five” gave urgency, new definition, and a common goal
Radszuweit. [1929]
to Germany’s estimated two million gay men, who
Die Ehelosen—(“The Unmarried”), unidentified gay monthly. [1927]
Der Eigene—(“The Exceptional”), “the Journal for Male Culture,” later “the otherwise lived in civic isolation from one another.

Newspaper of Friendship and Freedom.” “A Book for Art and Manly Culture.”
First homosexual periodical in the world. Small intellectual, but highly influ-
ential, periodical edited by Adolf Brand and Konrad Linke. It contained color
drawings, philosophical essays, photos of nude boys, adventure stories, and
manifestos. Circulation 3,000 to 6,000. Affiliated with the “Society of the
Eigene.” [Intermittently published from 1899 to 1929.]
Ernst—An artistic journal devoted to boy-love. Poetry, short stories, and uncom-
monly hardcore drawings. Probably influenced in style by Die Schönheit. [circa
1919]
Eros—“Magazine for Friendship and Freedom, Love and Life-Art.” A gay pictorial
edited by Brand. Militant Homosexualist competitor to Der Insel—[1930–1932]
Extrapost des Eigenen—A continuation of Brand’s Der Eigene. [1929–1931]
Die Fanfare—“The Official Organ of the Cultural Cartel.” Motto: “For a
Liberated Humanity.” A stylish one-man effort opposed to the “League of
Human Rights.” Gay monthly edited by Curt Neuburger. [1924–1926]
Der Freund—(“The Friend”) A decoy gay publication of Der Freundschaft dur-
ing a brief period of censorship. [1924–1925]
Die Freundschaft—(“The Friendship”) Motto: “For the Liberation of Differently-
Inclined Men and Women.” First Weimar paper with nude photographs, openly
gay personals, and advertising. Between 1923–1926, it functioned as a weekly
info sheet for Magnus Hirschfeld’s Scientific-Humanitarian Committee. Edited by
Karl Schultz. Later a popular monthly. [1919–1933]
84
 From the start, however, bickering

over the “psychogenesis” of their orien-

tation, public persona, strategic style,

political alignment, use of language, atti-

tude toward women, and sexual tastes

divided German queer leadership.

Essentially, three schools of thought

emerged: the Militant Homosexualists,

the Third Sexers, and the Libertarians.

Each grouping had its own organizations

(which seemed to change names every

half-decade), periodicals, notion of fair

play, artistic sense, and theoreticians.

Led by Adolf Brand, the indefatigable sodomy its reviled façade of weakness, narcissism, Opposite:
Der Eigene cover
editor of Der Eigene, the Homosexualists envisioned a and emotional hysteria.
Below:
Popular account
new Nietzschean hierarchy, along an imagined, antiq- The Third Sexers attempted to explain homosexual-
of gay prostitu-
tion in Berlin,
uitous Greek classification. Wise and muscular Aryan ity as a normal genetic phenomenon. Men with “female Men for Sale,
1932
pederasts with their admiring boys headed the Homo- souls”—and women with male sexual dispositions—

sexualists’ proposed social order, were normal “miscues” in the pro-

followed by grades of straight men, cess of natural selection. Rather than

based on physiognomy, racial puri- pathological beings, homosexuals

ty, and intelligence; then women. formed a “Third Sex,” neither “full

(These lessers were necessary for man nor full woman.” According to

replenishing the race.) At the very Magnus Hirschfeld, Berlin’s renowned

bottom were effeminate men—the sexologist and human rights leader,

sexually enfeebled, the sissies and gay men and women inhabited an

cross-dressers, all those who gave “intermediary” zone on the wide

85
Die Freundschaftblatt—(“The Friendship Paper”) Libertarian journal for
the umbrella gay organization, “German Friendship Society.” Published by
Radszuweit. Short-lived, sister publication in Chicago was titled Friendship and
Freedom. [1920–1933]
Freundschaft und Freiheit—(“Friendship and Freedom”) “A Paper for
Male Rights Against Bourgeois Morality, Clerical Authority, and Female
Rule.” Homosexualist monthly edited by Brand. Later incorporated into Der
Freundschaft. [1921–1922]
Der Führer—(“The Leader”) Another Homosexualist monthly. [1923]
Hellabote—(“Greek Messenger”) “For a Liberated Humanity Against Injustice
and Ignorance.” Liberal homosexual monthly edited by Hans Kahnert, a former
writer from Der Freundschaft. [1923–1925]

spectrum of human sexuality. In the radical ideology of

the Third Sexers, all sexual behavior (which involved

consenting adults) was worthy of individual respect and

state protection.

The Libertarians, the vast majority of Germany’s gay

men and women, followed neither the Nationalist nor

International-Socialist rhetoric of Brand and Hirschfeld.

Represented by Friedrich Radszuweit, an organizer from

Hamburg and Al Goldstein-like publisher, they pursued

their same-sex endeavors through social ties and apo-

litical means. Other than working for the abolition of

Paragraph 175 and related censorship laws, the Libert-

arians eschewed the superheated cauldron of Weimar

politics. Relatively few dabbled in reactionary or pro-

gressive causes and then only as German voters who

happened to love members of their own sex.

86
 Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com

“Origins” of Homosexuality Above:

Marcel Vertès,
While Brand, Hirschfeld, and Radszuweit conducted Parisian Night
at the Lokal
a battle royale for the allegiance and support of
Opposite
and Below:
Germany’s gay community and its many sympathizers,
Renée Sintenis,
Boys, 1923
straight psychologists in Berlin promulgated their own

theories which they thought explained the baffling ori-

gins of adult male-to-male desire. Strict Freudians

acknowledged the innate bisexual nature of the human

organism; homosexual feeling was a normal and short

phase in a healthy boy’s development. For those who

never outgrew the emotional stage, the Freudians sub-

scribed to a flipped formulation of the master’s prized

Oedipus complex: Growing up in the household of a

domineering mother, the budding homosexual over-

87

www.Ebook777.com
Der Insel—(“The Island”) Libertarian monthly published by Radszuweit.
Featured provocative photos, gay fiction and news, and ads for gay books and
“massage services,” personals, and Dielen. Largest queer periodical with a
print run of 150,000. Originally “Island of the Lonely” section from the Blätter
für Menschenrecht. Brother zine to the lesbian Die Freundin. [1925–1932]
Der Kreise—(“The Circle”) Swiss gay intellectual journal, which outlasted the
Weimar and Nazi eras. Good source for exile queer literature and postwar
ideology. [First year 1932]
Der Merkur—(“The Mercury”) Literary gay monthly. [1922]
Mitteilungen des WhK—(“Bulletin of the S-H C”) News periodical of
Hirschfeld’s Scientific-Humanitarian Committee. [1926–1933]
Neue Freundschaft—(“New Friendship”) “Weekly for Friendship, Pictures and
Enlightenment.” “Organ of the German Friendship League.” Edited by Max H.
Danielsen, a former editor of Der Freundschaft. [1928]
Phoebus-Bilderschau—Gay pictorial magazine from the Phoebus Verlag.
Edited by Kurt Eitelbuss. [1927–1929]
Rundbrief—(“Round Letter”) Homosexual literary journal. [1932]
Die Sonne—(“The Sun”) Queer monthly from Hamburg. [1920–1921]
Der Strom—(“The Stream”) Politically-radical gay monthly. [1920]
Die Tante—(“The Auntie”) An offprint of Der Eigene. For Aunties. Filled with
anti-Hirschfeld invective. [1924-–1925]
Uranos—Literary gay journal edited by René Stelter. Later merged with Der
Freundschaft. [1922–1927] identifies with his emasculated or absent father. After
Wochenblatt für Aufklärung und gesitige Hebung der idealen Freundschaft—
puberty, the boy projects his own image onto his male
(“Weekly Paper for the Enlightenment and Contemporary Improvement of Ideal
consort as he unconsciously performs the double role of
Friendship”), gay newspaper with Third-Sex orientation. Edited by Schultz.
[1919–1922] a sexually caring mother.

Disciples of Wilhelm Stekel took a more primitive

psychoanalytic approach. Homosexuality was quite

simply the penultimate rejection of women, a reaction

formation against oedipal cravings and traumatic

memories of a parent’s coital activity. Adlerians, of

course, saw same-sex love as an advanced tactic to

attain power and status. In their analysis, the physi-

cally weak boy discovers that his self-ideal of superior-

ity cannot be based on normal feelings of

masculinity and aggression. He learns to

assert himself sexually by exciting and con-

trolling other homosexuals.

Wilhelm Reich, who arrived in Berlin in

1930, advanced an even more hostile psy-

chogenetic theory. The Passive-Feminine

Homosexual (“Subject Homosexual”) reacts

to the hysteria of his mother through pas-

sivity and an identification with female

sexuality. Contaminated by an emotionally-

inert emotional core, he deals badly in

daily interaction, which typically manifests

itself in a pronounced weakness of body

movement (especially in the shoulders and

arms). The Aristocratic Homosexual (“Object

Homosexual”) develops a different charac-

ter armoring—corporal rigidity and hyper-

aggressive behavior. Each struggles with

the hidden fear that his father will one day

savagely punish him for his inadequate

heterosexual longings. infant son. The boy would be condemned to discover Opposite:
Hildebrand,
Even Carl Jung, working in faraway Switzerland, saw that true fidelity to his mother meant sexual avoidance The Inspection

homosexuality in a negative light as well. He believed of all other females later in life and sexual congress Above:
Ernst Gerhard,
Friends, 1925
that the perverse attitude began with an over-protec- only with men.

tive mother (“the Female Shadow”) who sexually tied Interestingly, the psychoanalytic and related psy-

her image to a confused and desperately insecure chogenetic theories—largely because of their straight
89
 Homosexual Life
in Weimar Berlin
The idyllic gay portrait of dapper German

Army officers in capes and peaked caps

transfixed by demure Line-Boys on the

Tiergarten benches disappeared from view

in 1919. It was beggars who retained the

combat dress of the defeated army. Berlin’s

gay community at the beginning of Weimar

adopted a different wardrobe, the sailor’s

blouse and cap (alongside the tailored

morning-coat of the perfumed dandy). In

homosexual Dielen, middle-aged Sugar-

Lickers, Coolies, Doll-Boys, even crotchety

waiters wore the crisp blue-and-white

insignia of jaunty marines on shore leave.

The change of uniform had various mean-

ings. Partly, it was matter of identifica-

tion—straights didn’t wear them—and they

were a Wilhelmian echo of adolescent

androgyny. More significantly, Berlin’s core

homosexual community had expended far

Above: and Jewish associations—were ignored by Berlin’s beyond the units of the Potsdam garrison.
Hildebrand,
The Dinner queers, who appeared content with their orientation. In 1922, one of Berlin’s police commissioners esti-

Only anxious bisexual men and fellow social scientists mated the total number of gay men to be in excess of

showed obvious interest. 100,000 and teenage male prostitutes (whom he did

not consider to be truly queer) around 25,000. Over the

90
next eight years, the numbers of resident queers sky-

rocketed. Partly because of more sophisticated polling

methods and real growth, the homosexual populace

was determined to be over 350,000 by 1930.

Unlike Berlin’s lesbians, the gay community was

noticeably invisible during daytime hours. At various

times, homosexual men supported a gay-themed play-

house, “The Theatre of Eros,” a bowling league, stamp-

collecting society, poetry readings, and a handful of

other artistic enterprises, but mostly closed-door,

nighttime venues, like winter-balls, cabarets, dance

halls and Dielen were their traditional haunts. Berlin

queers lacked a resolute sense of political and social

cohesion, despite the intensive efforts by the

Homosexualist and Third-Sex organizers. (Probably Above:

Hildebrand,
less than ten percent belonged to all-male clubs.) Fear On the Town

of public exposure and unadorned hedonistic concerns Left:

Schad,
Zauberflote,
guided the majority of deviant lifestyles.
1930

A former Line-Boy, only identified as “Erich” in an

interview conducted in 1978 (and later transcribed in

Gay Voices from East Germany), recalled the closeted,

if exhilarating, times:
91
 Above: In the Twenties there was scarcely an occupa- servants. It was part of the craziness of the setting
Amateur
fantasy tional group that was not represented at the famous that these tough servants and taxi drivers exchanged
drawing
drag balls in the big Berlin ballrooms. We “simple their gear next morning for the judge’s robe or the

lads” came dressed as Asta Nielsen or Henny Porten doctor’s white coat. It even happened that an “Asta”

[European film stars] and let ourselves be served would be sent to the clink for shoplifting a week

champagne by coarse, cursing taxi drivers or man- later by her “manservant.”

92
 Erich likened Weimar to a mad carousel ride, Steinthal: “He would have to be a natural blonde.” Above:
The Linden-
where centrifugal forces blew some youthful part- Von Twardowsky: “Why not?” Passage at
Friedrichstrasse
icipants into the gutter, while other teenage daredev- Steinthal: “And he couldn’t have too much hair on corner

ils leaped on the treacherous merry-go-round to his body.”

replace them. Von Twardowsky (staring at Steinthal in icy disgust

Still, the sexcapades of homosexuals more than before making a fast exit): “Goddamnit, man, you

rivaled the piquant Bummels of the het Girl-Culture. For might as well fuck a woman!”

some straight Berliners, queer promiscuity and sexual

bravado was a cause for envy and erotic introspection. Wandervogel and the Wild-Boys
Curt Riess captured this covetous relationship sardoni- Implied and overt forms of male homosexuality, of

cally in his Berlin memoirs. Two distinguished-looking course, had other public outlets in Berlin. The military,

men at a table in the Nachtlokal “Schwannecke”: the elite Gymnasiums and academies, the Life Reform

(or Nacktkultur) movement were all embroiled in florid

Walter Steinthal (editor of the 12-Uhr Blatt and a accusations of male pederasty and sex scandal through-

famous womanizer), “I could see myself fucking a boy. out the Wilhelmian era. But one mass association in

But he’d have to be young. Fourteen or fifteen.” particular was thought to be rife with man-boy love:

Hans Heinrich von Twardowsky (a flamboyant gay the unique German Youth Movement known as the

actor), “Why not?” Wandervogel (“Wandering Bird”).

93
 Right:
Winnetou,
Wild-Boy
Chieftain of
the Wild and back-to-nature doctrine, railing against del-
Free gang,
1932
eterious urban lifestyles and the consump-

tion of alcohol and meat. Forty-kilometer

hikes over mountainous paths, the robust

singing of German folk ballads, countryside

overnights, and frolicking male camaraderie

were the signature activities of the

Wandervogel. Curiously, the steadfast

movement eschewed politics. But its appeal

just before the Great War struck a deep

patriotic chord. Nationalist, Catholic, and

Socialist leaders fielded their own

Wandervogels with separate flags, anthems,

and uniforms. Five years into the Weimar

period, Nazi, Red Front, and German Zionist

organizations also created corresponding

versions of bronzed warrior-youths, march-

ing in place. These ideologically opposed

Although it resembled the Anglo-Saxon Boy Scouts squadrons of husky German teenagers often crossed

in popularity and appearance, the Wandervogel, aston- paths in desolate terrains and pitched camp within

ishingly, evolved in a strange Pied Piper fashion. This bonfire sight of one another.

was an overnight phenomenon, created by male teens Despite its wholesome image, the Wandervogel

for male teens. Its institutional founding took place in movement could not avoid the stigma of male-to-male

the Berlin suburb of Steglitz in 1896 and grew exponen- sex and gay seduction. In fact, the original organization

tially across the nation for the next 35 years. nearly expired when one of its adult chaperones was

A product of Pan-German and Naturalist senti- accused of being a supporter of Der Eigene’s Militant

ments, the Wandervogels proselytized a Romantic Homosexualist philosophy. The counselor quickly
94
resigned and some all-female units of Wandervogel group costumes, like top hats and shabby tuxedoes,

were hastily assembled but neither action really cooled American trapper outfits, college graduates in mortar-

the sexually-charged atmosphere. The entire Wander- boards, or paper buffalo heads. The gang names alone

vogel experience, according to the autobiographies of testified to the influence of Karl May’s North American

its precocious founders, was shot through with homo- frontier novels and other staples of German pulp fiction:

erotic tension. “Fear No Death,” “Indian Blood,” “The Forest Pirates,”

Even more obviously gay were the Wild-Boys, teen- “Wild West,” “Girl-Shy,” “Santa Fe,” “Gypsy Love,” “The

aged members of anti-social gangs that lived in the Dirty Boys,” “Red Apaches.”

outlying districts of Berlin. Working in groups of

six or eight, these 14- to 18-year-old runaways Left:

Winnetou’s
established Peter Pan-like encampments in park Queen

sites, warehouses, and abandoned apartments.

Led by punkish-dressed chieftains called “Bulls,”

each Wild-Boy association had its own elaborate

blood-oaths and ceremonies of ritualized sex.

Typically, a young initiate would forced to

box (or knife-fight) with the toughest member

of the crew, be gang-raped while bound and

gagged, ordered to masturbate publicly and

then ejaculate on command, or act as a living

commode for his drunken associates. Some

newly-inducted boys were chosen by the Bulls

as their “queens” or designated shared “girl-

friends” for the pack. Most Wild-Boys sported

pirate-style earrings and garish tattoos. While

the majority of gangs flaunted their ragtag,

hobo garb, others paraded around in distinctive

95
 Above: The Wild-Boys subsisted through a host of criminal Daniel Guérin, a French gay anarchist, visited a Wild-
Wild and
Free’s enterprises, mostly cat burglary, smash-and-grab rob- Boy outing near Berlin’s Lake Lehnitz in September
Test of
Strength,
beries, car theft, and unglamorous forms of boy pros- 1932. There he interviewed Winnetou, the group’s Bull,
1932

titution. Boosts (unscrupulous proprietors of low dives) and recorded Wild-Free’s campfire pastimes and initia-

procured the services of the prettiest and youngest of tion rites (Vu, “A Return to Barbarism,” March 8, 1933).

gangs for Sucker-Lickers seeking passive Kitty- Winnetou gamely explained to the foreign journalist his

Receivers. Other 14- and 15-year-olds were sent out sado-sexual ethos: occasionally, naked newcomers

independently by the Bulls for a Bummel on the Alex were tied to the tops of trees and violated with phallic-

Kietz. Although sometimes confused with eccentric looking sticks; other times the would-be nomads were

Wandervogel groups by the Polenta, the authentic gangbanged on Stoszsofas, or fuck couches.

Wild-Boys—200 crews in Berlin North alone—fell Remarkably, the sociopathic Winnetou showed up

seamlessly into the city’s notorious gay demi-monde. on a Berlin thoroughfare one year after the Vu tête-à-
96
tête. Then he had the familiar bearings of a menacing Berlin, the acknowledged leader then, had at least Above and
Below:
Nazi tough. Winnetou, however, recognized one of seven times that many; a figure which, according to Wild-Boy
sexual
initiation
Guérin’s left-wing colleagues and greeted her warmly the calculations of its vice commissioners, was also

as his old happy-go-lucky, Wild-Boy self. growing by the month.

Christopher Isherwood wasn’t exaggerating when

Male Prostitution he wrote, “Berlin meant boys.”

The enormous volume of sex-traffic in boys and

very young men differentiated Berlin from all previ-

ous centers of debauchery and “decadent” tourism.

Nearly every Western metropolis in the interwar

period, naturally, had a substantial number of clan-

destine homosexual bars and backstreet arenas

where gay men could secure the ministrations of

male prostitutes. Hamburg, in 1930 for example,

claimed the second greatest concentration of Line-

Boys in Europe at 5,000 strong and growing. But

 familial arguments. Male prostitution in Berlin

continued to swell for a simpler market reason:

the demand for it increased.

Beginning at nine in the morning, hundreds

of Line-Boys were already on the Strich as they

waited in and around the public lavatories of the

city’s luxury hotels. British businessmen were

the early morning targets; shy American tourists

in the afternoon, followed by stingy German

provincials before evening hours. By dark,

Berlin’s homosexual Kietz was in full swing. The

Above: Most foreigners attributed the spread of

Guy de
Laurence, The male prostitution to the Republic’s fiscal mal-
Lust House
of Boys, aise and political failure to stem the plum-
1922

meting employment rate among Germany’s

Right:
Schoff,
Boy’s Love unskilled laborers. The congested corners of

Opposite: rowdy Wild-Boys, Bubes (or “Butchers”), Line-

Amateur photo,
The White Linen Boys, and Doll-Boys in the Friedrichstadt, to
Shorts
them, was only one appalling symptom of

the national moral collapse. Others saw a link

to Berlin’s female prostitution problem: young

whores were constantly introducing their

junior male siblings into the lurid profession.

While both theories contained a bit of dismal

truth, municipal statistics, in general, sup-

ported neither the economic nor the corrupt

98
Tiergarten, the Alex, and the Linden-Passage were first

destinations of Suitors seeking Doll-Boys (under 14) or

run-of-the-mill Line-Boys. In Berlin South, slightly more

mature Wild-Boys and Bubes were available at gay

pick-up Dielen.

The only quarter identified with adult homosexual

trade was in the West. There, an unknown number of

“Massage Parlors”—around two dozen repeatedly

advertised in gay publications—featured erotic special-

ties. Like their sister straight houses to the east and

south, the queer Parlors offered sessions in B&D, flagel-

lation, and costumed roleplay but with a much greater

emphasis on scatological scenes. While adding variety

to the local color, they certainly never amounted to

more than five or ten percent of Berlin’s wholesale traf-

ficking in male flesh.

Gay Dielen and Entertainment

The heart of Berlin’s indigenous gay life was its

Dielen and bars. The exact number of these varied from

guidebook to guidebook. The commonly cited figure

was 65 or 80. But if one included restaurant backrooms,

unlicensed Kaschemmen (criminal dives), and lounges

that accommodated separate gay, lesbian, straight,

and/or transvestite patrons, the sum easily doubled.

Many of the Dielen shocked outsiders due to the

casual, unsalacious atmosphere. They were just bare

 bones pick-up bars—dimly lighted joints for queers with Each Diele and ballroom had its little quirks and

Opposite: beers. More gratifying to tourist tastes, of course, were protocols. Isherwood immortalized one of them, the
In the Field,
1928 lounges that featured human displays of Berlin exotica; “Cosy Corner,” in his series of “Berlin Stories” and

“Café Monbijou” and the “Dé Dé” both adorned their increasingly confessional memoirs. Between 1929 and

cabaret platforms with naked hermaphrodites, who did 1933, the expatriate Isherwood became obsessed with

nothing more than nonchalantly smoke and smile the bar and its denizens. He talked about it in London

wanly from their elevated chairs. The “Lion Cub” Diele, and Paris, wrote about it, and made it the first point of

which was decked out as a Wild West saloon, offered interest for his queer colleagues touring Berlin. Even the

interactive delights. The pumped-up waiters, or “cubs,” incorrigible bisexual occultist Aleister Crowley was

were attired in sailor or butcher-boy dress. On the dragged there by Isherwood. Within a moment of

menu was a extensive list of international beers and entering the Cosy Corner, the “wickedest man in the

the names of the service staff. For just a few pfennig world” walked up to one of the open-shirted Bubes and

more, one could cop a sensuous feel from the biceps or clawed the boy’s chest with his razor-sharp talons. A

hairless chest of a lusty Bube. horrified Isherwood immediately persuaded Crowley to

Other gay amusement sites restricted their paying offer the tough some money before they made a fast

guests to an identifiable clientele or ones adhering to getaway. On the street, both were relieved; Isherwood

a special dress code, like elderly, fat men who dressed because his quick thinking prevented a retaliatory

in schoolboy’s knickers or tight-fitting sailor suits. The assault, and Crowley because he made his indelible

“Nürenberger Diele” and the “Kantdiele” catered mark on the “City of Satan.”

exclusively to balding stockbrokers, who spent their

picturesque evenings dancing with “elegant pansies.”

At the swanky “Hollandaise” nightclub, homosexual

couples appeared, at first, to be straight fashion-

horses; the men in tuxes, their mates in understated

velvet and pearls. Only at close listening range could

an inexperienced observer unscramble the daunting

gender puzzle.
100
 Lesbian emotional needs are truly inordinate. They build a world of their own—in their houses, in their lounges, in their literature,
and especially in their love practices. Lesbian desires reel over stars, aromas, sounds, and luminous colors. Caresses of soft and
pliant hands, nail and tooth, soft bites and pulling of hair, and finally, after great tension, an utter free-fall and drowning
until their own egos are dissolved into a moment of measureless bliss.
Ruth Roellig, Lesbians and Female Transvestites, 1929

“We are the New Spirit.

We do it with Brazenness.”
Sign above the ladies room in the Toppkeller, 1930

HOT SISTERS
Before the First World War, a rigid classification of lesbian
types was already well established in the Central European mind. Frumpy,

sexless aunts, monstrously ugly town gossips, and man-hating adventur-

esses—each understood to be a tribadic archetypal figure—appeared with

some frequency in the popular fiction and stage melodrama of Berlin and

Vienna. These images of unmarried females were repeated, with shock-

ing naiveté, in widely-published psychological portraits that examined

urban dementia and female criminology. Even among the new breed of

sexologists, the spectrum of lesbian behavior was grossly delimited to the

freakish, the misguided, and the intentionally perverse.

The characterology of non-heterosexual women followed a common

delineation, beginning with the Constitutional Lesbian. A hormonally

unbalanced matron, the Constitutional Lesbian was immediately recog-

nized by her shapeless contours and unflattering mixed-gendered

 BERLIN
LESBIAN TYPES
apparel. Depending on the grotesqueness of her body

and degree of sexual inertia, she could be a harmless

BUBIS—Masculine, or butch women. Often wore male clothing, especially
fedoras and leather ties. Recognized by their long leather coats in winter and “Old Maid” or the trouble-making Tadpole, an embit-

ubiquitous cigars. Some Bubis sported delicately drawn “mustaches” (imitat- tered mannish concoction with facial hair and a destruc-
ing Spanish aristocratic women). Reputed to be the best automobile drivers in
tive revolutionary disposition.
Berlin. Attracted to Mädis, who referred to them as Daddies.
A second variety, the Situational Lesbian, provided
DODOS—Tuxedoed, sophisticated power women. Identified by their immacu-
lately coiffed dark, curly hair, which hung loose, Gypsy style (called Titus-kopfs). more hope for social redemption and visual appeal. This

Their faces powdered ivory-white, they often wore horn-rimmed eyeglasses or included young bourgeois women who, during their
monocles. Serious and ironic. Attracted to Garçonnes.
wayward adolescence, were cloistered away from nor-
GAMINES—Pert, saucy femmes. Usually attired in exaggerated French street
urchin clothing when clubbing.
GARÇONNES—Young women with Bubikopf haircuts and shaved, penciled-in
eyebrows. Stylishly dressed in French male fashions. Had their own weekly
magazine, Garçonne; motto: “For Friendship, Love, and Sexual Enlightenment.”
[Also known as BACHELORETTES or HANSIS.]
GIRL-FRIENDS—Generic name for homosexual women. [Variants: HOT SISTERS.]
GOUGNETTES—[From French underworld argot] Expensive lesbian callgirls, who
appealed to both genders. Found in many lesbian clubs and fancy tourist hotels
in the Friedrichstadt.
HOT WHORES—Heavily made-up professional prostitutes who serviced only
female clients. Frequently seen on barstools in lesbian lounges, facing the
dance floor with a vacant stare and long cigarette-holders in their hands.
[Variant name: SALVATION ARMY GIRLS.]
MÄDIS—Ultrafemmes. [Variants: LADIES, LITTLE MEN, or SWEET MOMMIES.]
SHARPERS—Sexually aggressive but refined and socially well-positioned Bubis.
Characterized by their androgynous “Diana” features. Exhibited a perverse taste
for confused, working-class Mädis. A staple of lesbian romantic fiction. [Known
as SCORPIONS in the Wilhelmian and Inflation periods.]
TADPOLES—Unattractive, career Bubis. Defined by their shapeless exteriors,
mannish attire, and facial hair. Tadpole sexuality was often sublimated into
progressive social causes and artistic pursuits.
mal social interaction with virile

males. Those extended periods of

female isolation (particularly in all-

girl boarding schools or sinister nun-

neries) and exposure to the teach-

ings of predatory lesbians were

thought to pervert the girls’ natural

inclination for heterosexual courtship

and marital happiness. Petty female

criminals and prostitutes as well were

prey to sexual inversion due to long-

term male mistreatment and a

learned contempt for societal mores.

(At least, these types could be saved

with sympathetic instruction and the

adornment of proper female attire.)

Finally, there was the Scorpion—a

hopelessly evil femme fatale who

took sick delight in the corruption of

unworldly, ego-shattered girls. The

menacing Scorpion was a made-up vampire who not symbol of a new social order without erotic boundaries Previous Left:
Margit Toth,
only enjoyed the taste of virgin blood but the creation or familial conventions. Now heterosexual men had an Hot Sisters

Previous Right:
of man-hating progeny—“When she walked into the additional day-to-day worry: sexual competition from
A Garçonne, 1928

room, all the young women knew they were in abject females—especially from haughty aristocrats (particu- Left:
A Gougnette,
moral danger!” The Scorpion was more than a defiling larly those with mixed Spanish or French lineage), 1926

agent, a succubus who castrated men without their vengeful widows recently returned from Paris or Above:
A 17-year-old
knowledge or physical presence, she was the living Budapest, and overly attentive Bohemian artistes. Mädi, 1931

105
 illating) insight into another form of female sexuality. It

was as if the lush German South Seas colonies—already

lost in the war, together with their dusky, bare-breasted

maidens—had come home to Berlin, an emotionally

unsettled city, waiting for new voyeurist sensations.

Female secretaries, clerks, and daughters of shop-

keepers, most of whom never even heard the word

“Sapphic” before, started to spend sisterly time with

one another, especially at night. An erotic community,

independent of and unconcerned with men’s desires,

was coalescing in the center of Europe. Interestingly,

after the Armistice, foreign journalists remarked that

post-Wilhelmian Berlin seemed different, that whole

sections of the city, especially in the West and South,

Above: A German-Speaking Lesbos

The artist
Renée Sintenis Around 1917, in the third year of the Great War, the
and a Hot Sister
iconography of lesbian life in Berlin underwent a sea
Far Right:
Kamm,
The Sharper
change; suddenly, male

graphic artists and writers

presented women with same-

sex cravings as desirable and

darkly exotic. What was once

universally considered sexual-

ly repulsive or threatening

now provided an erotic jolt for

heterosexuals, an amusing if

mysterious (and therefore tit-

106
appeared to be devoid of sexually potent

males, if one excluded pimps and other

criminal riff-raff.

Paris and Berlin

Long before Berlin’s lesbian heyday,

turn-of-the-century Paris had infamous

same-sex female bars and clubs, mostly

tucked away in the Montmartre distinct,

and chic balls where top-hatted women

flaunted their tribadic lifestyles with shock-

ing nonchalance. In fact, before the Collapse,

Berlin lesbians looked to Paris as a cultural

Mecca, a mythic capital of elegant libera-

tion and delicious sexual ambiguity. French

idioms, often mixed with Apache argot,

haute street-urchin fashion, and teasing

representations of Parisian female beauty

percolated through the German queer

nightlife in the early Twenties. But, by 1924, every- Above:

Lesbian Novel,
thing became reversed: it was the Parisian lesbians The Clever
Young Women,
who longed for the freedom and sexual chaos of 1927

Left:
Berlin. The international center of female homosexual-
Karl Arnold,
Which Door?
ity slid eastward and changed languages. 1925

Trends in sexual behavior sometimes evolve in half-

year cycles but the topography of lust rarely budges in

107
 any one decade. So the transformation Berlin, the Lesbian Eldorado
from Paris to Berlin as the playground for Like its male counterpart, Berlin’s lesbian population

women seeking the love of other women was said to be enormous, large enough to support sev-

can only be described as extraordinary eral dozen social clubs, two ice-skating leagues, a nud-

and unprecedented. Of course, Berlin’s ist retreat and three outdoor sports associations, six

growing status as a Hauptstadt of com- journals, and (as the guide books in the tourist hotels

mercial sex had a part in it. Yet other proudly announced) 85 nightclubs and lounges. But

factors should be considered. exactly how many women actively participated in

108
 Opposite:
Hellmuth
Stockmann,
Lesbian Joy,
1920

Left:
Berlin’s lesbian subculture is difficult to assess. Magnus
Mammen,
At the Bar
Hirschfeld estimated in 1930 that Berlin was home to (Salvation
Army Girls),
some 400,000 lesbians, but that figure appears to be 1926

grossly inflated if we adhere to current definitions of Below Left:

A Dodo
sexual orientation. (Today not every female who
Following
engages in a short-term, same-sex relationship would Right:
Schad,
On the Bed,
accept the lesbian tag.)
1927

Based on other criteria, like club memberships and

magazine subscriptions, the number of Hot Sisters in

Berlin (excluding Kontroll-Girls and Chontes) was closer

to 85,000. Paris, in the same years, could never tally

more than 5,000 lesbians—again if one discounts

female street prostitutes, of whom 25% were said to

be constitutionally (or situationally) homosexual.

Nearly every social class and profession that allowed

women was represented in the Berlin all-girl queer exclusively in establishments that catered only to their

subculture. While most lesbians were employed in own community. In other European cities, lesbianism

typically straight industries like government, publishing, was a choice allotted to just the very wealthy, glamor-

entertainment, manufacturing, fashion, advertising, ous, or patently avant-garde; in Berlin, any woman

low-level commerce, and education, many worked could pursue a same-sex lifestyle and find thousands of

like-minded partners. Never in European history had

women seeking the companionship of other women

been so open and adventurous.

The German penchant for classification and uniforms

further differentiated the Berlin lesbian milieu. Bubis,

Dodos, Gamines, Garçonnes, Gougnettes, Hot Whores,

Mädis, and Sharpers were the expressive orders that

109
 LESBIAN
SOCIAL CLUBS

“CLUB MONBIJOU OF THE WEST”—An organization of six hundred Garçonnes.

Its headquarters was MALI AND INGEL, which they attended on weekdays. [For
one-year the Monbijou Westies met at the HOHENZOLLERN LOUNGE.] Only chi-
chi fashion-conscious Garçonnes were eligible for membership status. Tickets for
the Monbijou West’s two annual winter balls at the Scala Variety theatre were
said to be the most sought-after items on the Berlin lesbian social calendar.

“CLUB OF THE GIRL-FRIENDS”—Small auxiliary lesbian faction of “Association

of Human Rights,” the powerful male homosexual Berlin organization. “Girl-
Friends” coordinated many cultural projects, including lesbian sporting activi-
ties, outdoor health weekends, Sunday book-club readings, informative lectures,
and a score of private educational classes. Its members contributed to the one was supposed to inhabit by reason of sexual out-
influential gay newspaper, Blätter für Menschenrecht. Less successful were its
look and sexual affect. And even those types contained
social events and winter-time celebrations.
distinctive categories based on class status, political
Divided into two sections, a “Southwest” club, which held Wednesday
dances at the ZAUBERFLÖTE, and a sister “Northeast” unit that met at the affiliation, perceived affluence, romantic interest, and

ALEXANDER-PALAST and KÖHLER’S DANCE HALL twice a week. Partly because appearance. The lesbian Dielen and associations, for the
of their over-developed intellectual nature, Girl-Friends’ planning of costume
most part, appealed to specific couplings, for instance,
parties suffered from vastly overhyped advertising, weak leadership, and a gen-
only Dodos and Garçonnes, Sharpers and underclass
eral “North German” stiffness. Highpoint of the balls was always the Tyrolian
“Choo-Choo” dance, in which the dancers assembled in a long line, and the Mädis, or like-minded Gamines.

“Wash Waltz,” where participants mimed scrubbing down their partners with Also a vitalistic philosophy of lesbian superiority
imaginary brushes.
animated both the separatist and apolitical associations.

Ruth Roellig, a highly regarded journalist and colleague

“LADIES CLUB ERATO”—An exclusive Jewish club of Gamines, which met
on Monday afternoon at the ZAUBERFLÖTE. It was also an affiliate of the of Hirschfeld, wrote in 1929, “Lesbian love arises from
“Association of Human Rights.” At their annual September ball and dinner, the the refinement and depth of emotional experience
“Ladies’ Pearl Festival,” each Erato member received a pearl-necklace. Headed
where all the forces of body and soul become fused,
by feminist writer Selli Engler, the editor of the monthly BIF, the Journal of
Ideal Female Friendship. and then unfolded. Not to perform sexually when God

has blessed one with an ideal love-soul would be to

“LADIES CLUB MONBIJOU”—A member of the “German Friendship Association,”
the Monbijou encouraged Garçonne cultural activity, especially the reading of
private poetry and contemporary erotic literature. Met weekly at the CAFÉ
DORIAN GRAY and was long associated with the lesbian news publications
Frauenliebe (after 1928 called Garçonne) and Neue Freundschaft.

“LADIES CLUB PYRAMID”—A loosely-organized society of Garçonnes, the

Pyramid officials created exciting social gatherings every Monday evening
at the TOPPKELLER but without the heterosexual prostitutes, men, and other
gawkers. Ongoing lovers’ quarrels, especially those between club members
who were working-class Garçonnes and artistic types (including actresses from
Erwin Piscator’s theatre collective) erupted through the night and were gener-
ally settled in the Topp courtyard with “heartfelt apologies, tender embraces,
and impassioned kissing.”

“LADIES CLUB SCORPION”—Organized by the charming Bubi-meister Walterchen,

the Scorpion held relatively sedate dances at the downbeat TAVERNE on
deprive oneself and others of a great pleasure. Among
Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings. Thought to be named after the best-
lesbians, there may exist love affinities which no longer
selling German lesbian novel, The Scorpion by Anna Weinauch, the prewar
generic name for lesbian temptresses, or Walterchen’s astrological sign. (Or all vacillate desperately between angel and brute, but in a
three.) A place for not so elegant Bubis and Mädis. love that is sacred, pure, and beautiful in itself.”

Artistic types, like the lesbian Body Culture enthusi-

“LADIES CLUB VIOLETTA”—A militant lesbian organization of 400 working-class
women, female transvestites, and their supporters. Established by super-Bubi asts Hedwig Hagemann and Dora Menzler, claimed that

Lotte Hahn, a legendary fighter for lesbian legal rights, the Violetta contemptu- women’s sexuality was much more complicated and
ously looked down its nose at the social rostrum of more insular associations.
dense with erotic possibilities than that of men; there-
It was critical of the emphasis on physical appearance (“Sex-Appeal”) and the
fore, at their semi-mystical demonstrations of young
cult of stardom that many Berlin lesbian clubs consciously promoted. To coun-
ter that exclusionary world view, Hahn threw frequent Sunday picnics in the naked female dancers, male spectators, with very rare

Tiergarten and organized “beach party” outings in the summer. Violetta also exceptions, were prohibited. Although there was some
supported a feminist Body Culture regimen for indoor workers. More than any
tactical individual empathy with gay men and male
other Berlin society, the Violetta dealt with the problems and needs of full-time
transvestites, most lesbians in Berlin lived in a utopic
female transvestites.
Heavily advertised as an ideal meeting-place for lesbian singles, the environment separate from and independent of men.

Violetta organized its own dances three times a week at the RHEINISCHER HOF,
Lesbian Nightlife
Like other Berliners, lesbians were internationally

esteemed for their unusual nightlife. “Married” or sin-

gle, the Girl-Friends played out their vivacious lifestyle

in seemingly promiscuous capers and taunting public

displays of affection. Sexy personal columns and highly

detailed stories of brief romantic affairs were the basic

fillers of all lesbian publications. And nearly every les-

bian organization, especially ones with serious political

agendas, advertised late-night, hard-drinking weekly

parties and exclusive masked balls from late December

to February.

These spirited affairs were restricted to dues-pay-

ing members, but a half-dozen lesbian clubs also

welcomed a curious tourist trade. In Above:

Von
fact, the English Cook Travel Agency Perckhammer,
Ecstasy
featured such tours after 1928.
Left:
Mammen,
Precisely at midnight, special coach
The Siesta,
1931
buses picked up kinky sightseers at

each of the major Berlin hotels and

delivered them to the “Toppkeller”

and other late-night sapphic empori-

ums in the Berlin West, near Bülow-

strasse. For straight British couples, in

particular, these anthropological excur-

sions were the memorable high point

of their Continental revelry.

113
 The Toppkeller opened its arms

to sensation-hungry outsiders and

“only-in-Berlin”-quoting journal-

ists. Visually the nightclub bristled

with intriguing contrasts and its

entertainment atmosphere radiat-

ed high deviance, even by the

proudly wacked-out standards of

the city. Rumpelstilzchen, who was

accorded carte blanche privilege

there, noted that his fellow news-

papermen affectionately referred

to the three-storied funhouse as

the “Les-Botanical Gardens.”

The Topp was hidden away

from the street. Customers had to

MANUELA, NATIONHOF, or ZAUBERFLÖTE halls. Particularly well received were cross a dark courtyard and three gates (the first bearing
its “Sailor Parties,” “Transvestite Parties” (cross-dressing was mandatory for
a symbol of a toilet) and then negotiate a narrow stair-
admittance), and “Fun Evenings,” where each Violetta member had to fill out
well before they reached the club’s ante-chamber. In
a card indicating her wildest sexual fantasy. The violet and the popular lesbian
“Lilac Song” were the club’s emblem and signature theme. Always champi- the foyer, each guest was inspected by two enormous,

oned in the oldest German lesbian newspaper, Die Freundin, a biweekly much
respected in straight leftist circles.

“SOCIETY CLUB LAMETIER”—A little-talked about organization of Sharpers,

Lametier members met socially at the SCHUBERT HALL in Berlin West on Sunday
evenings.
cigar-smoking Bubis, holding court at a ticket

table. Once approved, female customers were

expected to bend forward (depending on their

state of dress) in order to receive a complimen-

tary kiss from one of the Bubis. Men, after pay-

ing admission, were merely waved through.

Inside, the Topp shook with libertine excess.

The place swarmed with pouty glam dolls, club

girls, whores of every stripe, foreign dignitaries,

star-struck Nuttes, and in-the-know pervs.

“Beauty” contests (where patrons voted on the

shapeliest body parts of otherwise cloaked vol-

unteers) opened the evening. Lesbian reel-

dances and spin-the-bottle type party-games

filled the dance floor until midnight. Then under

the conductorship of a statuesque Domina

named Napoleon, dizzy Hot Sisters warbled

their way though the “Lilac Song,” Berlin’s

unofficial lesbian anthem.

The proprietor of the Topp was the gor-

geous blonde, “Gypsy-Lotte.” A dynamic catchphrase: “Mood, mood, children!” On “Elite- Opposite:
Schlichter,
Sharper, she was said to know the exact erotic prefer- Women’s Night,” a monthly feature, Lotte donned a Women’s Club
(The Topkeller),
1925
ences and favorite drinks of her Diele regulars. Lotte’s fortuneteller’s costume and transformed into her alter-
Above:
liberating wit and scintillating personality drew togeth- ego character, “Princess Nana Hama,” a man-crazed, Vala Moro,
Young
er the Topp’s broad and variegated audience. And Gypsy clairvoyant. Lotte’s parodies of sexually fiendish Newlyweds

whenever the carnal atmosphere began to dim, Lotte straight women especially delighted her many doting

scolded the clubgoers with her much-remembered lesbian fans.

115
 Lesbian Social Clubs conscious attempt to forge a group identity. The activi-

More typical of Berlin’s Girlfriend nightlife was its ties of the lesbian social clubs were relatively easy to

unique institution of lesbian social clubs. There were at track because of their openness and the lesbian press’

least three dozen of these and they ranged in size from coverage of them. A good example was “The Whistle

600 to less than ten. The smallest clubs functioned Club,” a hard-partying crew, consisting of seven to

more like extended families than determined political twelve Gamines.

cells or narrowly-focused women’s associations. The Beginning in 1928, the Whistle Club met every

club members socialized on a regular basis, took holi- Thursday at the “Princess Café,” a Berlin West nightspot

days together, often pooled their money, and made a and gemütlich restaurant. Mostly secretaries and fed-

Right and
Opposite:
Gamine club
on an outing

116
eral clerks during the day, the

Whistlers banded together to

open a joint savings account,

shared a wacky lottery-betting

scheme, and, in winter, regis-

tered as a skating society. Their

madcap activities at the café

included out-of-key sing-alongs

with the conférencier Erich Fuchs,

line dancing, and constant erotic

funhousing with all-work bar-

maid Liselotte.

Each Whistle Club member

transformed into an erotic play-

character at night, and none more

so than the entertaining Irma, a

tiny flirtatious boy-girl with striking

Slavic features and a brown

Bubikopf. Always dressed in an

adorable sailor suit, Irma was known for her favorite gender dysphoria was the target of practical jokes and

pastime, “rag-doll.” She sprang from chair to chair, allow- smutty teasing from the lesbian regulars and a source

ing her clubmates to fondle her flagrantly and play with of confusion for the casual straight drop-ins. Broken-

her body as if she were a mechanical, wind-up toy sol- toothed Grete Nissen, the proprietor of the Princess

dier or lifeless (if spectacularly sexy) puppet. Café, often accompanied the Whistle Clubbers in their

Another public amusement involved the meticu- choral performances and actively encouraged their

lously groomed, blonde Liselotte. She was actually a sexual torment of Liselotte, apparently her son.

fastidious and highly secretive male transvestite. Her

117
Those who study the problem of transvestitism more closely and have the opportunity of meeting many transvestites, are surprised
again and again at the extent and intensity of this peculiar phenomenon.
Magnus Hirschfeld, Sex Knowledge, 1928

I was told that some of those [prostitutes] who looked most handsome and elegant were actually boys in disguise. It seemed in-
credible, considering the sovereign grace with which they displayed their saucy coats and hats. I wondered if they might be wearing
little silks, under their exquisite gowns. Must look kind of funny I thought—a boy’s body with a pink, lace-trimmed shirt. Not very
pleasant, though. Were there Russian princes among those picturesque, if somewhat revolting hermaphrodites? Or sons of Prussian
generals, who, in such a bizarre mode, protested against the rigid principles of their fathers?
Klaus Mann, 1942

CROSSED BOUNDARIES
Rouged Line-Boys in female garb plying their trade near the Passage, Aunties in long

gowns quietly sharing a beer in darkened lounges, and raucous transvestite nightclubs in the Berlin

West were among the most common representations of Berlin decadence. German provincials,

foreign sightseers, and gossip columnists alike gravitated to these baroque displays of gender

mystification. Both sexual freak show and a high-class amusement, public drag scenes provided a

comic relief from the more threatening forms of erotic behaviors on Berlin’s ever-widening spec-

trum. Most Berliners and fellow tourists, straight or gay, could share a judgment on this one

resplendent perversion: cross-dressed men and women were ridiculous, pathetic, harmless cre-

ators—contemptible, beyond the pale of serious sexuality. They were truly queer.

There were political implications as well: for the National Socialist Movement and the growing

reaction in the early Thirties, male transvestism was the most ubiquitous sign of a weakening

morality and sexual degeneracy of the Republic under democratic rule. Mustached Aunties were

comical figures but also disturbing and concrete symbols of Germany’s psychological evisceration.
 OUR EXCURSION
TO “EL DORADO”
(1930) by Bernard Zimmer
Like ragged circus clowns who inexplicably bring tears
(Le Crapouillot Special Number 23)
to children, male transvestites furtively evinced an

While we check our overcoats, a pretty young woman makes her charming underground fraternity of ineffectual, castrated fathers.

entrance in front of us. She removes her hat, slides out of a big sable coat, Militant Homosexualists shared this one hateful
applies red polish to her lips, and flirtatiously brushes back her platinum-
belief with the right-wing and religious opposition.
blonde bangs.
Ladies (and feminized males in general) were despi-
“What an entrancing mademoiselle,” I remark.
We enter after her. The Eldorado reminds us of little bar-restaurants from cable; their soft, depilated bodies and mocking antics

the French countryside: a bit of theatre, a bit of dancing. We catch sight of our were an affront to German strength and German man-
ravishing blonde friend, who sits down at a nearby table. It is filled with a
hood. In the ethos of Brand’s disciples, male transves-
dozen strangely dressed companions.
tites projected a weak, jaded, and mocking reflection of
“You know,” our waiter points out,” all those pretty girls sitting at the
table over there are really men!” same-sex male desire; a dangerous and irreparably
That is the attraction of the house. haunting challenge to phallocentric gays and their
These false ladies, beautifully decked out, dance with each other, and
Hellenistic theories of male supremacy and the sol-
gladly waltz with the club customers. We scrutinize them, itemizing each body
part. Every time we seem to discover one glaring defect. Some of these cam- dierly rectitudes of man-boy love. Men in drag were

ouflaged Eves are betrayed by a neck too muscular, a hand too wide, an ankle regarded as disgusting Untermänner. Women were
too thick. Others attain near perfection: Two lovely girls, one blonde, the other
born into their hapless gender. Aunties and Ladies
auburn, dance the Valse Boston faultlessly. They are slim,
nearly without hips; their slender frames are extenuated by
their long dresses, which reveal exquisite pairs of shapely
legs. Unfortunately, they are men!
The most bewildering of these perverts are not the most
perfectly feminine. There are, in the crowd, two or three
big dondons (fat women) with short, thick-fingered hands,
drooping breasts, huge behinds, Adam’s apples, and five
o’clock shadows. One oversized dondon says about another,
“The poor girl, how seedy she appears tonight!”
The life of these “transvestites” is interesting to observe:
Most live in couples with a thousand jealousies and intrigues.
Some are small-time prostitutes, others husbands, and a few
are fathers with families. And the prostitutes are treated like
members of any other respected profession.
 Previous Left:
Muguette, female
impersonator
from the
Eldorado, 1931

Previous Right:
A Lady, 1925

Opposite:
The Rocky Twins
impersonating
the international
stars, the Dolly
Sisters, 1930

Left:
Androgyne
cross dresser

Below:
Aunt and niece
living together
as men

enthusiastically adopted the dress, “soul,” and even the “The Erotic Urge to Cross-Dress”
Christian names of the lowly sex. The impulse to dress and exhibit oneself in the

Still a hardcore community of transvestites flour- clothing of the other gender was thought to be a

ished in Berlin despite all efforts to suppress and sharp- transcultural phenomenon. In the preliterate world,

ly restrict their presence and nighttime pursuits. In fact, wonder-working shamans traditionally wore garments

it was drag entertainments in the forms of balls and

Dielen that customarily marked Berlin Weimar’s erotic

vitalism, its taunting masquerade of tangled and flipped

carnal lust. Deco line-drawings of men in taffeta dresses

and women in top hats signified only one Jazz-Age

metropolis. The actual demographics of sometime drag

queens and kings in Berlin, however, remained a mys-

tery. (There were probably more secret cross-dressers in

London and New York during the Twenties.) What made

the city Transvestite Central was the sexological work of

Magnus Hirschfeld, who did for cross-dressing what

Freud had already done for modern neurosis: define it.

 In the room are some bourgeois couples and curious families from the
neighborhood. They look upon the spectacle with wonder and fascination, like
going to the movies.
The other Eldorado [on Motzstrasse] is more elegant. Sophisticated types forbidden to those of their sex. In Asia, court theatres
spend the evening there for the performances and to savor a bottle of German
alternately encouraged and savagely proscribed gen-
champagne. On a small stage, some danseuses in tutus twirl on point: Again
der-reversed presentations. Severe Biblical prohibitions
transvestites. (Many are from Paris.)
The main attraction is the “Dance of Héliogabal,” executed by a lis- against cross-dressing attested to its ancient Western

some and naked eighteen-year old beauty. Not a disciple of [André Gide’s] roots. And Roman chapbooks famously detailed orgias-
“Corydon.” One can easily recognize that he is a little-cousin of Nijinsky. His
tic spectacles where demented emperors openly flaunt-
golden body and coltish grace are not unpleasant to watch.
ed their peculiar lusts, disguised in the perfumed wraps
At an adjoining table, before a small cup of “mokka,” sits a redheaded
woman with Persian eyes. “Is this a man?” I ponder. After almost a half-hour, of mythic fertility goddesses or bejeweled harlots.

I still can’t decide, for the red-head has delicate hands and very pretty legs. From the early Renaissance onward, a great folklore
When our mokka-drinking neighbor stands up to leave, I observe her from
developed in Europe about cross-dressed women who
behind. Her forearms reveal the ruddy smooth complexion of a female chef
lived fantastic lives as men, including great military and
but her posterior displays something different: the unmistakable solidity of a
male buttocks. So? So, one doesn’t know anymore! religious figures. In general, transvestism was viewed
Bewildered, we leave for the lesbian lounges, the “Domino,” “House of as an expansive form or feature of sexual inversion. The
My Sister-in-Law,” and “Mali and Ingel.” In these nightclubs, women dress
need to parade in the accouterments of opposite sex
like miniature gentlemen. At three in the morning, tired of deciphering the
perpetual riddle of “who is what sex,” we depart for the safety of our hotel, graphically “disclosed” a homosexual inclination. Central

confused and frustrated. European psychologists, at the end of the nineteenth

century, published hundreds of case

histories establishing the obvious

link between cross-dressing and

classic uranism, or homosexuality.

Dr. Hirschfeld had a different

take on these puzzling enactments.

He also studied hundreds of cross-

dressers in Berlin (but with surpris-

ing empathy) and theorized that the

irrepressible urge to costume one-

self with articles of clothing identi-

fied with the opposite sex fell into a new and indepen-

dent erotic category. In 1908, he coined the word to

describe this “intermediate sexual” behavior as trans-

vestism and further popularized the provocative theory

with his influential text, Transvestites: the Erotic Drive

to Cross-Dress.

According to Hirschfeld, only 35% of the male and

female transvestites he observed could be classified as

practicing homosexuals; an equal percentage were,

more or less, congenital heterosexuals, with the

remaining 30% being split between cross-dressers who

exhibited bisexual tendencies and “auto-monosexuals,”

a narcissistic type for whom the very act of pasting up

an artificial beard or sporting false breasts before a mir-

ror accompanied an autorerotic rush. Even among the

cross-dressing bisexuals, Hirschfeld found a strong psy-

chological tilt toward heterosexuality: they were mainly for gender reidentification and illusionism. These were Opposite:
The New
married men, who reluctantly allowed themselves to based on the intensity of the erotic fixation and its rela- Eldorado, 1928

be penetrated by Cellar-Masters because of a desperate tionship to sexual release (some male transvestites, for Above:
Kamm, Training

need to wear feminine clothing during intercourse. By instance, desperately needed female attire to maintain

engaging in this particular activity, bisexual transves- erectile status; others suffered from spontaneous ejacu-

tites claimed that they had maintained a heterosexual lation when lipstick or other female makeup was forci-

fidelity to their unknowing spouses. bly applied to their faces); the duration and scope of

Hirschfeld culled from the literature of cross-dress- activity (“Silk panties worn only after office-hours,

ers and explored the wide, and naturally hidden, world sir?”); the full, partial, open, or veiled nature of the

of transvestite life in Berlin. In doing so, he was able to clothing or behavior (“What do you feel when the

devise discrete typologies and innovative classifications young woman seated next to you realizes that your
123
 vate counseling there, filling out cards

that described their erotic compulsion in

minute, near-pornographic detail. And it

was long rumored (and reported in the

reactionary press) that the otherwise

strait-laced medical physician and cul-

tural celebrity himself metamorphosed

into a charming full-figured Auntie at

Institute tea parties and secluded, smutty

evening gatherings.

The Transvestite Demi-

Monde
Despite Hirschfeld’s scientific

announcements, male and female trans-

vestites were universally seen as a col-

orful subset of queer Berlin. Cross-

dressed heterosexuals, except as one-

time Doll-Boys or girlish Line-Boys,

Above: arm is not that of a man’s?”); and significantly, how the remained closeted and invisible to the general public.
Mammen,
Masked Ball, altered gender appearance transformed the transves- Straight and bisexual transvestites, reportedly the
1928
tite into a more authentic, sexually charged and psy- majority, had little interest in socializing or even com-

chologically fulfilled individual. municating with one another. Der dritte Geschlect

At his Institute of Sexology, which opened in 1919, (“The Third Sex”), Friedrich Radszuweit’s upbeat peri-

Hirschfeld employed several transvestite maids and odical for “ordinary” [straight?] cross-dressers, couldn’t

servants of both genders. Hundreds of Berlin cross- find a reading public and folded after two or three

dressers, including Nazi Party members, received pri- issues in 1929.

124
 Heterosexual Ladies, according to

Hirschfeld, often married women with

pronounced masculine traits (often them-

selves partial cross-dressers). Shame and

fear of social ridicule kept straight trans-

vestites’ distinct peccadillos indoors or

coyly sublimated except during Carnival

season. Undecided or borderline types

were, of course, a lucrative cash cow for

Minette callgirls, who graciously offered

their special therapeutic services.

The normal life of queer male trans-

vestites, the obvious drag queens and

divas, who frequently lived as couples,

was further complicated by Paragraph

168, a Prussian statute that forbade the

appearance of cross-dressers on Berlin’s

thoroughfares. This gave rise to private

transvestite Dielen and bars, where

patrons entered as dowdy men and women and then Transvestite Nightlife Above:
Expressive
re-emerged from the bustling restrooms as splendid Private lounges and nightclubs formed the nucleus drawing by
Voo-Doo, a
specimens of the opposite sex. On occasion—and as a of Berlin transvestite social activity and interaction. The Lady dancer

favor to crime reporters, usually their drinking bud- first club that catered to cross-dressers, the “Hannemann,”

dies—Berlin vice commissioners staged phony raids on opened in 1892 on Alexanderstrasse, and welcomed

these establishments, maliciously forcing the transves- both men and women. It was also a Boy Bar, and its

tites out into the street, where they were subject to mixed queer clientele typified a communal openness of

instant arrest and a battery of tabloid paparazzi. same-sex pursuits in the Wilhelmian era. Frequented by
125
 Right:
Lustige Blätter,
1932:
Left figure:
“Careful, I’m illusionism: boys forced into the role of Situational
not a man!’
Right:
female whores. Again McAlmon on a melodramatic
“That’s okay, I’m
not a woman.”
note: “At nights along the Unter den Linden it was

never possible to know whether it was a woman or a

man in women’s clothing who accosted one. That

didn’t matter, but it was sad to know that innumera-

ble young and normal Germans were doing anything,

from dope selling to every form of prostitution, to

off-duty German soldiers, low-level bureaucrats, Line- have money for themselves and their families, their

Boys, and hard-drinking Bubis, it was soon replaced by widowed mothers and younger brothers and sisters.”

the infamous “Mikado Bar” and the “Bülow-Kasino” (on Transvestite acts, a standard feature of nineteenth-

Bülowstrasse). century German music-hall and variety, became more

After the Collapse, drag queens appeared every- plentiful after 1919 and could be found in most gay

where and added much to Berlin’s local color. The cabarets and amusement halls. Performing before a

American writer Robert McAlmon, who visited the city mostly young, randy, and mostly liberated queer audi-

during the desolate winter of 1923, reported, “Several ence absolutely changed the outré nature of the enact-

Germans declared themselves authentic hermaphro- ments and their dramatic meanings. But growing

dites [sic—transvestites], and one elderly variant loved political tension between the organized gay community

to arrive at the smart cabarets each and the theatrical drag queens and kings in the mid-

time as a different type of woman: Twenties forced a mass exodus of cross-dressers from

elegant, or as washerwoman, or a homosexual Dielen to a different Berlin sensation, the

street vendor, or as a modest mother public transvestite nightclub.

of a family. He was very comical and Although there were never more than a dozen such

his presence always made for hilari- “licensed” outlets at any one time, transvestite enter-

ty.” tainment palaces and cabarets quickly revamped the

Yet there was a corresponding city’s boastful “Once in Berlin” nightlife. And since

pathetic side to that transgender straight tourists were usually cherished customers,
transvestite clubs appropriated the hard-currency draw

of less humble and physically insecure posts of “divine

decadence.” Hotel brochures, tourist guidebooks, even

intellectual monthlies promoted the major drag clubs,

and in return received substantial advertising. The

Nationalist, middle-of-the-road, and Catholic political

parties, of course, raged. Again the greatest opponents

of the clubs were Berlin’s militant gay organizations

and societies, who found them so distasteful and

degenerate that not one male homosexual publication

ever accepted a paid ad from them.

On the other hand, many hip Berliners and foreign

tourists wrote admiringly about the transvestite vesti-

bules. Typical description of the hotsy-totsy “Eldorado”

from a Berliner: “You’d see always famous people

there, like Max Pallenberg. Not much of a show, but

the most fascinating thing was ... you had lesbians Above:
Benari,
looking like lesbians with short hair, lesbians looking Eldorado
Dancers
like beautiful women, lesbians dressed exactly like
Left:
Melchior,
men and looking like men. You had men dressed like Meyer-Stube

women so you couldn’t possibly recognize they were

men, it was so realistic. Then you would see couples

127
 Right:
New Eldorado
wine cards

the old man’s otherworldly enchantment with the place.

Leaning between the club’s backroom columns were the

Eldorado’s stunning males in drag. To the provincial Artur,

they resembled nothing so much as pale princesses out

of children’s storybooks. The raucous atmosphere of gen-

der confusion, for one guileless German, had crossed

over into the realm of poetic theatre.

American Vogue also attempted a sendup of

Berlin’s transvestite clubs. For their May 1932 issue, a

dancing and you wouldn’t know any more what it

was.” (quoted from Mankoff’s Lusty Europe).

Among Rumpelstilzchen’s many journalistic gimmicks

was his annual fall Bummel,

where he accompanied his

fuddy-duddy uncle from the

sticks to some bizarre or naughty

Berlin institution. In September

1931, the roguish, Schnauze col-

umnist brought Uncle Artur to

the Eldorado at midnight. Artur,

of course, got everything wrong

but Rumpelstilzchen understood

reporter scoured the city in search of

Berlin’s single most perfect female.

Starting with the grand hotel lobbies,

the voyeuristic safari took the writer

through an assortment of chi-chi cafés

and Pleasure Palaces. Using a beauty

chronometer that rated everything from

up-to-date shoe accessories to ideal

nose length, Vogue’s travel specialist

failed to detect a stylish Berlinerin wor-

thy of the title. Then, at the suggestion

of a local, he took a chance at the old

Eldorado, where a non-biological femme

finally complied with the American’s

exacting requirements.

Vogue did not know it but, by the

time their sardonic piece was published,

Berlin’s drag Dielen had already been

banned and shuttered. The growing Nazi

and Nationalist menace nationwide

began to affect the Berlin social climate.

In March 1932, the city’s frightened liberal vice estab- their district electoral headquarters. It was as if a des- Above:
Muguette
lishment declared male transvestite nightclubs an ecrated Nordic temple had been thoroughly cleansed

affront to public morality and, under Paragraph 168, of polluted influences and re-sanctified for the virtuous

used their authority to close them permanently. Seven torch-bearers of Adolf Hitler’s New Germany.

months later, the Nazis made a poignant effort of

transforming the Eldorado on Motzstrasse into one of

129
 I have just come back from the Land of the Naked, where men, women, children, oldsters, fathers and mothers of families,
virgins and adolescents come and go quite nude, where they bathe, laugh, eat, drink and cook their meals, in a state of total, stark,
utter nakedness. Do not go and search for this earthly paradise at the Antipodes. It is situated at a distance of twenty hours
from Paris. In the very heart of Europe, in Germany, to be exact.
Louis-Charles Royer, Let’s Go Naked, 1932

“MORE SUN + MORE AIR + MORE NUDITY = MORE LIFE!”

Berlin Naturalist Slogan, 1926

LAUGHING NUDITY
Modern nudism, or Nacktkultur, developed into a mass German
movement shortly after the Armistice and continued well into the Nazi

era. Like many Central European social innovations, it fused modernist

and reactionary beliefs in such a way that it defied easy definition and

appealed to people on the political fringes who had little else in common.

Hirsute revolutionaries, primitive Christians, Aryan mystics, middle-of-the-

road Socialists, free-thinkers, Nationalist academics, health fanatics, eye-

fluttering gurus, unrepentant feminists, pseudo-Buddhists, and flat-out

hedonists all joined arms to promote the cult of the naked human body.

The peripatetic leaders and theoreticians of the Nacktkultur program

adroitly stitched together a dedicated underground community of “Life

Reformists” and visionary utopians from Germany’s disaffected. Their

web extended everywhere. It was particularly strong in Northern

Germany, where several dozen nudist sites and colonies dotted the
 GERMAN NUDIST AND
LIFE REFORM
MAGAZINES North and Baltic Sea coastlines. By 1931, even land-

locked Berlin had some 40 competing Nacktkultur

Die Aufklärung (“The Enlightenment”), “a Monthly Journal for Sex and Life societies and clubs.
Reform.” Edited by Magnus Hirschfeld and Maria Krishe from the Institute for
What united the multi-hydra leagues, associations,
Sexology. An upbeat zine designed in a pop/Bauhaus format, it mixed enthu-
unions, and brotherhoods was a shared enemy: modern
siasm for Nacktkultur with sexological exposés and anthropological/historical
material. Supportive of Adolf Koch’s “Free Men, Union for Socialist Life Reform” capitalism. The weakening of blood ties and individual

and sympathetic to homosexual and lesbian aspects of nudism. [1929–1931] purpose, excessive fluctuations in birth rates, factories
Der Eheberater (“The Marriage Counselor”), a “Monthly for Hygienic People’s
spewing toxic wastes, prostitution, the inhuman ratio-
Instruction.” A women’s magazine that promoted nudism, natural medicine,
nalization of medicine and education, alcoholism, the
graphology, and sexy fashions. Interesting advice columns. [1928].
Das Freibad (“The Open-Air Bath”), a “Monthly Journal for the Promotion of unbridled accumulation of paper assets, and a general

Naked Bathing.” A glossy magazine with a nonpolitical and clearly hedonist decline in physical health and happiness were the
appeal. Affiliated with Birkenheide. Edited by Charly Straesser. [1927–1932]
inevitable products of the Industrial Revolution and the
Figaro, “Bi-Monthly Journal for Politics and Culture.” Motto: “Fights in Word
rampant urbanization that followed.
and Picture for Cultural Freedom.” Illustrated popular magazine promoting
Nacktkultur from both historical and international perspectives. Famous for The Nacktkultur philosophers wanted nothing less
its satirical faits divers and political cartoons. Affiliated with the FKK. [1924– than a wholesale reformation of German life. In their
1932]
nude encampments, they promised, sacred space and
Freikörperkultur und Lebensreform (“Free Body Culture and Life Reform”),
“Magazine of the Reichs Union for Free Body Culture.” Conservative intellectual time—beyond the numbing boundaries of work and

journal open to middle-class and Catholic points of view. Affiliated with the pew—could be reestablished. By merely removing their
New Sunland League. [1929–1930]
clothing, strangers could shed their social markings,
Die Freude (“The Joy”), a “Monthly Journal for Free Life Reform.” Artistic
toss aside all sexual taboos, and enter into an exalted
journal, embracing both Socialist and Nationalist points of view. Expressionist in
design and thought. [1924–1925] state of Adamite consciousness. Peace, emotional tran-

Ideal-Ehe (“Ideal Marriage”), a “Monthly for Spiritual and Corporal Education in quility, physical health, and corporal beauty would reign
Marriage.” Edited by Edgar Schulz. A glam women’s magazine with a progres-
in the Naturalist communes.
sive slant. Lots of articles on modern living, nudism, body development, and
problems in marriage. [1927–1929]
Körperbildung/Nacktkultur (“Body Development/Naked Culture”), the
“Organ of Free Men.” An Adolf Koch periodical devoted to intellectual currents
in the Nacktkultur movement. Filled with manifestos and recipes for good
health. Especially concerned with children and women’s
issues. [1925–1933]
Kraft und Schönheit (“Strength and Beauty”), “Journal for
Body Culture.” Edited by Heinrich Pudor. An early Nacktkultur
monthly magazine that increasingly promoted nudism as a
form of regeneration for the “Nordic” race. Mostly drawings
and text. [1900-1919]
Lachendes Leben (“Smiling Life”), a “Magazine for a
Healthy World-Philosophy.” A nonpolitical, nudist pictorial
with short upbeat pieces, celebrating the family Nacktkultur
lifestyle and Rhythmic Gymnastics. [1925–1933]
Leben und Sonne (“Life and Sun”), a “Monthly of the Free
Body Culture.” An independent intellectual Socialist journal
concerned with children’s health, sports, and nudity. Not affili-
ated with the Union of Free Men. [1925–1926]
Der Leib (“The Body”), “Picture Book of Ideal Nudity,”
[Earlier, “Organ for the Understanding of Spiritual Living
Through the Knowledge of the Body.”] Artistic journal edited
by Max Tepp. Concerned with social issues, like female
health, prostitution, and the Jewish Problem. Promoter of
Rhythmic Gymnastics and Ausdruckstanz (Expressive Dance).
[1919–1927]
Licht-Land (“Light-Land”), “the “Official Organ for the
League for Free Life Improvement.” A magazine with innoc-
uous nudist photographs but increasingly National Socialist
orientation in text and design in the Thirties. [1923–1933] The message of organized nudism spoke compel-
Licht-Luft-Leben (“Light-Air-Life”). Combined with Der Mensch, “Monthly
lingly to the nascent radicalism of the German-speaking
Journal for Beauty, Health, Spirit, Body Development.” Nacktkultur supplement
world. Already there were separate attempts, like the
of Die Schönheit. A cooperative journal for twenty-some German and Swiss
organizations. [1920–1933] Wandervogel movement, to rethink the conventional
Nacktsport (“Naked Sport”), “Illustrated Journal for the Theory and Praxis of patterns and hierarchies of bourgeois life. Holistic meth-
Healthful Development Through Sports.” Edited by the German Nationalist Artur
ods of healing and amateur sporting leagues challenged
Fedor Fuchs. [1919–1923]
Die Neue Zeit (“The New Era”). International Body Culture journal with color the notion of high professionalism and the feudal divi-

photographs. Edited by Swiss nudist Edi Frankenhausen. [1929–1933] sions of labor. The Nacktkulturists, however, offered, in
Pelagius, a “Monthly with Beautiful Photographs from the Naked and Free Air
addition, spiritual uplift, community values, and all the
Movement.” Small glossy zine with virtually no text or political point of view.
wallop of a new religion.
[1931–1932]
 Urban youth, according to Naturalist precepts, could Opening Left:
Daughter of
attain a more profound sense of well-being without the Adolf Koch and
friend, 1932

blandishments of clergy or Gymnasium master. German

Opening Right:
Member of
boys and girls needed only nature (in the form of clean Artur Fuchs’
Nationalist FKK
water, air, and sunlight), vigorous exercise, an improved
Previous Right:
diet, and the new awareness that the naked human Johannes Arz,
Weekend
body alone radiated perfection and supreme beauty.

Beginning in 1919, the illustrated periodicals and

manifestos of Nacktkultur movement, of course, harped

on the contrasts between their hale and robust life-

styles and those of decadent Berlin. One pictorial theme

appeared repeatedly: the Naturalist Girl and the Bad

Girl. Typically, a photo-montage spread would juxta-

pose a series of carefree women in the nude tossing

medicine balls with nighttime shots of smirking Tauen-

tziengirls posed before the display windows of the

Kadewe Department Store. The disparities, for the Life

Reformers, could not be presented more starkly.

To most Berliners, accustomed to the vagaries of

erotic dissonance, Nacktkultur and its celebration of the

naked body manifested another interesting possibility

in the ethos of sexual freedom. Nudist debates over

chaste living, racial hygiene, “healthy desire,” and

moral purity, however, irked the free-spirited city

dwellers. And, in the minds of the Girl-Culture consum-

ers, these provincial platitudes wrapped the movement

in an antiquated Puritan code.

135
Die Schönheit (“The Beauty), the most popular German monthly promoting
all aspects of Body Culture. Edited by Karl Wanselow. Noted for its striking Art
Deco design and aesthetic depictions of female nudity. Many articles on artists
and scientific discoveries. Only Nacktkultur periodical with an interest in science
After all, Naked Dance and “Beauty Evenings,”
fiction and sexual aids. Great classified section. [1902–1936]
Sonneland (“Sun Land”), “a Journal for Air Body Culture.” [1931] which the Nacktkulturists vehemently condemned, also
Sonniges Land (“Sunny Land”), “the Great, Illustrated Journal of the Free exhibited the nude body. But their prurient appeal
Body Culture Movement.” A general nudist pictorial devoted to outdoor life.
violated the essence of modern German nudism. The
[1929–1933]
Urania, a “Monthly for Nature-Consciousness and Social Learning.” Socialist healthy naked physique was not meant to be an object

periodical with a heavy emphasis on nudism, German mysticism, and Buddhist of male/female gaze or lewd entertainment, according
teachings. [1925–1926]
to German Life Reform doctrine. Men and women who

patronized Berlin’s Nachtlokals and Dielen were obvi-

ous perverts, sick relics of a commodity-driven society.

In the stirring words of the Nacktkultur manifestos,

 Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com

shame and guilt—which unnaturally

stimulated the sexual impulse—need-

ed to be uncoupled from the display

of the exposed human form.

Unfortunately, thrill-seeking Berlin-

ers too often reveled in their shame

and guilt. With the air, it animated

their nightly Bummels. And, during

the Weimar period, at least two ver-

sions of organized nudism arose in the

city: one for prudes (allied with the

national federations) and one solely

for Berlin’s primitive sophisticates.

German Life Reform

and Nacktkultur
The jumbled and contradictory

nature of the Weimar German Life

Reform and Nacktkultur movement is grain, sour-milk or single-fruit diets, naked swimming, Opposite:
At Birkenheide,
usually explained by its divergent nineteenth-century hypnotic and electrical wave treatments, all competed 1926

Above:
roots. Between 1870 and 1900, over 200 alternative with the conventional medical wisdom for the soul and
Cover of
Die Schönheit
therapies and patented health regimens—some fantas- physical restoration of the German people. nudist calendar

tic and others with a scientific underpinning—sprang up In 1903, Heinrich Pudor, a devotee of air-bathing,

in Central European clinics and spas. Homeopathy, mud combed the alternative, commercial muck and extract-

and sea-air baths, hydrotherapy, “curative gymnastics,” ed from it the most outdoorsy and naturalist elements.

medical massage, physical culture programs, colonic He gave these nude therapies and philosophies an

cleansing and supervised fasts, sun worship, whole- intriguing modernist name, Nacktkultur (Naked Culture),
137

www.Ebook777.com
 of natural health and extolled his Manichean

division of Germany into wholesome, young

nudists—or potential nudists—and their

envious opponents.

Naked-bathing was the most ubiquitous

activity of the early Nacktkultur groups. The

nude human body in free-flowing water

provided arresting photographs for the aes-

thetic journals and echoed the German

Above: which effectively separated them from their folk and Romantic notion of man in joyous harmony with nature.
Boys from
New Sunland quack-cure sisters. Two artistic monthlies, Die Schönheit Pudor even attacked the over-the-chest bathing suit as

and later Kraft und Schönheit, advanced Pudor’s vision a Philistine invention. He harangued swimming trunks

as the contemporary “mark of Cain,” created and worn

by people ashamed of their genitals. No wonder the

most popular color was red, Pudor wrote; the anti-

Naturalists who covered their pasty bodies with them

were in a perpetual state of blush.

Several private Nacktkultur lodges in Berlin opened

in 1907 as a result of Die Schönheit’s persuasive pro-

paganda. The same year, Richard Ungewitter published

Nudity and Culture, the first in a long string of intel-

lectual pamphlets (with a total sales of 100,000) that

lauded Pudor’s dream. Ungewitter also affixed mystic

Aryan and temperance features to the simple

Nacktkultur philosophy: nudism, abstinence from alco-

hol and tobacco, and vegetarian diets were the means

by which the German race would regenerate itself and

138
ultimately prevail over its neighbors

and the diabolical Jews, who were

intent on injecting putrefying agents

into the nation’s blood and soil.

While Wilhelmian Germany’s vice

police checked the growth of the

Nacktkultur societies and their ability to

proselytize, Ungewitter turned the

movement upside down with his cultist

screeds. Nacktkultur enthusiasts were

forced to consider the deep political

meaning of their Edenic pursuits. The

German Life Reform league splintered

into hostile ideological camps in those

years. Even the apoliticos had to explain

their national purpose.

At first, the linkage of nudity to the

dogmatic issues of German public pol-

icy and social renewal seemed over-

reaching and blunted its unvarnished

allure. The Nacktkultur, for the most everything changed. Nudism joined the political strug-

part, was a reaction against the stultifying bourgeois gle and Germany’s extremist parties embraced the

existence, an indolent lifestyle that corporally termi- Nacktkulturists.

nated at the shoulder-blades. Bathing naked in a During the Twenties, nudist societies formed in

stream with one’s family didn’t normally attract the Scandinavia, the Baltic countries, Austria, Czech-

mokka-and-newspaper crowd from Berlin’s smoky oslovakia, and France, but their overall membership

gentlemen clubs. But, starting in the Weimar period, was quite small. Only in Germany did Life Reform
139
 AN AFTERNOON AT ADOLF
KOCH’S “SOCIETY OF
FREE MEN” (1929)
organizations and their many periodicals enter into the

public sphere. It was claimed that at the end of

I saw one of the worst groups: skeleton-like adolescents and varicose old men;
Weimar over one million German families belonged to
women with pendulous breasts and others whose posteriors might well vie with
those of a Hottentot Venus. There were even consumptives who came back from Nacktkultur societies.
their “sun showers” with great red moons on throat and backs.
Koch makes them dance—and they dance.
Nude Berlin
Awkwardly at first—and pitiful, it is, to see such efforts towards harmony made
While Hamburg weighed in as the demographic
by these unshapely creatures.
They dance ... champion of the Nacktkultur movement, Berlin
And gradually, it seems to me, the charm begins to work. The pervading rhythm, claimed its intellectual heart. Quartered all through
Koch’s persuasive words, the warm emanations given forth by all these bodies,
the Friedrichstadt were the national offices of the
intoxicate them. The pace quickens. They forget their ills, which yet permit them
this physical lightness. left- and right-wing nudist associations and their pub-

Some have lost their look of sad resignation; that expression of envious revolt, lishing arms. In Berlin’s parks, enclosed swimming
which characterized others, falls away. One of the women, with gnarled legs but
pools, and rehearsal halls, societies of the naked con-
with beautiful breasts, tenses her torso as though in dedication to some invisible
ducted weekly exercise classes in full public view.
male.
These too, then, amid the intoxication which music and feverish dance arouse in And, outside the city, surrounding Lake Motzen

all their senses, these too may dream for one instant that they are—who knows?— emerged 40 to 50 individual nudist “territories.” Jan
beautiful and strong, or at least like their fellows.
Gay, an American journalist, wrote in 1932, “A strang-
“When they are together,” Koch tells me, “they suffer less from their infirmities.
er in Berlin desiring to visit a nudist group has an
They are mostly poor devils who toil hard for their daily bread. Some are ‘pariahs.’
They come here to forget their miseries, all their miseries. They feel equal, being embarrassment only of choice.”

naked. I believe they leave this place, not only the better for their bodies, but for The Berlin groups heralded fanciful names that
their souls as well.”
rarely disclosed their political leanings or size. (Only the

Socialists included their party’s affiliation in their

from Louis-Charles Royer, Au Pays des Hommes nus
(Paris: Editions de France, 1929) Nacktkultur mastheads.) A few titles of the Nationalist

and proto-Nazi outfits: “Berlin League of Free Body

Culture” (FKK), “Concerned Community of Free Sunland

and Naked Sports,” “Federation of the Faithful,” “League

for Free Life Improvement,” and the “Union of Free

Sunland.” Independent Marxist and Communist organi- of Free Men,” “Free Men, Union for Socialist Life Reform Above:
Free Sunland
zations: “Federation for Body Culture and Nature Indoct- and Free Body Culture in the Federation of People’s
Below:
rination,” “Federation for Body Culture and Nature Health,” “Socialist Cultural Society,” and the “Workers Territory
Adolf Koch

Refuge,” “Federation for Free Body Indoctrination,” Society of Outdoor Campers.”

“Federation of Itinerant Youth,” “German Air Bathing Many of the heroic-sounding—in fact the most

Society,” “Sparta Sports Union,” “State Federation for heroic-sounding—“Federations” were one-man or one-

Free Body Culture” (AFK), and the “Union of

Social Life Reform.” Centralist, Catholic,

Republican, and apolitical groups: “Federation

for Natural Healing,” “Federation of Free Light,”

“Friends of Nature,” “Light-Federation Fairy

Meadow,” “New Sunland League,” “Reichs

Federation of German Youth Nudist Colonies,”

“Reichs Union for Free Body Culture,” “Union for

Body Culture,” and the “Youth Reform

Birkenheide.” Socialist groups included: “Circle

 Adolf Koch and the
“Society of Free Men”
Adolf Koch, like many of the founders of

Nacktkultur associations, began his career in

scandal. A principal in a state-run elementary

school outside Berlin, he insisted that his

young wards arrive in the classroom with

clean hands, then clean feet, and finally thor-

oughly washed bodies. After introducing pub-

lic showers, Koch noticed the giddy excite-

ment it caused when students ran around

naked to warm up. He introduced nude mat-

exercises as a substitute and, to combat vita-

min deficiencies in the proletarian children,

brought the drill sessions outdoors under the

health-giving sun.

When a government observer made a

scathing report, with pedophilic overtones,

on his students’ rhythmic gymnastics—she

called them “nude dancing”—Koch decided to

shot affairs with vivid logos and impressive promotional resign rather abolish the program. Like other peda-

packaging. In Berlin, three men dominated the authentic gogues in the Nacktkultur project, he was troubled

Nacktkultur scene and were well known to the foreign about the physical and spiritual well-being of German

press. Each represented a corner point on the Socialist, youth and sought a means to elevate it.

Nationalist, and anti-political triangle. These were Adolf In 1920, Koch inaugurated a Nacktkultur school in

Koch, Artur Fuchs, and Charly Straesser. Berlin, which combined elements of Swedish Physical

Culture, a pale form of Ausdrucksgymnastik (Expression

142
Gymnastics), nudity, and hands-on socialism. Everyone

was addressed in the familiar German form of “Du”

and under artificial, indoor lighting they exercised, lis-

tened to political and hygiene lectures, and swam

naked. Later schools in five other cities and an outdoor

campground on Lake Motzen, “Territory Adolf Koch,”

were added.

Koch’s Body Culture schools recruited from Germany’s

powerful Socialist Party and the politically uncertain

working class. All were welcome, without regard to

income, profession, ethnic background, physical shape,

or age. “Free Men” members were tithed five percent

of their income as dues; the unemployed attended for

free. The entire enterprise, which soon included nudist

magazines and books, was a tremendous success. The

Socialist “Alliance of People’s Health” boasted 300,000

paid members in 1932. politically correct Koch, the naked torso was not to be

The village schoolmaster, however, never left Koch. an instrument of sexual desire.

His classes began punctually and were highly struc- Despite its institutional, chaste environment,

tured. Although he personally trained his growing staff Koch’s Body Culture Schools and their public demon-

and often gave individual attention to special prob- strations were sometimes viewed by outsiders as

lems, his professional attitude was usually officious highly erotic. The mayor of Chicago, Anton Cermak,

and chilly. The lecturers he chose pontificated on seri- visiting Berlin in August 1932, remarked to Sefton

ous social and medical stuff. Nude adolescent boys Delmer during one demonstration, “You know

were admonished for uncontrolled erections and com- somep’n? In Chicago, you couldn’t get a show as good

pelled to attend a psychosexual clinic, where their as this for a thousand bucks!” Nationalist and Nazi

churlish behavior was “studied and addressed.” For the politicians agreed with the crime-busting American’s
143
 Right:
Hans Surén,
1928

In three months’ time, the Alliance’s legal maneuvers

against censorship and accusations of lewd behavior

would hardly matter.

“League of Free Body Culture”

and Surén’s “Suncult”
Koch had many adversaries in the Nacktkultur world

of Berlin. His tendentious Socialist teachings, skill for

generating publicity, acceptance of all body types, and

astonishing prosperity disturbed his opponents, who

promoted nudism as an aesthetic as well as a health

regimen. Mostly it was the reactionary Nacktkultur

organizations that defined their programs in counter-

distinction from the “Free Men.”

In 1920, the Nationalist physician Artur Fedor Fuchs

attempted to draw members for his “League for Free

Body Culture” (FKK) from the same family and

Lumpenprol pool that Koch had already reached.

Staking out the first Nacktkultur Territory on the Lake

Motzen army and offering a full calendar of sporting

humble assessment. Two months later, they adjoined activities in the nude, Fuchs did find a lower- and mid-

the Berlin City Council to close down Koch’s establish- dle-class audience. But it was limited.

ments, citing they inspired nude orgies among the Over the next few years, the FKK attracted a consid-

young and hundreds of spectators “to slake their car- erably more upscale and fashion-conscious crowd,

nal thirsts.” Koch, like the Ladies club owners, fought Berlin’s Girl-Culture denizens. At Fuchs’ “Free Sunland”

the municipal injunctions, but the skies were darken- encampment, professional athletes, balding aristocrats,

ing over freewheeling Berlin in the late fall of 1932. and glam film starlets—wearing just gold bracelets or
144
sexy flat footwear—mixed on the volleyball and tennis

courts. While the portly and bespectacled Fuchs himself

had the reputation as a morose ideologue, the FKKers

were basically apolitical and sexually hip. Unlike Territory

Adolf Koch, Free Sunland provided ample opportunities

for gawking at the eye candy during daylight hours and

swinging in the nudist “fuck huts” at night. The food,

although vegetarian and still Germanic, was several

notches above the mucky Socialist fare. tained their elegant manners although their protruding

For his can’t-get-away-from-the-city members, flesh sometimes got in the way.

Fuchs rented the multi-storied Luna Bad in Berlin East. A cynic writing for the American newsweekly The

There every Sunday and Wednesday, naked FKKers Outlook spotted a fat society matron at the Luna Bad

exercised, swam, received electrical tanning and mas- one morning who became so engrossed in her com-

sage treatments, and ate. The sight of moneyed aristo- panion’s repartee that she failed to notice the soft-

crats dining in the semi-nude (most retained one small boiled egg matter falling from the spoon she held in

indication of class, like a monocle or silver hair brooch) front of her mouth. The errant yolk drops rolled down

amused foreign journalists, looking for those Only-in- her breast, hung from her nipple for an instant, and

Berlin social mores. Former military officers, sans uni- then splattered over the folds of her stomach.

form, bowed to kiss ladies’ hands and then dashingly As the FKK expanded, its softcore Aryan message

clicked their bare heels together. Society types main- became more stringent and pronounced. Nacktkultur,

145
 Above: lecturers illustrated in pulldown charts, was a natural gymnastic drills. For Surén, Nacktkultur living was not
New Sunland,
1927 reversion to pre-Christian folkways. Once the solar rays a therapy for the weak and undernourished but a

Opposite and of the Nordic sky alone strengthened and healed the means of soldierly conditioning and sun worship. The
Following:
Surén
warrior nation. German tribes spent most of their sum- salvation of the German people did not depend upon
followers

mer daylight hours naked and carefree until evil weekend armies of nature-lovers and naked sunbath-

missionaries from the south forcibly covered their bod- ers; it demanded a race of toned and greased-up

ies in shame. The awakening of Aryan might required a supermen. Surén’s first book Man and the Sun (1924)

restoration of ancient forest practices. sold over 235,000 copies and was reissued in 68 edi-

Another German Nationalist, Hans Surén, pulled the tions by 1941. Despite its unmistakable homoerotic

reactionary Nacktkulturists even farther to the right. In imagery—floppy-dicked muscle-men wrestling bright-

his Berlin studio and influential publications, Surén eyed boys on the grassy plain—Man and the Sun was

proposed a cult of the sun and the naked male body. a favorite Aryan read for the Hitler faithful and Nazi

A celebrated officer from the German colony of the culture-mavens.

Cameroon, Surén instilled his followers with strict mili-

tary discipline and designed a vigorous system of

146
 Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com

“New Sunland League” shaming boys out of their erections or stealing away in

and Birkenheide “fuck huts,” New Sunlanders were encouraged to dis-

Between Naked Marxism and Naked Fascism stood play their affections quite openly. All in all, the atmo-

the bulk of the Berlin Nacktkultur supporters. They came sphere in the New Sunland was unpretentious and

from solid middle-class backgrounds and equated pleasant, like the nudists themselves.

nudity with recreation and pleasure. The first Territory Less respectable was Hans Heinz Rassow’s “Naked

established for Berlin’s nude hedonists was Fritz Club,” which limited its membership to only the most

Gerlach’s “New Sunland.” Unlike the FKK Free Sunland, beautiful and socially-connected youths. Meeting in

from which it seceded, the New Sunland had few rules Rassow’s spacious Berlin West quarters, the Naked Club

or political slogans tacked to birch trees. Hanging over clique traveled en masse to Wandervogel sites, where

its admission table in front was a poster declaiming: they swam, hiked, sang folk songs, and generally

“HAPPINESS—the Imposed Order of the Day.” Instead of partied nude in the woods.

www.Ebook777.com
 Charly Straesser, a sometime participant in New agree to perform a short work assignment during their

Sunland League and the Rassow group, decided to cre- stay. Consequently, Birkenheide had the most varied

ate his own nude Territory on Lake Motzen in 1924. He and unconventional nudists. Straight perverts and gay

called it “Birkenheide.” Here Nacktkulturists could do men conducted their consensual activities unimpeded.

anything they pleased. There were no official-looking Gigolos from the Resi and Femina nightclubs found

identity cards, annual fees, psychological question- Birkenheide most congenial to their daytime occupa-

naires, lessons in hygiene, group diets, campfire tion. And Berliners out for a nonurban, fresh-air Bummel

anthems, or political-ethnic profiles. Birkenheide’s swore by the place. Charly Straesser’s invention was a

nudists weren’t even required to have fun. bit of libertarian paradise. It prospered until Berlin’s

Photographers and gawkers who refused to disrobe Nacktkultur societies and Territories were reorganized

were not admitted to Birkenheide. Anyone else was as National Socialist institutions.

welcome. Patrons merely had to pay at the gate and

 I was led into the office of the “Wise Man of Berlin” (as he liked to be called) and what I saw filled me with horror.
Sitting on a velvet armchair, his legs crossed beneath him like a Turk, was a man with bloated lips and crafty, lust-filled eyes.
He offered me his fleshy hand and introduced himself as “Dr. Hirschfeld.”
Hans Blüher, Works and Days, 1952

Christopher giggled nervously when Karl Giese and Francis took him through the Institute’s museum. Here were whips and chains
and torture instruments designed for the practitioners of pleasure-pain; high-heeled, intricately decorated boots for the fetishists;
lacy female undies which had been worn for ferociously masculine Prussian officers beneath their uniforms.
Christopher Isherwood, Christopher and His Kind, 1976

THE NEW CALCULUS

OF DESIRE
During the Great Inflation, as Berlin metamorphosed into
Europe’s garish midway of smut, a different, more respectable enter-

prise surfaced in the erotic city: “Sexual Science.” A hodgepodge field

that had its origins in Wilhelmian times, Sexology was nothing less

than a mammoth attempt to excavate, classify, and then cobble

together all things sexual into a single body of knowledge. Nearly

every area of the humanities and medical science fed the novel

endeavor: cultural anthropology and folklore; anatomy, biochemistry,

and eugenics; endocrinology and psychotherapy; religious and art

studies; social psychology and public health, criminology and prison

reform. Even hypnosis, graphology, folk medicine, and nineteenth-cen-

tury phrenology were analyzed for their sexual relevance.

 In Vienna’s scientific circles, particularly among the

bickering founders of psychoanalysis, there was great

skepticism (later mixed with envy) over the ever-

expanding scope and public acceptance of Sexual

Science. The Berlin upstart, according to the Freudians,

received far too much lay support and renown during its

recklessly short period of incubation. The infant science

had merely hacked off tiny offshoots from established

disciplines (as it highlighted all their fringe minutiae)

and grafted them onto some hulking, synthetic beast.

More irritating was the professional attitude of

Sexology’s leading practitioner, Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld.

The Berlin educator acknowledged the opinions of his

many detractors, considered their scientific validity, and

frequently embraced them. “Papa” Hirschfeld was the

liberal spirit of the infinitely tolerant metropolis.

Debating him was an exercise in maddening futility,

SAMPLE QUESTIONS FROM DR. MAGNUS HIRSCHFELD’S like passing bad notes on to an old-time counterfeiter

“PSYCHO-BIOLOGICAL or boxing an ancient but improbably nimble kangaroo.

QUESTIONNAIRE”
“The Einstein of Sex”
Trained as a physician, Hirschfeld acquired other
No. 17: In your immediate family, are there any females who look like men;
skills during his long career as the international spokes-
or males with obvious female characteristics? Do any of your siblings exhibit
man for Sexology. He was an energetic defender for
any aspects of the opposite sex?
sexual minorities and women, prolific science writer,
No. 44: Can you whistle?
legal authority, behind-the-scenes politician, and mas-
No. 61: Are you left-handed?

No. 90: How do you feel about the Great War? What part did you play in it? ter showman. Hirschfeld was widely credited in his
 Previous Left:
Ernst Haeckel-
Hall at Magnus
Hirschfeld’s
Institute of
Sexology
lifetime and after as the primary inventor of marriage
Previous Right:
Dr. Magnus
counseling, Gay Liberation, artificial insemination, surgi- Hirschfeld and
his assistant
cal gender “reassignment,” and modern sex therapy. Karl Giese,
1933
In 1897, Hirschfeld founded the Scientific-Human-
Opposite:
itarian Committee, the first organization anywhere Hirschfeld

devoted to the protection of homosexual rights. As a Left:

Paperback
book on sexual
young doctor, he studied the riptide affects of alcohol-
pathology, 1930

ism and unwanted pregnancy on Berlin’s families and Below:

Hirschfeld
their neighborhoods. Prussia’s comprehensive program exhibiting a
hermaphrodite’s
for health and social welfare, considered to be the most genitals

enlightened in Europe, was designed by Hirschfeld in Following

Right:
Gynacomasts,
1916. He also served as the first President of the World
men with breasts

League for Sexual Reform. insightful. Besides sexual variation, Hirschfeld methodi-

Hirschfeld’s judicious writings included more than cally investigated pornography, traditional aphrodisiacs

200 titles. Their range was broad and the research and sexual aids, the relationship between crime and

illicit sexuality, social mores and fetishism, the etiology

of pleasure, and the erotic basis of warfare. His goofy

persona and conscientiousness transformed Sexology

from an anthropological curiosity into a popular German

science. The Berlin monthlies, starting in the mid-

Twenties, referred to Hirschfeld solicitously as “the

Einstein of Sex.”

“Sexual Intermediates”
Hirschfeld embraced a doctrine known as “sexual

relativity.” He wrote that it was “unscientific” to speak

of only two sexes. Between “full man” and “full

153
No. 92: Do clothes occupy an important part of your thinking? Do you prefer

a simple or multi-layered look, tight or free-flowing garments, high-collared or

open shirts? Do you wear any accessories or jewelry? Do you have a favorite
woman” was an infinite string of sexual/gender possi-
color? Which?
bilities. Male and female hormones, which Hirschfeld
No. 93: Do you normally carry in your pockets or purse: a knife, make-up kit,

lighter, or photographs? What objects do you like to always have with you? believed determined basic sexual type, were never car-

No. 97: Have you ever been aroused by a member of your own sex? ried in the blood as pure agents within any individual.

No. 99: Which sexual partners do you normally prefer: people older than your- Each body manufactures andrin and gynecin (male

self, younger, or—more or less—the same age? What was the most extreme and female) compounds in various proportions. When
difference in age of someone to whom you were attracted? Do differences of the glands that regulate these secretions produce too
age and generation have no importance for you?
few andrins or gynecins—or are metabolized incom-
No. 100: Which do you find more exciting: the naked body, the clothed body,
pletely—a sexual “indeterminacy” develops, according
or the partly-clad body? Does the smell of perspiration from certain people
to Hirschfeldian analysis. By puberty the hormonally-
ever excite you? Repel you?
imbalanced individual exhibits psychological or physical
No. 102: Have you ever fallen in love with someone solely because of an
signs of the opposite gender.
idiosyncratic trait, like the way that person wore something, their body shape,
Around 1919, Hirschfeld estimated that two percent
hair color, or spiritual demeanor?

No. 104: During sex, have you ever fantasized you are with another partner? of humanity could be characterized as constitutional

No. 123: Have you ever wished that your beloved treated you in such a way Sexual Intermediates. But his field studies in Berlin and

as to cause physical pain? Allowed or commanded him/her to hit you? use of more refined typologies during the Twenties and

No. 131: Have you ever been tempted to have intercourse with three partners? Thirties caused him to upgrade that initial calculation
In which combination of men and women? repeatedly. Toward the end of his career, he believed
No. 132: Have you ever been sexually aroused by an animal?
that about 15 to 20% of any observed population
No. 133: Does it bother you when someone refuses to talk about their sexual
manifested aspects of Sexual Intermediacy.
peculiarities?
At first, Hirschfeld identified four main Intermediate

groups: Hermaphrodites, Androgynes, Transvestites,

and Homosexuals. And within each of these classifica-

tions were many subgroups and lesser categories. For

instance, he divided Hermaphrodites into: 1) men with

female organs, 2) women with male organs, 3) people

with both sets of sexual organs, appearing in some

BAUER’S SHOE-AND-WHEEL
MASTURBATION MACHINE
(AUGSBERG, 1926)

Herr Bauer (41) confessed that he built this Masturbation Machine. He will-

ingly demonstrated its unusual mechanism and allowed himself to be photo-

graphed while doing so.

At an earlier age, Bauer was observed rubbing his penis against a cow’s

stomach until it became fully erect. He then inserted his member into the

vagina of a nearby calf. On another occasion, Bauer’s 72-year-old mother

was found naked and unconscious with her legs spread open. Authorities

suspected the son had intercourse with her. These allegations of bestiality and

incest were, of course, vehemently denied by the young Bauer.

Description of the Pictures.

Bauer built the Masturbation Machine with the following items:

1. Two Sewing Spools

2. A Bicycle Rim

3. Three Pairs of Used Women’s Shoes

4. One Chain Gear

5. Two Leather Ties

Bauer strapped the first leather piece around the small of his

back—with the slack taken up by a spool over the spine. The other

spool was placed vertically near his anus. The second leather piece

held the soles of the three shoes firmly against his stomach. This

allowed the head of his penis to penetrate the middle shoe. By

rolling the bicycle rim forward and back, Bauer created the proper

thrust and friction for a full ejaculatory release.

 rudimentary or arrested state, and 4) people possessing

functional duel male-and-female genitalia.

What united all types of Hermaphrodites, Hirschfeld

maintained, was their confused sexual self-definition, a

psychological state that was conditioned

by a sustained ability to shield their

abnormality from the world around them.

He found cases of female-with-male sex-

ual characteristics (Number Twos) particu-

larly difficult to investigate because such

individuals habitually altered their sexual

identities two or three times during their

troubled adolescence and adulthood.

158
 Opposite Above:
Institute displays

Opposite Below:
Collection from a
homosexual lust
murderer and hair
One of Hirschfeld’s many astonishing case studies
fetishist. Berlin
police found this
on Hermaphroditism: “Bertha D.,” a seamstress, was board made from
the braided hair of
taunted as a child for her masculine voice. Later when his male victims.

she discovered that her face was sprouting facial hair, Left:
Amateur film
“D.” soon tired of shaving twice a day and began wear- photographed by
a buttocks fetishist
ing male clothing and assumed a male identity. By 18,

“Bert” successfully engaged in sex with teenage girls,

but she suffered from fierce, premature ejaculations.

Around age 20, “D.’s” sexual orientation included boys

as well. Although “D.” was unable to maintain an erec-

tion with the young males, her engorged clitoris-penis

discharged spermatic fluids during intercourse with

them. “D.” told Papa that her desire for men peaked

right after menstruation but she normally derived more

intense sexual pleasure from female partners. Was “D.”

a true bisexual, a lesbian with male homosexual ten-

dencies, or a pansexual with straight urges? Hirschfeld flat breasts, little sensitivity around the nipple, and

merely assured her a coveted point on his Intersexual possessed a masculine build, vocal range, and distri-

spectrum. “D.” was what she was (Hermaphroditismus bution of hair. Unlike Hermaphrodites, both male and

femininus #1,982). female Androgynes were likely to enhance, rather

Hirschfeld’s other Intermediate types cropped up than hide, their constitutional state and seek the sex-

more frequently in the general population. Androgyny ual company of their heterosexual or homosexual

involved the growth or adaptation of secondary sexu- complements.

al characteristics from the opposite gender. Male Hirschfeld punctured the Renaissance myth that

Androgynes, typically, lacked facial hair, had feminine Androgynes were divinely bisexual creatures—the vast

breasts, sensitive nipples, soft fatty skin, and rounded majority he met were utterly “straight.” One of Papa’s

pelvises. Female Androgynes, correspondingly, had favorite patients was a bearded lady who appeared in
159
 Right: local freak shows. In spite of her super-mas-
Viktor Leyrer,
The Good Uncle culine appearance, she was a tender and self-
Below:
sacrificing mother. (When she was about to
A Mother’s
Love,
an incest
give birth to her fourth baby, the midwife
novel
naturally mistook her for the father.)

Transvestites were psychological Andro-

gynes, people who voluntarily acquired the

look of the opposite sex through dress, exag-

gerated mannerisms, and corporal deforma-

tion. While an apparent psychic phenomenon,

Hirschfeld believed Transvestitism required

an entirely separate psychosexual nomencla-

ture, since its practitioners were neither

exclusively heterosexual or queer. Among his

clients, for example, was the Chief of Police

of a Central European town, who was mar-

ried and fathered several children. While normal in satisfied their deepest urges. One Lady confessed to

every other aspect, the Hirschfeld that his mother’s cream-colored damask

Chief was never content in dress, which he furtively wore on the day of his church

masculine attire. He liked confirmation, stimulated his first erection and was a

to visit Papa during his necessary sex aid ever since. Another patient wrote

vacations and spend the that the mere donning of a frilly lace skirt caused him

rest of the day dressed as a to orgasm uncontrollably. No other clothing or sexual

woman on the welcoming companionship did the trick.

streets of Berlin. Hirschfeld’s designation of Homosexual men and

For other Transvestites, women, the so-called Third Sex, as Sexual Intermed-

only particular costumes iaries, created the most controversy. He believed they,
like the other Intersexuals, were constitutionally predis- devoted sexologist incorporated their scientific objec-

posed in their sexual desires as “incomplete” mature tions into his evolving grid of transsexuality.

males and females. The theory enhanced queers’ legal

status as helpless victims of faulty chromosomes—and Derangements of the Sexual Instinct

the mass struggle against Paragraph 175—but its scien- Hirschfeld also conducted extensive research in

tific and social value was challenged on every front. more traditional sexual behavior, especially in the

Militant Homosexualists ridiculed the secretive Papa as field of sexual pathology, which he cataloged as the

“Auntie Magnesia,” a cross-dressing sissy and cosmo- “Derangements of the Sexual Instinct.” His sweep

politan Jew. Of course, it was hardly noticeable to here ran from the study of self-castration and impo-

Hirschfeld’s antagonists, that the ever-protean and tence to “hypereroticism” and “coital hallucination.”

Left:
Exhibitionist
displaying
his “working
uniform”

161
 childhood eroticize their morbid attach-

ment to the charged article?

To explore the problem, Hirschfeld

prepared an exhaustive 140-part

“Psycho-Biological Questionnaire.” The

18,000 Berliners who responded to the

survey were asked to reveal their

innermost erotic secrets and family

background, as one would expect. But

also in the sexual profile were inquiries

on seemingly isolated topics like shop-

lifting, color preference, stuttering,

feelings on capital punishment and

war, left-handedness, and diet. For

Hirschfeld and his trained associates,

their candid replies were the initial

Above: Why individuals would choose to obliterate or compul- step in correlating heredity, child-rearing, and educa-
Flagellation
drawing by a sively bind their sexual desires to inanimate objects or tion with everyday expressive behavior and uncon-
17-year-old
sadist, 1930 childhood/sadomasochistic/power-exchange scenari- scious sexual desire.

os fascinated Hirschfeld. For Central European psy- The Psycho-Biological Questionnaires served several

chologists, the answer touched upon the fundamental purposes, besides their obvious research benefits.

twentieth-century issue in human behavior: how Hirschfeld used them clinically to diagnose deeply

much anti-social activity is caused by “natural” ele- imbedded sexual disturbances and for premarital coun-

ments (genetics and chemical imbalances), and how seling. The Einstein of Sex proclaimed that he could

much by sheer nurture. In other words, were glove help prevent unhappy marriages through his interpreta-

fetishists people with obsessive inherited or hormonal tion of the sex surveys. Long-term attraction involved

traits, like Transvestites, or did some event in their the joining of complementary erotic temperaments.
162
Once the “false fire of passion” diminishes, Hirschfeld predictions about their overall psychological and physi- Above:
My Invention,
stated, coital disappointment naturally occurs. By gaz- cal relationship could be made. While not infallible, fantasy draw-
ing of a sadistic
ing into the “sexual souls” of the couples, scientific Sexual Science at least attempted to point out the bar- intellectual

Below:
riers to and possible aids for wedded bliss.
Pedal-driven
female
In a famous quote, “Happy marriages are masturbation
machine
not made in heaven, but in the laboratory,” manufactured
in Dresden,
Hirschfeld inaugurated hard science’s entry 1926

into the matchmaking business. According to

the publicity-savvy Papa, even love-at-first-

sight did not have a real physical basis. At the

end of the day, it was all genes and chemicals,

racing through the bloodstream, that kept

relationships intact and produced babies.

163
 sible to all readers. The Institute also housed Germany’s

first Marriage Bureau and clinics for the treatment of

venereal disease and other sexual maladies. Politically,

the Institute provided a forum for progressive lawyers

and government officials who sought to eradicate the

laws against homosexuality and defend Germany’s legal

abortion rights from the growing onslaught of fascist

and religious parties. Most of the legal work involved

Above: The Institute of Sexology suits protecting gay men against threats of petty black-
Female
“Self-Gratifier,” In July 1919, Hirschfeld opened his Institute of Sex- mail. These services were also rendered pro bono.
which squirted
milk into the
ology in Berlin. It quickly became one of the city’s most Above the gate of his Institute was the inscription:
participant,
1900
curious attractions. The Institute’s buildings, including a “Amori et dolori sacrum” (“Sacred to Love and to

former mansion, were divided into areas for lectures, Sorrow”). It was one of many rather banal mottos and

consulting offices, study rooms, laboratories, medical plaques that Hirschfeld posted around and inside his

clinics, and a museum space devoted to sexual pathol- foyers and offices. Other Hirschfeldian banners: “Justice

ogy and erotic folkways. George Gershwin, Ben Hecht, Through Science,” “To Understand All is to Forgive All,”

Douglas Fairbanks, André Gide, Sergei Eisenstein, Anita “Nature Does Not Make Leaps,” “What the World Calls

Loos, and Christopher Isherwood (who worked at the the Soul, We Call the Endocrine System!”

Institute) were among the many enthused visitors to The Institute itself was a font of sexological activity.

Hirschfeld’s Institute, leaving fascinating accounts about Pediatric care, abortions, “sexual rejuvenation” and

its strange inhabitants and artifacts. sexual “correction” operations were conducted on the

Hirschfeld’s Institute functioned as a hospital and a lower level of the main building. Psychological consul-

free university under one roof. Medical advice was tations and tours took place on the upper levels. In the

offered without charge, and scientific lectures by leading adjoining Ernst Haeckel Hall, films, demonstrations, and

sexologists were open to the general public. The public health panels were held for the 1100 physicians

Institute’s library, which contained the largest sex and who visited the Institute annually. Hirschfeld himself

pornographic book collection in Europe, remained acces- produced and advised on several groundbreaking
164
 Left:
Fantasy
drawing of a
12-year-old
masochist

medical documentaries and silent features, including Mandigo dildos that squirted a milky solution, Moché

Richard Oswald’s Different From Others, a film à clef water bottles with penis-shaped spouts, Sanskrit sex

about the torturous life a closeted male violinist. (The manuals, miniature shoes worn by bound-foot Chinese

title of the 1919 melodrama was later immortalized courtesans, medieval chastity belts, torture instru-

when it resurfaced as a refrain for the Toppkeller sing- ments from a German brothel, sadistic drawings and

along, the “Lilac Song.”) assemblages created by Lustmord convicts, an entire

Mostly what visitors remembered from Hirschfeld’s picture window of ankle boots donated by a local

Institute were the museum exhibits displayed in the fetishist, antique steam-driven vibrators, fake rubber

“Gallery of Derangements of the Sexual Instinct.” breasts and vaginas taken from transvestite prosti-

Hanging from ceiling hooks were wooden boards that tutes, lacy panties found on the corpses of von

illustrated Hirschfeld’s case studies. The multitudinous Hindenburg’s heroic officers, and other such incontro-

sexual personae of his Sexual Intermediaries were vertible evidence of Hirschfeld’s new calculus of desire.

disclosed in arresting photographic series. Glass cases There were also free-standing sex machines and mas-

of fetishistic objects and sex aids from preliterate, turbation devices of every shape and variety.

Asian, and European cultures filled two other rooms. In Eisenstein especially enjoyed the Institute’s collec-

the open counters and boxes were collections of tion of sailor-dolls—homemade paper toys that German
165
 pockets. When the entourage failed to turn up

any, Hirschfeld explained the reason for his

inquiry: homosexuals rarely packed them.

Hirschfeld employed Sexual Intermediaries

for his museum docents and assistants. “Herr

Alfred” was a slim, fortyish Bavarian peasant

woman, the mother of one child with a normal

het sex interest. Her only abnormality was

wanting to live in the clothing of a man. The

Institute hired her along with two dozen other

inside-the-spectrum types. André Gide almost

bolted from the Institute when Papa had a

“Sexual Intermediate: Grade Three” employee

unbutton his shirt and reveal two perfectly-

shaped female breasts.

How Hirschfeld’s Institute of Sex Science

paid for its huge staff and many house expens-

es remained a carefully guarded secret. Only a

fraction of the Berlin patients compensated the

Above: homosexuals fashioned during the Great War. The fig- Institute for their immense needs. The city chipped in
Therapeutic
drawing of an ures were drawn naked, except for their caps and here and there, but never enough to keep the place
imprisoned
rapist
boots, and designed to show off the marines’ aroused running at full throttle. Rumors abounded that German

genitals and smiling faces. Tiny red paint drops were gay magnates channeled funds in sealed envelopes or

splattered over the blithe forms to give the incongru- that a famous Ruhr industrialist, known to be a closeted

ous appearance of deadly wounds. After bringing them infantilist, forked over a fortune to Hirschfeld for the

out of their case, a delighted Papa asked Eisenstein construction of a private nursery, laden with sex appa-

and his friends if they carried any penknives in their ratuses in the shape of old toys.
166
 Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com

More likely, Hirschfeld used his own inheritance to centers of hormonal production, chemically charged the Above:
Life-size
support the Institute. He also formulated and patented synapses of the nervous system (especially those along sex dolls

Below:
several heavy-duty aphrodisiacs and Viagra-like anti- the spine), and regulated the restricted blood flow into
Homemade
“Penis
impotence tablets. The best known of these was called the male genitals through dilation and engorgement of Shoes”

Testifortan, a concoction of yohimbé bark from French the corpora cavernosa.

West Africa and clamshell from the North Atlantic. Testifortan and Hirschfeld’s “Titus Pills” were mar-

Hirschfeld advertised that Testifortan stimulated the keted in Galante magazines, at German pharmacies, and

www.Ebook777.com
 Hirschfeld’s Enemies
Hirschfeld’s outsized personality and quasi-scien-

tific proclamations drew an endless stream of critics.

Some ranted against Sexology as a legitimate science.

Others, like the homophobic Dr. Albert Moll, ques-

tioned Papa’s objectivity and found ingenious meth-

ods to blunt Hirschfeld’s international standing. He

usually accomplished this by denying the doctor’s

medical credentials at world congresses. Freud, whom

Hirschfeld adored, avoided the entire topic of endo-

crine-based sexology despite the hearsay belief that

he received a sexual rejuvenation operation at Hirsch-

feld’s Institute in 1922.

The renegade Freudian, Wilhelm Reich, transferred

his clinical base from Vienna to Berlin in 1930. A fervent

Communist, anxious to establish an Institute for Sexual

Politics (Sex-Pol), Reich mocked Hirschfeld’s egalitarian

attitudes toward sexual morality. Good orgasmic sex,

according to Reichian doctrine, was always uninhibit-

Above: in the Museum gift shop, where visitors could purchase edly straight and the result of vigorous genital thrust.
Erotic tattoos
of sailors and other enhancers, Sittengeschichten, and an array of sci- Intermediary erotic desire, like the capitalist system
criminals
entifically-tested sex remedies. The Nazi and Allied- itself, was not immutable nor a natural aspect of human

installed German governments thought highly enough character. Homosexuality and other such perversions

of Hirschfeld’s patented compounds to claim his formu- demanded a healthy revolutionary response, curative

las for themselves and sell the licensing rights to Swiss techniques that the Marxist Viennese claimed to pio-

pharmaceutical firms. They were a source of state rev- neer. Hirschfeld’s sexual nihilism, however well-intend-

enue for German health ministries until 1962. ed, Reich harangued, was furthering fascism.
168
 Of course, the Nazis did not see it that way; they

tried to murder Hirschfeld as early as 1923. And when

Adolf Hitler came to power ten years later, the Institute

of Sexology was one of his first targets. Much of the

leadership of the Ernst Röhm’s Storm Troopers (the

Nazi SA) covertly subscribed to Brand’s Militant Homo-

sexualism and feared that among Hirschfeld’s

Questionnaires were sexual profiles that might ulti-

mately embarrass them. The liquidation of the Institute

and its archives was doubly important for Röhm.

Hirschfeld lived for two more years outside Above

and Left:
Germany. He scurried around Europe in hopes of rekin- Magazine
advertisements
dling his career and Institute but knew his base of for Hirschfeld’s
Titus Pills
and Testifortan
power could only reside in Weimar Berlin, a spiritual

metropolis that had been excised from the map by

National Socialism. In 1935, on his 65th birthday,

Magnus Hirschfeld, the fighter for sexual science and

understanding, died a lonely death during his exile in

the South of France.

169
There was always a feeling of violence about Berlin, which was not true of other capital cities. You felt that the rule of law was skin
deep and people were capable of a greater degree of physical violence than one was accustomed to live with elsewhere.
Alec Swan, quoted in Weimar Chronicles, 1978

Homosexuality, sadism and masochism, and generally perverse practices

are gaining a powerful hold on the Germans.
Hendrik De Leeuw, Sinful Cities of the Western World, 1934

ALGOLAGNIA
The pornography that circulated in Weimar Berlin was marked
by its unusual emphasis on body worship, extreme fetishism, scatology, dark

roleplay, and ritualized gender struggle. There was the soft stuff too but the

most sought-after girlie mags and sex novels were usually imports or trans-

lated editions from Paris or Rome. Local imitations of the same, like Reigen,

Der Junggeselle, Lustige Blätter, and Berliner Leben, always started off with

perky Gallic charm but succumbed, even in their erotic cartoons and short

stories, to menacing visions and S&M fantasies. Berlin Girl-Culture was inex-

tricably mixed with eroticized violence.

Algolagnia (the “Craving of Pain”) was a Latin term coined in 1894 by

Albert von Schrenck-Notzing, a Berlin physician better remembered for his

investigation of the paranormal. Although Algolagnia encompassed what we

normally think of as Sadism and Masochism, Schrenck-Notzing also intended

it to define a much larger terrain of sexual perversion, especially psychological

 Previous Left: domination, erotic servitude, forced gratification, bond-
Amateur
photograph, age and discipline, infantilism, humiliating role-reversal
1932
scenes, and “morbid” fetishism. Schrenck-Notzing,
Previous Right:
Zoomimic
Masochism
Wilhelm Stekel, and Albert Eulenburg each attempted to
scene
explain the mysterious aberration that tied sexual plea-
Above:
Drinking Nectar sure to suffering or to compulsive symbolic play. Like

Above Right: their contemporaries, Richard Krafft-Ebing and Freud,

The Slave Throne,
1930. they knew the phenomenon was growing rapidly
Center and
throughout the German-speaking world.
Below Right:
The barbed bra
172
 Hirschfeld noted that physical aggression during

puberty and sexual courtship were intercultural univer-

sals. Boys naturally fought other males in order to “take”

or “possess” their mates; and girls were expected to

surrender, accede, “give in” to the most virile male who

lusted after them. Aggression and submission in the

service of sexual conquest were instinctively short-lived

and restrained acts, final steps in the procreative dance.

But Algolagnia upset the rules of natural selection. It

forced an ongoing recapitulation of excessive violence

and pain to achieve sexual excitement and release.

People who exhibited these sadomasochist tendencies

had consciously contaminated the normal sex drive with

the psychic toxins of childhood trauma and the oppres-

sive mementos of adolescent awakening. all a symptom of castration anxiety, penile substitution, Above:
Richard
Freudians had an elegant elucidation of the Algo- arrested neurotic development, and repressed homo- Hegemann, The
Healing Sister
lagnia complex and its fetishistic components. It was sexuality. Of course. Yet psychoanalysis didn’t adequate-
Far Left:
Amateur
drawings from
an Algolagnist

Left:
Male Bra

173
 Above: ly explain why Algolagnia, particularly in its twentieth-
A.Z.,
In the Torture century manifestation, Metatropism, had gained such a
Chamber
hold in Central Europe and how it affected women.
Right:
Von Zabczinsky,
Modern Furies

Opposite: Metatropism
A stained
glass fantasy, Metatropism referred to the psychological pairing of
The Mistress
female sadists (Dominas) and masculine masochists

(Metatropists). While the socially reversed roles of pow-

erful women and passive males who acquiesced to

them could be traced to sex cults in prehistoric Asia

Minor and India, its incidence, according to Hirschfeld,

was relatively uncommon until the end of the nine-

teenth century. Suddenly, fantasies of female vampires

174
and male supplicants in their thrall jumped from the Opposite:
Book Illustration
notepads and canvases of Austrian and German artists for The Bloody
Countess
into the vast popular imagination. Metatropic sexual
Above:
Helga Bode,
displacement, while observable elsewhere in Europe on
Delicate
Manipulation
a diminished scale, seeped into the mainstream of
Left:
Berlin’s erotic visual life and thinking. E.D.,
After the
Hirschfeld, who counseled hundreds of male and Injection

female Algolagnists, characterized the typology of

Metatropism according to four fantasy scenarios of

self-debasement: 1) Servilism (reduction of status),

submitting to a Domina as her slave, servant, or page;

2) Puerile Masochism (reduction of age), wishing to be

177
punished as an infant or schoolboy by Opposite:
Schlichter,
an angry mother, strict governess, or My Domina

Above:
“aunt”; 3) Zoomimic Masochism (trans-
Arnim Horowitz,
The Trained
formation into an animal), being Poodles

treated like a beast of burden by a Left:

Amateur
mistress, who addressed the subject drawing,
1930
as an animal and then “rode” him,

placing a saddle on his back, a bit in

his mouth, and finally spurring and

cropping him; and 4) Impersonal

Masochism (transformation into an

inanimate object), used by a stern

mistress as an ashtray, footstool, cof-

fee table, or animal-skin rug.

179
 Above: The Raised Buttocks
The Strange
Professor In the Galante monthlies, Sittengeschichten, sex
Right:
encyclopedias, and private pornographic serials, one
“You Must Also
Be Beaten”
visual theme dominated and seemed to appeal to all

sectors of Berlin’s Algolagnic community. This was artis-

tic enactment of a sadistic teacher administering a

bare-buttocks punishment to a hapless student. The

standard instruments of discipline could be as simple as

a cane or whipping crop but more inventive fantasies

180
involved flagellation machines and paddles with cut- Gymnasium instructor canes a cross-dressed boy while Opposite:
Hegemann,
out numerals in the center, which left an outline of the his classmates secure the boy’s naked rump to a desk- Weekly
Punishment
number of whacks on the child’s reddened derrière. top; a loving schoolmistress inserts an enema into the

The forced application of an enema to the recalci- rectum of a hysterical 15-year-old girl as a grotesquely

trant pupil was still another ubiquitous image. The ugly nurse kisses the teenager’s contorted face; an

characters and settings for these schoolroom whippings excited schoolboy, no more than eight, is taught to

and anal torments were drawn or photographed in wield a cat-o’-nine-tails on the elevated posterior of his

infinite permutations and weird variations: a shocked naughty little friend; and so forth.

principal watches from the hallway as a comely Why fecal and buttocks fetishism prevailed in
181
 Above: Weimar Germany is a question that was weakly
The Symphony
of Corporal addressed in the literature of the time. Some apologists
Pain
wrote that spanking stimulated the blood flow to the
Right:
A Womanly
constricted muscles of the gluteus maximus and out-
Hand

ward to the sensation-deadened genitals. Ernst Schertel,

a prolific pornographer from Munich and historian of the

erotic, expounded on ritual flagellation as an ancient

ecstatic technique and possibly the origin of religious

experience. Others claimed the centrality of the anus as

the source of infantile eroticism.

But not answered in these perverse treatises was

the geographical issue. Scatological scenes and exposed

182
lower torsos abounded in Central Europe’s straight, gay, Above:
Photos and
lesbian, transvestite, and Nacktkultur publications. They a letter from
a structural
appeared in non-German erotica but with maybe a fifth engineer to a
fellow spanking
enthusiast
or a tenth the regularity. Presumably the heavy use of
Left:
colonic irrigation to fight childhood diseases, specific Amateur photo
from a buttocks
pedagogical forms of punishment, and unexplored cul- fetishist

tural symbolism shaped the strange fixation.

“Morbid” Fetishism
Other sexual fetishes in Weimar Berlin were shared

obsessions of the Jazz Age. Heinz Schmeidler in The

Moral History of the Present (Berlin, 1932) listed what

he thought were the most prevalent objects of sexual

compulsion in the city: Nose Fetishism, Mouth Fetishism,

Ear Fetishism, Hand Fetishism, Leg Fetishism, Shoe and

183
Stocking Fetishism, Breast Fetishism, Buttocks Fetishism, Opposite:
Fantasy
Hair Fetishism, Purse Fetishism, Music Fetishism, Clothes drawings of
a hair-pulling
fetishist
Fetishism, Underwear Fetishism, Bed Fetishism, Fabric
Above:
Fetishism, and Flower Fetishism. To these, Losa in Sexual Sadistic Teacher

Derangements added Cold Fetishism and Voice Fetishism. Above Left:

The Bell-Boy’s
(Cold fetishists found their jollies at ice rinks and in the Last Duty

back of speeding cabooses.) Left:

Bode,
Rumpelstilzchen felt the subject of sexual fetishes Dance Hour

was of paramount interest to his provincial readers.

Fashion among Berlin’s Beinls was always related to

fetishistic novelty. They needed to offer or emphasize

some item or body part not readily available at home.

185
 earlobes, hairbobs, glossy eyeshadow,

revealing blouses, men’s leather ties,

perfume, and, in 1929, to iridescent lip-

stick shades, to which he devoted four

weekly columns.

When the Nazis came to power in

1933, Rumpelstilzchen again focused on

street fashion. Hitler, who preferred the

wholesome scrubbed peasant look,

Above: Between 1919 and 1924, Rumpelstilzchen provided detested facial makeup on women. The Kontroll-Girls of
Fighting
for Love, detailed descriptions of exotic hosiery styles and high- Berlin responded accordingly. They appeared in the
1928
heeled shoes, largely French imports. His gaze moved Friedrichstadt wearing long leather coats, opaque stock-
Below:
Sweet
Punishment
upward after that to powdered necks, shoulder lines, ings, mannish hats, and freshly washed faces. Rumpel-

Opposite: stilzchen waxed enthusiastic over that season’s whore

From a
series of 350 fashion. During the same April month, he also assured
photographs,
Learning the his readership that Berlin was more welcoming and less
Rules
crowded now that the Jews were vacating their apart-

ments for extended holidays in Paris and Vienna.

“Scientific” Pornography
Clinical studies of sexual perversion, such as von

Krafft-Ebing’s Psychopathia Sexualis (Leipzig, 1901) and

Stekel’s Sexual Aberrations (Vienna, 1922), were print-

ed by scientific publishing houses and produced princi-

pally for therapists and legal scholars in Central Europe.

The numerous copies in multiple editions of these col-

lections, however, revealed an unintended secondary

186
Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com

www.Ebook777.com
readership: other perverts. The salacious case histories

of sadists, fetishists, Algolagnists, flagellants, and the

like, formed a novel province in Weimar pornography.

Under the guise of psychological research, graphic

photographs and illustrations were added to still other

strange biographical confessions and fantasies. Berliners

seeking stronger erotic sensations and instruction for

weird sex scenarios merely had to peruse Galante jour-

nals for the current “scientific” offerings. Virtually every

deviant practice had a layman’s society and private

publishing arm.

One “physician,” Ernst Schertel, headed a hypno-

erotic “Dream Theater” and several book clubs devoted

to whipping and buttocks fetishism. Schertel’s serialized

periodicals explored the dark fantasy games and dra-

matics of animal lovers, worshippers of obese Dominas,

sadistic teachers, bare-hand flagellants, incestuous

necklace fetishists, urine drinkers, bondage freaks, high-

heel stompers, and shit-sniffers. German authorities

attempted to shut down his Parthenon-Verlag in 1931

and Wilhelm Reich publically opposed the perverse

Dream Theater. But Schertel, working under foreign

pseudonyms like Dr. F. Grandpierre, outwitted them all.

His lavish works and those of his associates continued

to be distributed into the early Nazi period.

This Page and
Opposite:
Maurice Carriere,
Appreciating
the Need for
Discipline

Following:
Manassé,
Das Magazin,
August 1932

189
Last night I had a frightening dream. Standing by
my bed was a headless man wearing a tuxedo. I
jumped up and wanted to run but my feet were
frozen to the floor.
The half man opened a suitcase, which was
filled with detached heads.
“Here are the faces of the men who once
loved you but you decapitated them with your
cold heart,” said the ghoulish voice. “Now match
the correct face to my body.” He emptied the
suitcase and the heads rolled over my breasts. I
awoke with a scream and hastened to my studio
to illustrate my horrid history.
Seven heads she selected... But each one disconnected.

The first The second

was a mistake. an object of hate.

The third The fourth

had a beard. was weird.

The fifth The sixth The seventh

played it cool. was a fool. drooled.

Every man she rejected. Each technique was unperfected.

 Of all the rites and ceremonies as practiced today by the secret love cults of the world, the most dreadful and least known is the
Black Mass. […] The Devil-Worshippers’ infernal “underground” is comprised of people of otherwise superior intelligence.
Its international center is in Germany, in the city of Berlin.
Marian Dockerill, My Life in a Love Cult, 1928

Contemporary religion can never ignore the embers of desire and sexual longing. Burning belief is always based on burning sex.
Ernst Bergmann, The German National Church, 1933

SEX MAGIC
AND THE OCCULT
For many Berliners, sexual gratification was not primarily the end-
game of courtship, a simple pleasurable pursuit, a nocturnal amusement,

mammalian bond, or a natural expression of self. It was a sacred rite or

miraculous proof of some paranormal lattice where supernatural fate and

deviant desires had become intertwined. In Weimar Germany, sex—in all its

untraditional, transgressive, and anti-familial manifestations—had become a

religion as well as a pastime.

The antinomian groundswell that propelled nearly one quarter of Berlin’s

liberated denizens into the elegant vistas of erotic degeneracy dragged oth-

ers into the dank chambers and communal embankments of sex-mad gurus

and cultish mystery-sects. These homegrown creeds frequently mixed occult

teaching with induced lust or carnal mayhem. Male/female intercourse was

not just the very source of life—and therefore a shadow of God’s creative

function—it was also a supreme delight, and, when controlled, a heightened

 love. Each of them had an irrational basis and was a

publicly sanctioned sublimation of innate creative or

sexual energies.

Outsider German political movements and religious

cults tapped into the transcendent urge for ecstatic

immediacy on a collective level. Hitler, for Olden, was

no less a tantric god than Louis Haeusser, Otoman

Hanish, Maria Raschig, Joseph Weissenberg, or dozens

of other occult Führers with mass followings. Sexuality

was the fuse and hidden spring of Weimar Germany’s

newest dogmas.

Revolutionary discoveries in behavioral science and

technology in the last quarter of the nineteenth century,

ironically, stimulated belief in “unseen forces” and their

superhuman mastery. The empirical findings in brain

chemistry, atomic physics, constitutional psychology,

Previous Left: form of prayer. Copulation and ejaculatory release for and, especially, wireless communication seemed to sug-
Erik Jan Hanussen
at his Palace of German devotees of Sex Magic had attained extraordi- gest—in the popular German imagination—that they
the Occult, 1933
nary and novel meanings; they were bodily manifesta- were indeed invisible, virtually mystic, fields surrounding
Previous Right:
Cult Dancer in
Berlin, 1926
tions of lost esoteric wisdom, techniques of Gnostic each individual body that, in turn, was dictated by solar

Above: faith, flipped transmogrifications of flesh, even divine or astral waves. International luminaries like Thomas
The Clairvoyant,
an adult dice rungs for ultimate human salvation. Edison, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Guglielmo Marconi,
game, where
players learn In his bestselling anthology about the contemporary Marie Curie, Nikola Tesla, and Albert Einstein were
their true sexual
characters and occult in the German-speaking world, The Miraculous, heroes to both the scientific and psychic communities.
erotic fortunes,
1926
or The Bewitched (Berlin: Rowohlt Verlag, 1932), Rudolf Their baffling theories, Berlin parapsychologists claimed,

Olden compared magical belief systems to compulsions were foretold by the nineteenth-century American

of physical attraction (“sex appeal”) and unwavering Spiritualists and the Anglo-Indian Theosophists.
194
 “Occult-Sciencism” was the strange Weimar prodigy

that resulted from the blend of these two contrary

world views. Increasingly, it acted as an effective sub-

stitute for traditional social discourse and long-estab-

lished religious zealotry. By 1932, Berlin alone sup-

ported the flashy productions, séances, and publica-

tions of 20,000 itinerant telepathists, wonder-working

healers, palm readers, storefront clairvoyants, Hollow-

Earth adherents, alchemists, stage mesmerists, dooms-

day prophets, Gypsy-clad fortunetellers, and trance-

performers.

Moreover, camouflaged feats of sexual dominance

more suitable for ribald cabaret acts now ventured into

the laboratory, church pew, and political street. After

all, both hypnosis and mass suggestion traded on the

principle of psychic seduction. Eroticized language and

gestures, Olden wrote, had an unbridled capacity to

influence crowd psychology and behavior. If channeled

ritually or scientifically by experts, they resembled the

incantations of pagan Sex Magic. staunchly faithful to the Roman papacy. As soon as Above:
Dr. Hans–
the unsmiling Anglo-Saxon missionaries and preachers Theodor
Sanders,
The Failed Crusade left their villages and towns, most Germans reverted Hypnosis and
Suggestion,
1921
Prussian obedience to Christian anti-materialist to their original pre-Christian practices and traditions.

theology was slow and unsteady. Even after German Others integrated the Holy Mass into their heathen

princes and religious authorities embraced the Gospel’s fertility rituals, invoking blessings from both Jesus Christ

teachings in the 800s—usually in the form of public and the pantheon of Nordic forest gods. These ceremo-

baptism—few Central European tribespeople remained nies had to be performed secretly, and often perversely
195
 blasphemous leaders were frequently imprisoned, hor-

ridly tortured, and burned at the stake. But that did little

to suppress the licentious folkways of the German peas-

antry. Free thought and sacred sexuality were too

deeply rooted in their cultural ethos.

In the thirteenth century, Luciferians, who conflated

the Nordic god Wotan with Satan (rather than Christ) in

their midnight rites, openly challenged the German

Catholic hierarchy and began to murder Franciscan

monks and set churches ablaze. Militant anti-Christian

Stedingers from the shores of Freesia joined the Prussian

Satanists. Covens of German sorcerers and sibyls spurred

the rebellion onward and prophesied the end of asceti-

cism, Vatican martial constraints and councilor meddling.

The old-ancient natural world, rife with lusty human-like

Above: upended diocesan prohibitions against animal sacrifice deities, spirit communication, sexual desire, and physical
Fidus illustration
for G. Hermann, and priestly intercourse. attraction, was about to be restored.
Saeming: Aryan
Sex Religion, For over 400 years, German bishops attempted to In 1234, Pope Gregory IX issued proclamations
1896

violently crush the perpetuators of paganism as well as against the growing German heresy. A European cru-
Below:
Fidus emblem
for Trilogy, the growing appeal of local heretic Christian sects. The sade to stamp out Satanism, witchcraft, Devil worship,
Sex Religion,
Sex Mystery, nudist Adam-and-Eve cults, and Sex Magic resulted.
Sex Magic,
1897 Papal armies and inquisitional courts dispatched whole

Opposite: towns and communities into dungeons, torture cham-

Fidus illustration
for Carl Hilm,
bers, and execution pits. In Spain and Portugal, Jewish
Satan, 1908

and Muslim leaders were forced to confess their links to

wizards and seers before their bodies were stretched

on specially designed racks, broken on inquisition

196
Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com

197

www.Ebook777.com
 were dutifully recorded in church documents. Followers

of the Anti-Christ reenacted Catholic and Lutheran ser-

vices in twisted and perverted parodies. They drank

urine mixed with hallucinogenic plants and swallowed

wafers made from human feces, menstrual blood, and

sperm. That was their Eucharist. Obscene prayers, orgi-

astic dance, and the worship of all things scatologi-

cal—like the kissing of Lucifer’s anus—replaced the Holy

Communion. Even priests and prelates were implicated

in the grand conspiracy.

Concealed in senators’ cabinets, scholars’ libraries,

and rectory walls were handbooks on the Black Arts and

occult Latin treatises that instructed the reader how to

obtain demonic power. Apparently, no Germans—bish-

ops, countesses, physicians, brewmeisters, or mid-

wives—were completely immune to Satan’s dark and

sensual sway. Public exposures and civic persecution, an

increasingly enlightened clergy, and the Scientific

Above: wheels, and then incinerated in public squares. By Revolution in the nineteenth century only tamped down
Rhea Wells,
Black Mass In a 1492, all non-believers in Iberia were said to be killed, the anti-Christian profanations.
German Town,
1931
converted, or sent into exile.
Right:
Witches’
But Satanism and its visceral appeal was not excised
Sabbath as
portrayed on so easily from the German lands. Between 1500 and
Berlin cabaret
stage, 1927 1783, over 15,000 women and men were executed for

engaging in necromancy or sealing compacts with the

Devil and his minions. Graphic descriptions of Witches’

Sabbaths and a new sacrament called the Black Mass

198
The Hauptstadt of Satan
Vestiges of pre-Renaissance superstition

and Devil-worship were observed in the

Central European countryside until World

War I. Bavarian grandmothers continued to

place horse and deer penises under their

grandsons’ beds to ensure their sexual hap-

piness and fertility. Bohemian peasants,

hoping to marry within seven years, avoided

corner seats in taverns and, if their Biersteins

toppled during the evening, splashed the

spreading foam behind their ears for good

luck. On Walpurgis Night, haggard women and men still pranced around huge bonfires, where straw effigies Above:
Fidus,
were consumed and delivered to Luciferian proxies. Satana,
1896
In Berlin, Satanist rituals dispensed with exhorta-
Left:
Ernst Gerhard,
tions for robust health and pregnancy. Debauchery and
Captive,
1925
orgiastic entertainment were the religious goals of the

city-dwellers. The first known Black Mass in modern

times unfolded at midnight in December 1919 at the

Café Kerkau on Behrenstrasse. Five hundred celebrants

stripped off their clothing in the club and circled around

an altar covered with a black-and-red Pentagram. One

hundred Polenta, with revolvers drawn, interrupted the

solemn rite and the stark naked devotees were herded

into police lorries. Among the law-breaking enthusiasts

was the Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, supposedly in

exile with the Kaiser’s family in Holland.

199
 Marian Dockerill, a Swiss- sphere. Men in black hooded robes, and women in

born American journalist, white, sat silently on church pews, where they faced a

described the activities of black-curtained altar. Flutes and violins could be heard

European and American occult playing in an adjoining studio room. The “Priest”—

sex societies in a sensational reportedly a real defrocked Catholic priest—entered

eight-part series, “Confessions slowly from a side entrance. Inscribed on his black cowl

of a ‘High Priestess’ in Notorious was a red Satanic pentagram. Behind him was a bare-

‘Love Cults.’” Her illustrated footed “High Priestess,” wearing a revealing, diapha-

Above: report was syndicated in the Hearst press in March and nous scarlet gown. She swung a censer of burning
Crown Prince
Friedrich Wilhem April of 1926 and later published in a re-edited pulp incense as the “Priest” intoned Latin phrases. It sounded

Below: version, My Life in a Love Cult: A Warning to All Young like a traditional Catholic Mass; only the words “Satan”
Marian Dockerill,
My Life in
Girls (Chicago: Better Publications, 1928). and “evil” were substituted for “God” and “good.” From
a Love Cult,
1928
The sister of Lea Hirsig (Aleister Crowley’s “Scarlet the ceiling hung an upside-down crucifix.

Woman”) and a strikingly beautiful woman herself, The “Priest” pulled the altar curtain open. On a tiny

Dockerill was able to infiltrate and participate in several black-velvet platform lay a naked 18-year-old girl, the

private Berlin ceremonies in the spring of 1923. Her daughter of two cult society members. Her neck and

eyewitness portrayals were unusually graphic and limbs were contorted in severe right angles to her stun-

detailed. No contemporary German reportage could rival ning face and torso. The “Living Altar’s” blonde hair

Dockerill’s astute and in-depth touched the floor. Balanced on her smooth breasts stood

accounts. a golden chalice. The girl appeared to be in a trance,

Marian remembers enter- lifeless, like a wax statue. The blue and red lights struck

ing an elegant Berlin apart- her translucent body in such a way that she seemed to

ment, remade into a hellish be a Biblical figure in a stained-glass window.

sanctuary, lined with black and While the “Priest” chanted the Black Mass liturgy,

crimson silk curtains. Blue and the congregation periodically stood, prostrated them-

red lights created an other- selves, and returned to their benches. After 30 minutes,

worldly chapel-like atmo- the “Priest” placed a holy communion wafer on the
 Left and Below:
The Black Mass
Consecration,
recreated by
Marian Dockerill
“Living Altar’s” chest and lifted the cup from her body.
for the Hearst
Syndicate,
He tasted the wine and, in a violent gesture, flung the 1926

remaining red liquid across her nude lower torso. In a

final sonorous plea, the “Priest” urged Satan to redeem

his flock from “all good,” from “all Godly virtue.”

To Dockerill, despite the anti-Catholic provocations

and public nudity, the demonic consecration was only

symbolically offensive and relatively chaste. She was to

learn that it was mere preparation for an entirely differ-

ent kind of Satanic sex ceremony.

The following night Marian was invited to the man-

sion of a much talked-about and promiscuous Hungarian

countess (probably Agnes Esterhazy) in Berlin West.

Eighty guests arrived around midnight, decked out in

high fashion. They were separated by gender and

directed into two dressing rooms, where costumes and

tables of intoxicants awaited them. Besides champagne

and brandy, there were boxes of powdered heroin,

cocaine, hashish, bottles of morphine, assorted pills, and

hypodermic needles. Only a few of the women dabbled

with the hard drugs. The others good-naturedly donned

the party animal skins, loincloths, and togas.

In the brightly lighted ballroom, an orchestra played

strange syncopated music. A huge drum overpowered

the musicians with a relentless, frenzied thump. The

crowd, mostly in solo positions, moved in jerky steps to

the primitive percussive beat.

201
 Tethered to a center platform was an oversized black

he-goat. More than frightened, it seemed to be repulsed

by the constant din and unnatural movement around it.

The bucking animal bleated in counterpoint to the deaf-

ening tom-tom. When the music died down, a bearded

man with a leopard skin covering his loins leaped to the

wooden stage, and began to sing, in a deep bass:

“Give me the sight of the open eye,

And the word of madness and mystery,

O Pan! Io Pan! Io Pan! Io Pan! Pan Pan! Pan!

The gods withdraw:

To the great beasts come, Io Pan!

Goat of thy flock, I am gold, I am god

And I rave, and I rip and I rend,

Everlasting world without end,

In the might of Pan.

FRATERNITAS SATURNI’S Io Pan! Io Pan Pan! Pan! Io Pan!”

SEX MAGIC RITE

“GRADUS PENTAPHAE” The drunken celebrants responded with disjointed

refrains of “Io Pan” and started to disrobe. Then the

The room is illuminated in red. A black altar is covered with a white cloth,
Dionysian-like festivities began in earnest.
which has an inverted red Pentagram sewn on it. Over the altar is a five-branch
Dockerill described the scene with some care: “I saw
candelabrum, which contains five, burning red candles. Between the altar and
the council-chamber table is a flaming tripod. In the corners of the room, red a woman turn like a tigress and sink her teeth deep into

candles flicker. the shoulder of a man who leaped in front of her. He tore
A hymn “In These Holy Halls” is played. A gong is struck five times.
her hair until he broke the grip of her teeth and screamed;
The Master of the Chair, the Priestess, and the Master of Ceremonies wear red
he began kissing her brutally. I saw others cutting each
masks. All of the participants and observers are naked underneath their robes.
other with knives, and a man

dragging a woman by her

hair and striking her naked

shoulders with a whip until

they were streaked with

blood. And finally, as the cul-

minating horror, I saw a nude

woman, with a dagger, leap

upon the huge, now com-

pletely terrified goat, and cut

its throat from ear to ear, so

that the blood gushed out in

a stream while men and women fought and clawed and their own insignias, liturgical rites, uniforms, publica- Above:
The Goat
tore at each other to bathe in the blood. […] The mad tions, and often distinct cuisines. Altogether some two Sacrifice,
by Panini,
1926
orgy lasted until dawn.” (“Confessions,” March 27, 1926) million Germans formally belonged to these non-con-

formist sects. Another eight million expressed interest

Aryan Love Cults in them, sometimes subscribing to a variety of journals

and Barefoot Prophets or attending multiple services. Berliners veered to the

Over 200 mystic cults and secret societies were most self-gratifying new-age religions.

active in Central Europe during the interwar period. Although the heyday of bizarre sectarianism paralleled

Most fell into distinct categories: Aryan brotherhoods, times of economic crisis in Europe—the Inflation (1921–

American-style Spiritualist organizations, “scientific” 1923) and the Great Depression (1929–1933)—cultish

astrological circles, chic Satanist clubs, Freemasons, examples of sex-frenzy could be found much earlier. One

Gnostic associations, Buddhist and pseudo-Buddhist phallic-worshipping band surfaced in Schwarzenburg, a

leagues, ascetic Sufi-like communes, Christian dissent- German-speaking district in Switzerland, around the

ers, Theosophical breakaway unions, Rosicrucians, and 1890s. Founded by Johannes Binggeli, a dwarfish trance-

outlandish occult-political movements. Most groups had author, the Forest Brotherhood proselytized incest as a
203
 Master of the Chair: “Jallah! Greetings, my Brothers and Sisters. Are you pre-
pared to enact the Five-fold Alpha ritual with a pure heart and without deceit?”
The Congregation: “We are!”
Master of the Chair: “Brother First Guardian, what is your duty?”
“divine” calling. Binggeli referred to his genitals as the
First Guardian: “To determine if we are all Masters of the 18°; if we all bear
the sign and the know the grip.” “box of Christ” and offered up his urine as a universal
Master of the Chair: “Execute your office!” healing balm. And when necessary, he slept with his
The First Guardian leaves his assigned position and listens to each member.
coven of Forest women in order to properly exorcise
Individually, they whisper the secret password in his ear. He returns to his station
and replies, “To Me!” them of nefarious spirits. Binggeli was finally arrested

The Congregation makes the sign of the Master and then the sign of the and tried after it was discovered that he had impregnat-
Magnus Pentalphae.
ed his own daughter during one such vision-ceremony.
The First Guardian: “Venerable Master, all those present have made both
Binggeli was sentenced to a Swiss insane asylum but his
signs of the 18°. No one here is uninitiated.”
The gong is struck five times, followed by five rings of the silver bell. specter lingered into the new century.

The Second Guardian: “All is in order, my Brothers and Sisters!” In Ascona, a tiny Alpine village at the southern tip
Master of the Chair: “Stand, my Brothers and Sisters, and proclaim the oath!”
of Switzerland, Central European naturalists, pacifistic
The Congregation stands, extending their right fists with outstretched thumbs:
vegetarians, Nietzsche-obsessed writers, radical anar-
“We all swear and vow to live and act according to the Holy Laws of the Five-
fold Alpha. We will guard and retain the secrets and conceal them from outsiders chists, Runeists, and devotees of free love and

-- even from our Brothers and Sisters who have not attained the 18°. Death and Ausdruckstanz set up various ramshackle campsites and
ruin to traitors! A curse upon their souls! Blessed be the true Chalice of Light,
sanatoriums. In the shadow of Monte Verita, between
whose strength may preserve us from all temptation! Om!”
1900 and 1915, Ascona’s bohemian leaders preached
They sit.
Master of the Chair walks to the altar: “In Nomine Sator, Rahator, Etan! In new health regimens, new diets, new communal

Nomine Baphomet. Hal yac yin! Jallah! I call and invoke you, Forces of the Fire values, and new sexual practices. By the end of World
Element. Flow into my hands, my heart, and my brain! And give me the power
War I, their teachings had spread to Germany. It was
to awake the Serpent!”
the beginning of an international counterculture.
The Master of the Chair gestures to the Priestess’ chair. She stands and walks
to him in measured steps.
The Master of the Chair traces the sign of the Pentagram over her head and
says: “Let the power of the Serpent, the ancient Dragon, awake in you, Daughter
of Lilith. She raises up from the darkness of your womb and flows into us with
all the power and strength of the Uridaphne!”
The Priestess kneels down and hands a dagger to the Master of the Chair.
He lifts it, kisses the blade, and lays it on the altar. Then he goes to the burning
 Left:
K. Vetter,
Die Schönheit
cover, 1926
Into the Fourth Dimension Opposite:
Rudolf von Laban
An embodiment of Carl Jung’s “cosmic man,” and his OTO
group in Ascona,
Rudolf von Laban in the Twenties restored to dance a 1914

super-masculine ethos that many thought classical

ballet had leached from the European stage. Most

scholars credit Laban with the invention of German

Expressive Dance. The movement of the body, he

taught, must remain absolutely pure and independent

of music and storytelling. In addition, every gesture

had to express the ineffable essence of man-in-space,

or Body Wisdom.

A self-proclaimed magician and a Grand Master in

the Swiss OTO, Laban began to formulate his somatic

innovations in 1911. At the edge of Ascona, over a

three-year period, he gathered an adoring collective, pre-Christian notion of “group marriage.” But Ascona

who listened to his rapturous preachments against could not contain the indefatigable trickster.

modern civilization and how it ripped mankind from its In 1919, Laban founded his first Dance-Theatre

celestial roots. To restore humanity’s Edenic past, Studio in Stuttgart. (Within ten years, there would be

Laban devised the concept of abstract movement 25 Laban studios in Germany and Switzerland alone.)

choirs and community festivals that were organized on Intellectually, Laban borrowed shamelessly from

the principles of ecstatic movement and a shared Émile Jaques-Dalcroze and Rudolf Steiner but his

Germanic history. abilities to transform other people’s theories into

Seeking the physical paradise that their protean novel and gripping action set the nomadic womanizer

teacher nurtured in his gestural experiments, the apart. It was long rumored that waiting outside the

Laban-dancers lived communally, dining solely on nuts, stage doors of Laban’s many repeat concerts were

dried fruits, and grain beverages. They confronted their scores of Madonna-faced mistresses, rocking father-

less enlightened neighbors with nude recitals and a less infants in their arms.
205
tripod and throws a handful of incense and powder into the flames. It flares up
bloody red.
The Master of Chair walks to the kneeling Priestess and lays his hands on her
head: “Rise up, you blue-lidded Daughter of the Dawn! Do you know me?”
Priestess: “I know you!”
Master of the Chair: “Sister of the Five-Flamed Star, do you feel me?”
Priestess: “Brother, I feel you!”
The Congregation: “Om! Om! Rahalon!”
Master of the Chair: “Sister, give me the sign of recognition!”
The Priestess rips the hood from her head; her mask remains in place: “Placet
Magister!”
Master of the Chair: “I still do not recognize you!” He removes his hood.
Priestess: “Jallah!” She unbuttons the upper part of her robe and exposes
her breasts.
Master of the Chair: “I still do not recognize you!” He exposes his chest. The Ikosaeder (or Space-Crystal) was the Grand

With an ecstatic gesture, the Priestess loosens her belt and drops her robe. Master’s strangest invention. Unveiled in 1924, it graph-
Naked, she spreads her legs, bends slightly forward, and lifts her arms with
ically defined the space around the dancer’s body at
her thumbs turned out. She responds ecstatically: “Jallah! Son of Osiris! Do you
twelve points in a magical configuration. Although a
recognize me now?”
In a corresponding ecstatic gesture, the Master of the Chair tosses aside his compelling image and a centerpiece of the Laban’s

robe, so only his mask and the five-sided silver star on his chest remain: “Kuf- occult beliefs in the primacy of Body Wisdom, his pub-
ankh-hor!”
lished descriptions of the Ikosaeder’s use in dance train-
The Priestess: “Kuf-ankh-Herpokrat!” She jerks her arms downward and
ing were cryptic and contradictory.
grasps the penis of the Master of the Chair. If it is hard and erect, the Priestess lies
down on the altar, spreads her legs, and allows his penis to enter her womb. One contemporary account (Theatre Arts, April

At this moment, the Brothers and Sisters stand and circle the altar in a chain, 1928) referred to the Ikosaeder as a “machine” that,
chanting in unison: “Jiyallah! Jiyallah!”
when combined with the proper set of 24 movements

(Eukinetics), brought the naked participant into a state

of spiritual ecstasy—“a cage made of wire in the form

of a polyhedron, in which the pupil is enclosed, to enter

into affinity with space and so to be galvanized into

contact with the fourth dimension.”

Laban’s gifts for spectacle and pictorial displays of

racial vitality made him an ideal candidate to organize the

Nazi festivals in the Thirties. Laban’s difficult personality

 Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com

and the German war on modernist art in 1936, however, “Dionysus-Haeusser,” and “Laotse-

drove the movement guru into exile in England, where he Haeusser.” In a flag-bedecked limou-

assisted the Allied war effort and continued his teachings sine (provided by a love-struck aristo-

on muscular alignment and dance notation. crat), he motored around Germany,

calling for “ultimate” erotic freedom

The Haeusser Revolution and rule by hirsute supermen. The

More typical of how the Asconian free-love mes- “Guillotine-Dictator” had been briefly

sage migrated to Berlin was the curious saga of Louis paired with Hitler by journalists since

Haeusser. A German conman and convicted champagne both rallied for the abolition of the

swindler, Haeusser moved to Switzerland in 1913 in Weimar Constitution. Unfortunately

order to circumvent French justice. He studied Taoist Haeusser’s anarchistic coalition splin-

philosophy in Ascona and by 1918 began to proclaim tered into competing “Jesus-Worker

himself as “the Naked Truth,” as Germany’s “future Parties,” led by younger “top-hatted

Superman.” A bald, middle-aged businessman, the fre- messiahs.” The dispirited prophet died in a Berlin hospital Above:
Haeusser,
quently unclad Haeusser gathered huge flocks of in 1927 (possibly murdered in his room by a League The Naked Truth,
1925
enthralled disciples, mostly women, to his side as he rival) but his organization, still numbering in the tens of
Opposite:
Ikosaeder
toured German cities. The female acolytes, who dressed thousands, continued to promulgate Haeusser’s apoca- Exercise, 1926

as men, were referred to as the “Greatest Occult Harem lyptic missives for another five years.

in the land.” Haeusser manipulated their “sexual

dependencies,” claiming they all dreamed of “being The Gottesbund Tanatra

God’s mother,” his divine protectors. According to the At the time of the Inflation, another erotic cult

“People’s King,” his childish and S&M-like activities only appeared in the city of Görlitz. Established in 1923 by

increased their earthly devotion. Fedor Mühle, a 44-year-old merchant, the Gottesbund

In 1922, Haeusser founded the Christian National Tanatra borrowed heavily from Spiritualist and Buddhist

Party (later renamed the League of National Communists) precepts: all souls survived physical death and were

and ran for President of the Reichstag as “Zarathustra- reincarnated into new bodies; therefore, all males and

Haeusser,” “Christ-Haeusser,” “Anti-Christ-Haeusser,” females were truly brothers and sisters. Despite God’s
207

www.Ebook777.com
 The Master of Ceremonies steps into the circle and seizes the dagger. He
stands behind the copulating couple and grabs a black rooster (or hen). He holds
the agitated animal over them and cuts off the head in a single stroke. He pours
the blood over the copulating Priests.
love, the world was quickly approaching its endtimes.
The Congregation chants “Jiyallah!” in an ever-growing frenzy.
Before he climaxes, the Master of the Chair removes his penis from the What differentiated Mühle’s trance preaching from run-
Priestess’ vagina. She holds his member and splashes blood on it. Then she puts of-the-mill New Ageism was its sexual message: not
her left hand on the base of his chakra and, with her right hand, she vigorously
only was traditional marriage to be avoided but the role
strokes his penis until he nearly ejaculates. The Priestess ecstatically cries out and
thrusts her finger deep into his anus. The Master of the Chair manipulates her of homosexual men was greatly elevated. These sexual

clitoris, so the couple orgasms simultaneously. outcasts brought moral and spiritual refinement to
The Congregation shrieks in ecstasy, which concludes the ceremony.
humanity. In fact, only gay men—with their unalloyed
The Master of Ceremonies breaks the fraternal chain, takes a white silk
male and female components—could serve as medi-
cloth and spreads it over the Priestess. He envisions the magical symbols of the
Pentalphic Grade. (If his imagination is weak, he can draw the symbols in the air ums and healers.

with a dagger in an eastward direction.) According to the Tanatra philosophy, heterosexual

Then the Master of Ceremonies hangs a red robe around the Master of the
intercourse prevented mankind from conversing with
Chair. The Master of Ceremonies steps to the back of the altar and the Brothers
unattached souls and curing lethal infirmities. On the
and Sisters return to their places in silence.
The Master of Ceremonies picks up the censer and waves it in the four direc- other hand, homosexual anal contact, or “Occult

tions. He summons the Spirit-Invocation of the Lodge: “Gotos! Euraseh zed achna Marriage,” joined “true, pure, untainted souls” into a
Emzke ho! Hareb Kaloo emtah kreas kaa elam! Noab tezwah mehischeh ula elm
blessed relationship. The Tanatra elect claimed that
tree elegob maha! Erechthon kale almaia jaschbarak Hed gog Mehengog Maguth
they were only following their Lord Jesus, who—their
ebze Carago hed abernach, obeah, durach elego kale almaino edach. Amno
wimero Amom! Makalo hem! Gotoas! Makabo! Hetan hem! Gotoy! Hur Ro close Gnostic texts revealed—engaged in such activities with

Gotoy! Gotoy! Gotoy, Ave ebze Karon.” a boy named Johannes.

The Master of the Chair says: “Stand, my Brothers and Sisters, and repeat
The Gottesbund Tanatra soon expanded its opera-
after me, ‘We swear to keep silent! Our Brothers and Sisters are our witnesses!’
tions. By 1929, Mühle’s sect had over 60 lodges in
Receive now the benediction! May the Eternal One bless you! He shall increase
your powers! He shall deepen your wisdom and inflame your love because Love Germany, including several in Berlin, with a reported
is the Law! Love under Will! Go in peace, my Brothers and Sisters, and seal your membership of some two thousand supporters. Their
mouths and guard your tongues.”
Sunday observances included outdoor services with
The Congregation: “Death to the Traitor! Om!”
All except the Priestess and the Master of the Chair exit from the room. trance-sermons, choral songs, and long-winded homi-

lies interspersed with floral parades. (Presumably the

Tanatra Occult Marriages took place inside their con-

verted churches and walled sanctuaries.)

 In 1936, after scrutinizing its unusual priestly exe-

gesis and fervent Aryan declarations, the Gestapo

closed down the Gottesbund Tanatra and rounded up

its leaders.

Dr. Musallam’s Adonistic Society

In Vienna, Franz Saettler founded his own private

sex cult in 1925. A noted scholar and linguist of medi-

eval Persian, north Arabic dialects, and conversational

Farsi, Saettler claimed that he discovered the ancient

source of all religions in the ruins of Olbia, near Mount In 1927, Saettler joined with the Berlin mystic, Rah-

Olympus, in 1913. It was called Adonism. Its extant rites Omir (Friedrich Wilhelm Quintscher), head of the New

could be seen in secret ceremonies carried out among Order of Mental Builders, to form the International

the Druses and Yezidis (so-called Devil-Worshippers) in Adonistic Society. Rah-Omir Quintscher’s previous claim

the mountains of Syria, the Caucasus rim, and in an to fame involved his infamous Tepha machine that

unchartered area of western Persia known as Nuristan. projected lethal “astral electro-magnetic” rays into the

The polytheistic rituals involved animal sacrifice and bodies of his enemies. Like flattened Voodoo dolls,

fornication with temple prostitutes, performed under photographs of the beleaguered targets were bom-

the enchanting glare of a full moon. barded by invisible long-range waves.

Writing under the nom de plume “Dr. Chakum Saettler and Quintscher’s dubious enterprise attract-

Musallam,” Saettler published over 30 books on the ur- ed thousands of mail-order adepts from Austria,

religion Adonism and its occult application to modern Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, France,

times. Besides subscriber-only tomes and monthly jour- Spain, Turkey, Egypt, and the United States. In a sense,

nals, Saettler, through his Master Lodge Hekate, sold it was a classic pyramid scheme. Wealthy Adonists

astrological readings, aphrodisiacs and “oriental” talis- were induced to buy their way into the higher branches

mans, pendulums, invisible inks, alchemic formulas, of the association and then sell lesser titles to more

magic gems, and counterfeit resident permits. naive initiates or purchase shares in the “Olbia
209
 Goldbank.” Besides occult tchotchkes—including a mys- invented faiths also contained original sexual precepts.

terious elixir called Biogon—and overnight dividends, These were Karezza and Mazdaznanism.

the Adonistic Society’s main appeal was Sex Magic les- Created in Chicago in 1896 by Dr. Alice Bunker

sons, in pamphlet form, written by an authentic Stockham, one of the most extraordinary American life-

Nuristan seeress, madam to a sacred harem. reformists of her generation, Karezza borrowed heavily

In April 1932, the Viennese Vice Police busted Dr. from the abandoned and much-maligned eugenic prac-

Musallam for mail fraud and sexual misconduct. tices of the utopian Oneida Community in upstate New

According to newspaper reports, all they found in York and Dravidian tantric customs from a polyandrous

Saettler’s apartment were roomfuls of Adonic docu- tribe in British India. Stockham, one of only five licensed

ments and a foxy secretary named Justine Schnattinger. female physicians in the U.S., proposed a radical and

Evidently she was the Society’s “High Nuristani scientific means for marital bliss: long-term coitus subli-

Priestess.” matus. Unlike John Humphrey Noyes, who championed

Although both the crafty doctor and his accomplice “multiple marriage,” male continence, and socially direct-

died of natural causes (Saettler in 1942 and Quintscher ed human breeding for his Oneida collective during the

three years later on the day Germany surrendered to 1870s, Stockham thought both male and female orgasms

the Western Allies), contemporary Adonistic study harmed the health and perennial joy of all wedded

groups and reprints of Musallam’s serialized publica- couples. She traveled to the Malabar Coast and observed

tions can be found today on the Internet. the matriarchal habits of the Nayars. Tantric sex there,

where harems of husbands engaged in non-climactic

Karezza and Mazdaznanism intercourse with their wives, seemed to improve the

America’s new religions, like Christian Science and Nayars’ appearance and intellectual well-being.

the Latter Day Saints, washed up on German shores In a self-published pamphlet entitled Karezza Ethics

following the Armistice. Frequently these foreign creeds of Marriage (New York, 1896), Stockham explained the

developed in perverse and hysterical ways. Minor spiritual rational behind Hindu Sacred Sex. “In the physi-

aspects of their stated principles were often empha- cal union of male and female there may be a soul com-

sized and exaggerated. Naturally the occult elements munion giving not only supreme happiness, but in turn

transfixed German converts and missionaries alike. Two to soul growth and development.” Quaker-educated,
210
Stockham thought sexual self-con-

trol equally heightened love interest

while it redirected “wasted,” finite

creative energy into solving vexing

social problems. Rather than a phi-

losophy of abstinence, Karezza actu-

ally encouraged erotic contact but in

an exalted, protracted, and always

emission-less form. Her booklet

even provided detailed instruction

for the basic tantric interchange.

Outside Berlin, Werner Zimmer-

mann established a Karezza colony

and translated Karezza texts, which

had long been discarded in the land

of their birth. A 72-year-old

American supporter, William Lloyd

even blessed Zimmermann’s efforts,

which had added vegetarianism,

lectures on human electrical impuls-

es (Magnetation), meditation, nudi-

ty, and Aryan renewal to Stockham’s

medical thesis. The German

Karezzalites believed European qualms over declining Otoman Zar-Adusht Hanish fashioned a more suc- Above:
Mazdaznan
birth rates were responsible for their lack of substantial cessful German-American fusion. Born in Leipzig, Hanish Egyptian
Postures,
growth. Berlin tabloids had a field day exposing a sex studied Zoroastrian doctrine in southeast Persia. He 1930

cult that militated against sexual relief. moved to America at the turn of the century and estab-
211
 Mazdaznan diet not only dis-

pensed with meat and processed

foods, it forbade all “impure” sub-

stances. Week-long fasts, vomit

fêtes, high colonics, and “natural

laxative” tonics—made from lin-

den and elder blossoms—ensured

a craving for Mazdaznan bean

stews and hot fruit juices. Their

prayer services involved symbolic

color projections and Near-Eastern

chants. These devotional acts and

Above: lished the first Mazdaznan temple, the Church of the constraints were said to “super-activate” the glands
Paul Citroen,
Mazdaznan Master of Divine Thought, off Manhattan’s Central Park. that produce rejuvenating sex hormones.
Cures,1922
Unfortunately, his well-heeled congregation was riled Hanish’s students were instructed to laugh and

when Hanish was charged with immoral behavior and smile without lapse throughout their waking days. A

sodomy with his boy-acolytes, their children. Hanish telepathic readiness enabled them to read character by

moved the Mazdaznan presses and center of operations a mere handshake or by listening to slight changes in

to Chicago and then to Los Angeles. Vice squads in both vocal pitch. More menacingly, the adherents were sub-

cities issued fresh warrants for his arrest. ject to detoxifying Mazdaznan needle “machines,”

In 1917, Hanish established the Mazdaznan World which pricked the skin and caused infectious blisters to

Centre, Aryana, on the edge of Lake Zurich in erupt. Extraction of the bloody pus further cleansed the

Switzerland. From there, his pseudo-Zoroastrian regi- bodies of the mental warriors.

mens of sexual hygiene and racial purity quickly A Mazdaznan House and two Mazdaznan restau-

spread. Hanish schooled his parishes in yoga-like exer- rants opened in 1929 in Berlin. They attracted artist

cises of breath control, rhythmic gymnastics (the types, including Bauhaus students, and radiant Hanish

Egyptian postures), and proper mastication. The believers from Leipzig and other urban centers.
212
Sexually it was unclear what the Mazdaznans prac- sanctified rooms, the boys

ticed. It was said the chaste, unigowned initiates were then sodomized face

engaged in polymorphous orgies. Only Hanish knew down by the Master him-

for certain. He wrote that sexual desire was linked to self or one of his elderly

electrical vibrations emanating from the outer cosmos stand-ins.

and the earth’s core. Mazdaznan purification aug- Hanish died in 1936, the

mented their planetary charge. year his organization was

By 1932, Hanish’s cult claimed some 70,000 mem- banned and shuttered by

bers in eight countries but the movement was dogged the Nazis. Mazdaznanism continued in Switzerland and Above:
Ernst Schertel’s
by serious internal strife and scandal. Over one dozen Southern California, where it still draws fourth-genera- Dreamtheater,
1929
wealthy enthusiasts had died under mysterious circum- tion scrubbed and smiley-faced zealots.

stances, following fasting sessions, “baptisms” in ox

blood, and the transdermal applications of “cleansing Hypnotic and Paranormal Suggestion
oils.” A large number of the Mazdaznan inner circle suf- From its shady origins in pre-revolutionary France

fered complete mental breakdowns or suicides. and through the nineteenth century, Mesmerism and

Worst of all, two young converts, Hanish’s “adopted hypnosis in Central Europe were long associated with

children,” initiated million-dollar legal suits in Leipzig erotic hijinks and female sexual submission. The

and Los Angeles against their Man-God for sexual archetypal hypnotist-master not only extracted mem-

abuse. The Swiss girl (11 years old) and the Swiss boy ories and extreme emotions from his unconscious

(16) were part of eight-children teams being prepared patients, he could also control their physical bodies

for the Mazdaznan priesthood in each local temple. and secret desires. Compliant subjects displayed the

After solitary diets of milk and rose petals (for the girls) mesmerist’s demonic power over them when their

and beer and white grapes (for the boys), the naked nipples extended to unnatural lengths or their faces

youngsters were led into marital chambers for mutual contorted in orgasmic ecstasy. Hypnotic suggestion

deflowering. Under the watchful eyes of Hanish’s onstage or off was the ultimate act of male seduction

purple-fezed cardinals, the children engaged in ritual and public voyeurism.

intercourse. As soon as the girls were led from the

213
 East, where he observed Arab and Berber

puberty initiations and various rites of

passage. Back in Germany, Schertel aes-

theticized his newly realized erotic theo-

ries into pop novels and film features. In

the waning months of the Great War, he

founded Wendes, the first of several

publishing houses, where his notions of

the occult, naked dance, hysteria, and

communal worship led to a common

prehistoric origin.

Schertel’s magnum opus, Magic: Its

History, Theory, Practice (Prien: Anthro-

pos, 1923), was a revolutionary treatise

that intrigued many German intellectuals,

including Adolf Hitler. (The Führer’s per-

sonal copy in Brown University’s Rare

Book Room is filled with exclamation

Above and Ernst Schertel’s Magic Dreamtheater marks and side column scrawls.) For Schertel, all
Opposite:
Clownismus Dr. Ernst Schertel blended clinical Mesmer-like tech- religion was based on magical thinking, which in turn
and Attitude
Passionelle, niques with nudity and Ausdruckstanz. He issued doz- functioned as a sublimation of violent carnal impulses.
1927

ens of scientific-sounding manifestos on naked trance- To torturously bind, to savagely whip, to forcefully

performance as mankind’s primordial art form and cre- penetrate the orifices of another body (especially the

ated a permanent dance troupe to prove it. sphincter)—that is, to violate the sexual autonomy of a

In 1910, Schertel received his doctorate in philoso- fellow human—led to a frenzied orgiastic celebration,

phy from the University of Jena. An amateur anthro- the ecstatic foundation of all religious ceremony. The

pologist, he traveled to North Africa and the Middle punishing flagellant and his acquiescent devotee cor-
214
porally symbolized the struggle of the Godhead with its Although Schertel had experimented with hypnotic

creation. The resulting erotic release, a shattering ritual dream induction as far back as 1919, using an eleven-

discharge from everyday taboos, dramatized for the year-old Finnish girl as his subject, the “Dreamtheater

cult participants the holy act of sexual triumph and Schertel,” an ensemble of eight nude female dancers,

submission. Fetish-worship, painful sacrifice, joyous only surfaced publicly six years later in Stuttgart.

embrace with an all-powerful being—were primal In Asa (January 1926) Dr. A. Bernstein wrote,

experiences that could only be found in two locales: Schertel’s method of work and training echoed that of

the temple altar and the brothel. According to Schertel’s the dervish teachers and yoga masters. Nude dancers

provocative hypothesis, devotional rites to a deity and were put into deep trance and then instructed to enact

sado-masochist acts were intimately conjoined. “motifs,” or emotional states. They began in muscularly

tense, curved positions (“Clownismus”),

like acrobats of the grotesque, and then

emoted freely across the stage in closed-

eyed groups (“Attitudes passionelles”).

Schertel’s performers were trained som-

nambulists, fulfilling some mysterious

preliterate mandate.

German critics were certainly taken

with the Dreamtheater’s “dark and puz-

zling” experiments. The hallucinating

dancers moved with feeling and esoteric

purpose. Yet the naked productions

lacked variety, humor, or narrative sur-

prise. Schertel had created a new form of

terpsichorean pornography but it was far

too obscure to sustain itself. In 1930, the

Dreamtheater Schertel folded.

215
 Born Herschel-Chaim Steinschneider, Hanussen left

his lower-middle-class Viennese family to work the

itinerant theatre and carnie circuit during the waning

days of monarchist Europe. [For a full biography, see

my book Erik Jan Hanussen: Hitler’s Jewish Clairvoyant

(Los Angeles: Feral House, 2001).] A sleight-of-hand

conjurer, tabloid journalist, vaudeville entrepreneur,

and psychic detective, the Austrian roustabout had also

mastered the arts of Mesmerism and erotic spectacle.

In the early Twenties, Hanussen exhibited a string of

hypnotized strongwomen. These dainty subjects not

only bent steel bars and pulled heavy wagons with

bridle bits in their mouths, they also withstood the

weights of anvils placed over their stomachs and

sledgehammer blows to wooden planks supported by

their breasts. A few years later, Hanussen raised the

Above: Erik Jan Hanussen, hypnotic/erotic bar. He selected female members from
The Hanussen
Yearbook, The Magister Ludi of Sex the audience—the more skeptical, the better—and mes-
1932
In the last years of the Weimar Republic, one man merized them into orgasmic collapse before the aston-

came to represent the unwholesome infusion of occult ished faces of their husbands and colleagues.

showmanship, depraved sex, personal charisma, and Both genders came to Hanussen’s performances and

fascist ideology. This was Erik Jan Hanussen. For many private sessions in order to experience the marvelous,

Berliners, including Hitler’s unflagging opponents, the extraordinary, the obliteration of common sense and

Hanussen was not just a celebrated stage magician but moral sobriety. Acquiescing all control to him (or watch-

also the supreme manipulator of the perilous irrationali- ing it done to a neighbor) spoke to a deep submissive

ties that exemplified their era. The Communist reporters nature that fueled Hanussen’s hypnotic inductions.

unaffectionally tagged him the “People’s Stupifier.” Passionate desire was about loss of restraints—as was
216
 Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com

hypnosis and “burning religion.” No one could be faulted His Viennese Institute was widely respected by Freud’s Above:
Mia Osta,
when the needy heart or the censoring mechanism of growing fraternity and Central European judges a hypnotic
subject at
the Viennese
the brain succumbed to the humiliating demands of an frequently cited its parapsychological deductions on
Institute,
1926
arch-seducer or evil cleric. Mankind was made that way. criminal motivation and exploitations of the sub-
Below:
Hanussen merely shaped an amusing variety entertain- conscious mind. Nipple Chart, 1926

ment out of human frailty. Thoma had a bit of the theatrical bug in him as

In 1928, Hanussen was arrested in the Czech town well and produced sensational melodramas about

of Teplitz-Schönau. Among the many charges leveled sexual dependency and Svengali-like manipulators of

against him was the hypnotic-seduction of naïve house- young women. More shocking, however, were

wives and claims of time-traveling clairvoyance. The Thoma’s own experiments in hypnotherapy. In 1926

trial, which took place in Leitmeritz and ended two he published a booklet, The Wonder of Hypnosis

years later, brought Hanussen into contact with Dr.

Leopold Thoma, a leading authority on “erotic suggest-

ibility” and the head of the Psychological Unit of the

Viennese Police.

Unlike Hanussen, Thoma worked in tandem with

the legal and scientific establishment. He investigated

so-called occult crimes in Austria and Germany and

studied the verifiable effects of hypnotic suggestion.

www.Ebook777.com 217
 On May 28th, 1930, Hanussen beat

the Leitmeritz rap. He pronounced it the

happiest day of his life. He also found a

certified scientific partner in his future

confidence and occult-sex schemes.

Hanussen and Thoma joined forces and

moved to Berlin.

In the immoderate metropolis, Hanu-

ssen became known as the “Magister

Ludi of Sex.” He dazzled the locals with

Above: (Württemberg: Johannes Baum Verlag, 1926) that his hypnotic demonstrations and hawked sex crèmes in
Hanussen films
his harem on the proved the sexual power of verbal suggestion. A the foyers of Berlin’s variety halls. After midnight,
Ursel IV, 1932
young Austrian woman, Mia Osta, was put into a Hanussen could be seen leading his harem of would-be
Opposite
Above:
trance state and told her breasts and nipples were film starlets to the city’s most fashionable nightclubs
Hanussen leads
Thoma in his
telepathic post, rapidly expanding, becoming highly sensitive and and restaurants. He even designed risque gowns based
1930
unnaturally engorged with blood. Chronometers mea- on the astrological signs of his charges.
Opposite
Below: sured a significant growth (45 mm) in a single sitting. On his yacht, the Ursel IV, Hanussen fed his pam-
The foyer of
the Palace of Other sessions convinced her that she was a lesbian. pered guests exotic drugs and performed Sex Magic
the Occult,
1933
And a male subject was induced into believing that feats that even the most decadent revue-house would

he was a nursing mother. His breasts visibly trans- shun. His afterhours orgies were matter-of-factly filmed

formed in shape and size. by the technological wonder. If Berlin’s tabloids failed to

Thoma appeared in the Leitmeritz courtroom. His report on Hanussen’s latest sexcapades, they found their

testimony, which endorsed many of Hanussen’s psychic way into the Hanussen-Magazin or the weekly Hanussen

claims, immeasurably buttressed the defense’s difficult Zeitung. Readers could also learn the master’s secrets

position. Furthermore, Hanussen demonstrated his for occult seduction in his serialized lessons, “How to

supernatural talents to intuit personality and past Hypnotize Your Lover into Ecstasy.” (Presumably Thoma

events before a panel of Czech jurists. had a ghostwriting hand in that obliging series.) Han-
218
ussen’s publications had love-advice

columns and characterological read-

ings as well.

In the spring of 1932, Han-

ussen’s smirking persona unex-

pectedly surfaced in the super-

heated atmosphere of German

politics. On March 25th, just when

the National Socialist cause seemed

to be on the verge of collapse, the

Man Who Knows All published a bizarre trance-vision

in his tabloid. The headline in the Hanussen-Zeitung

screamed that Hitler would lead the nation as

Reichschancellor within one year. It was a preposter-

ous joke but one that the despondent Führer treated

with solemnity.

Nazi officials in Berlin began to frequent the Ursel

festivities, greatly enhancing the already depraved

atmosphere. The bisexual libertine Count Wolf von

Helldorf argued his Party’s racial platform with Hanussen,

whom he assumed was of Danish origin. After one

especially decadent evening on the yacht, the Count

magnanimously offered to introduce the fun-loving

clairvoyant to Hitler. After all, in the reckoning of

Helldorf, one master showman had thrust politics into

the realm of prophecy; the other had vigorously

seasoned the national agenda with mystical belief.

 Above: When the two “H”s last met, after New Year’s 1933, for the devilish theatrics and high-society party atmo-
Hanussen serves
drinks in the
Hanussen reportedly treated Hitler like a superstitious sphere, but, at midnight, a history-shaking séance took
Room of Glass,
1933
peasant woman. He traced the bumps on his scalp and place in the Room of Glass.

consulted astrological charts to determine the candi- In front of Berlin’s leading editors and tastemakers,

date’s divine fate. The Man Who Can See into the Future Hanussen spookily predicted the destruction of the

guessed right: der Führer would soon lead Germany. Reichstag by “divine fire.” It was yet another amusing

On January 30th, Hitler came to power. Three weeks forecast from the Fourth Dimensional Telepath. Twenty

later, Hanussen inaugurated his Palace of the Occult in hours later, however, the Reichstag did ignite in flames.

the center of Berlin. Opening night was, to be sure, a It signaled the end of democratic Germany and, one

bizarre blend of slinky glamour, politics, and over-the- month later, cost Hanussen his life.

top occultism. Blonde, blue-eyed docents (in diaphanous In 1937, Thoma quietly relocated to London. For

togas) led the visitors into the Palace’s Hall of Silence, several years, he collaborated with Alexander Cannon,

where they heard the Great Clairvoyant pontificate from Britain’s most prominent parapsychologist, and befriend-

a throne set on a hydraulic lift. Most of the guests came ed Aleister Crowley, a former head of Germany’s OTO.
220
The Ordo Templi Orientis
The O.T.O., or Ordo Templi Orientis, emerged from the

chaotic Austro-Hungarian underground of secret Occult-

Scientific societies and fragmenting Masonic orders. A

prominent Austrian chemist and yoga enthusiast, Carl

Kellner plotted its development in 1904 and envisioned

his organization as a twentieth-century priesthood with

Above:
selective borrowings from past esoteric organizations. At first, he sought to combine the successive hierarchies Black Mass
at the CLub
and initiation rites of French Rosicrucianism with the Amazon, 1924

transnational and Gnostic elements buried in Madame Left Above

and Below:
OTO Trance-
Blavatsky’s much maligned Theosophy.
Vision
Ceremony,
In Vienna, Kellner had studied fakir body magic— 1926

such as arresting his pulse, popping his eyeballs out of

their sockets, piercing his tongue—and later mastered

the psychophysical work of India’s wonder-working

sadhus. Yogic breath control and Sex Magic were to be

the OTO’s practical and signature centerpieces.

Kellner wrote that each of the ten chakras could be

regulated through directed breathing. He experimented

221
 Right : sion of Spirit and Material Worlds. Only Sex Magic
Occult
Horoscope, brought them into direct contact.
1928
According to Peter-Robert Koenig’s insightful and

extensive explanation of early OTO practice, “The sen-

sations that form slowly within Man and Woman sexu-

ally joined come not from the conjunction of the physi-

cal parts, but from the male and female sexual polari-

ties in contact. Correct breathing patterns affect the

chemistry of the bloodstream and so bring about a

with an inverted form of Kundalini yoga, where sexual change in the internal environment of the brain.

energy from the genitals, or the Naga chakra (which Consciousness ego moves away to make room for

he called Napa), was channeled into the solar plexus divine power. Sexual energy then can be preserved.

through meditation and rhythmic inhalation. Dressed Using correct breathing, both lead to the transmutation

as a Babylonian priest, Kellner and his wife practiced a of energy, where the Magician becomes a Clairvoyant.”

new form of tantric Sex Magic. They firmly believed (“O.T.O. Phenomenon,” 1994)

that their ceremonial conservation of sperm and vagi- The German OTO and its British subsidiary (Mysteria

nal fluids was life’s Elixir, liquid prana or the watery Mystica Maxima) attracted equal numbers of Jazz Age

solution found in the Holy Grail, the very source of mystics, horny intellectuals, genuine nirvana seekers,

wonder-working White Magic. and power-mad opportunists. Its international member-

Kellner did not live long enough to fulfill his occult ship was never large—in the hundreds—and its leader-

aims. He died in his laboratory, following an episode of ship utterly unstable, disagreeable, or transitory.

a paranoiac panic. A former opera singer, German- Unfortunately Reuss suffered from a debilitating

British war correspondent, and Prussian spy, Theodor stroke in 1920 and more hedonistic and darker person-

Reuss claimed to inherit Kellner’s mission in 1905. He alities entered into the OTO Berlin scene. For six years,

named it the Ordo Templi Orientis. beginning in 1924, Heinrich Tränker organized OTO

Reuss supplemented Kellner’s tantric teachings with Black Masses at the Club Amazon near the Halleschen

Manichean and Wagnerian concepts regarding the divi- Gate. Each Walpurgis Night (one stroke after midnight
222
May 1st) began with the ravings of a naked virgin tied Britain, New York, and Paris, the radical mountain- Above:
An OTO initiate
to a wooden crucifix. While OTO members sipped from climbing artist and poet experimented with Sex Magick reveals her pen-
tagram branding
flutes of champagne, the trance-speaker offered up rites and advanced his counter-Christian religion, by Crowley,
1926

visions of the coming year. Afterward three or four initi- Crowleyanity. Mixing astrology, Kabalah, Tibetan

ates were inducted into Tränker’s Great Lodge. The men Buddhism, yoga, and Gnosticism, Crowley promulgated

swore alliance to the Order by placing their left hands a Left-Handed Magic known as the Laws of Thelema.

on their exposed and erect penises. (“Love is the Law.” “Do What Thou Wilt!”)

In many quarters, Crowley (Master Therion or the

The Great Beast Devours the OTO Great Beast 666) was considered something of a genius.

The English-speaking Reuss had been in contact But his uncompromising personality, devotion to drugs

with Aleister Crowley since 1911. Their relationship was (cocaine, hashish, opium, and heroin), abusive manipula-

one of approach-avoidance. For seven years in Great tion of cultish followers, and, especially, his enthusiasm
223
 conference in Hohenleuben. (Although the ailing Reuss

had declared Crowley’s Book of the Law Bolshevik in

spirit, he was determined to appoint its author his heir

and Outer Head of the Order (OHO) in 1922.) The meet-

ing, which took place three years after Reuss’ demise,

was puzzling and self-defeating. The OTOers splintered

into three groups: the Pansophic Working Group (head-

ed by Tränker, who soon denounced the Englishman’s

elevation to “World Savior”); the Thelema-Verlag

Society, which translated and published Crowley’s

works (led by Martha Küntzel, a rabid Nazi supporter in

the next decade); and the OTO-Pansophy, a pro-Crowley

outfit that was nominally controlled by Karl Germer.

Tränker’s former assistant and a decorated spy,

Germer financially sustained the peripatetic Crowley

through the remainder of the Twenties. It was a difficult

Above: for sometimes lethal “erotomagic” diversions earned task. Master Therion was hopelessly addicted to heroin
Aleister
Crowley, him the rubric “the Wickedest Man in the World.” and spent much time and treasure in London court-
Self-Portrait,
1930
Crowley devised a System of Twelve OTO Degrees of rooms, defending his fading reputation. Crowley’s rela-

initiation, five of which related to Sex Magic: 7th, tionship to his core flock and Scarlet Women fared no

Adoration of the Phallus; 8th, Masturbation; 9th, Vaginal better. Some died; others abandoned him thoroughly.

Intercourse; 10th, Fertilization; 11th, Anal Intercourse. In April 1930, the 55-year-old Crowley settled in

Some scholars ascribed Crowley’s ritual perversions to his Berlin. He hoped to sell a gallery room of Thelema-

repressed homosexual character. Although he mostly themed paintings and portraits but was utterly unsuc-

slept with women, he preferred anal contact and often cessful. The Berliner Tageblatt identified him “as some-

needed homely or masculine women to dominate him. thing between Karl May [the pulp novelist] and

In June 1926, Crowley was invited to a German OTO Schopenhauer.” Most of Crowley’s efforts went into
224
securing his position as a committed Sex Magician and art, Hollow-Earth theories, and magic healing. During

visionary philosopher. Eventually even Germer, who the years of Pansophy’s slow disintegration, Grosche

claimed the Great Beast once attempted to seduce him, took the occult name Grand Master Gregor A. Gregorius.

became alienated from the Thelematic lawgiver. He had only a fleeting interest in Crowley’s OTO domin-

Crowley returned to London in 1932 and the fabled ion (although later published a number of Master

OTO Lodges virtually disappeared from the country of Therion’s tracts).

their birth. Between 1926 and 1928, Grosche established, with

Albin Grau (the set designer for F.W. Murnau’s vampire

Fraternitas Saturni epic Nosferatu), a new occult secret society. They called

Of all the interwar German cults devoted to applied it the Fraternitas Saturni. Forty members of Tränker’s

Sex Magic, Eugen Grosche’s Fraternitas Saturni (FS) had group broke with the German OTO and enlisted en

the greatest visibility and stimulated the most contro- masse in the FS’s more vital and notorious enterprise.

versy. It also attracted the largest number of participat- Grosche attempted to link all aspects of Twenties’

ing female adepts and survived the Nazi regime, World Occult-Sciencism into a unified system of beliefs:

War, and Allied Occupation.

Born in Leipzig in 1888, Grosche just managed to Left:

Brother Leonardo,
escape the abject poverty of his youth. At age 22, he Saturn Demon,
a creative spirit
conceived through
joined a Berlin publishing firm, where he edited a long
Mirror-Magic,
1928
list of business and trade journals. In 1919, he was

appointed People’s Commissar and a district organizer

for one of Berlin’s tiny revolutionary parties. After

serving a brief prison sentence, he opened a book-

store of esoterica.

In 1921, Tränker appointed Grosche the Berlin head

of the Pansophical Lodge. Over the next few years, the

antiquarian founded the independent Inveha Verlag

and studied astrology, hypnosis, crystal-gazing, trance

225
 The Berbelo Gnostics, Grosche wrote, performed a

peculiar array of pre-Renaissance Satanic rites. At their

communal celebrations and prayer sessions, they drank

an especially intoxicating sparkling wine and ate forbid-

den foods. Following their blessed feasts, the female

Gnostics were instructed to find new sexual partners—

“Rise up and give yourself to my brother!” The ejaculate

and menstrual blood from these unions (discharges from

virgins were considered to be the most efficacious) was

then mixed with honey, pepper, and other spices to craft

a sacred potion or ointment that mimicked “Spermatikos

Logos,” the seed carrier of divine reason. The priestly

consumption of that strange liquid (“stolen lightning”)

became the climactic moment of their worship of Christ

and Saturn.

Right: Pharaonic architecture, psychoanalysis, hormone-induc- In the backroom lecture hall of his antiquarian store,
Albin Grau,
Saturnglyph, ing substances, Kabalah, non-Euclidean physics, yoga, Grosche taught mirror magic and astrological positions
1928
Peruvian sacrificial rites, electro-magneticism, and astrol- for sexual intercourse. He also prescribed cocaine,

ogy combined with Sex Magick and hypnotic ritual. The peyote extracts, and advocated the use of hashish.

principal text that animated the FS’s cryptic philosophy Most of the leading OTO personalities thought little of

was the Gnostic Gospel of John. In the discarded Pales- Grosche’s character or Satanic preachments. Frau Küntzel

tinian bit of apocrypha, three divinities granted human- ridiculed him as a “Black Brother.” Germer denounced

ity occult powers: Satan, the Virgin Mary, and Berbelo, him as a “sex-maniac” and “one of the lowest types of

God’s female mirror image. According to the ancient occultist” that he ever met. But Grosche’s FS grew.

writing, Creation only began when God saw his reflec- By 1929, FS Lodges had formed in Berlin, Dresden,

tion in a stream of water. The female face, Berbelo, and Bucharest. They aligned with Saettler’s International

implored the Ain-Sof to conjure up other life-forms. Adonistic Society and issued Magic Newsletters and a
226
 war and attempted to revive the FS. Three years before Left:
Eugen Grosche
he died in 1963, Grosche published a fanciful novel,
Below:
Berbelo in
Exoriale, which apparently documented the FS’ sex
Grosche’s
1960
practices from the 1920s. novel,
Exoriale

three-color quarterly, the Saturn Gnosis. At Grosche’s

bookstore, one could not only buy FS pamphlets on

astrology and karma, pendulum forecasts, and sacred

coitus but also hear lectures on “Homosexuality and

Esotericism” and “Vampirism and Blood-Magic.”

Membership in the FS involved a five-year appren-

ticeship and its Berlin headquarters tutored at least 200

neophytes. Trance-painting and “astrological music”

were presented at their meetings but the organization

was unable to outlive the Great Depression and unend-

ing financial collapse that followed.

In 1930, Grosche was forced to sell his Berlin center

of operations. He reportedly set up shop as a psycho-

analyst. After the Gestapo seized his private library in

1936, Grosche escaped to Ticino, in the Italian-speaking

corner of Switzerland. He returned to Berlin after the

227
 Hardly a month passed without some terrible murder becoming known. In many cases ordinary criminal instincts were combined
with sexual perversions, typical of the day. [...] Indeed, human nature could assume no lower form.
Rom Landau, Seven: An Essay in Confession, 1936

The romanticism of the underworld bewitched me. I was magnetized by the scum.
Berlin—the Berlin I perceived or imagined was gorgeously corrupt.
Klaus Mann, 1942

CRIME ON THE SPREE

The social boundary between vicious criminal behavior and
unconventional sex became increasingly blurred during the Weimar

era. For one, German courts gave voice to public defenders and

criminologists who believed that domestic and street violence, under-

world pursuits, and outlaw activity in general were deeply rooted in

implacable hormonal imbalances. Some psychologists maintained

that all crime, from kleptomania to strangulation, was a form of

sexual discharge. The puzzle of how and why the criminal mind func-

tioned differently and required hypererotic and illicit sources of grati-

fication intrigued not only Germany’s academicians and social scien-

tists but permeated the pages, canvases, and screens of Weimar’s

popular culture.

The German criminal novel, or Krimi, and early film noir floridly

mixed scientific detection with psychosexual critique. No outlaw could

be sexually healthy in the stencil of Weimar fiction.

Correspondingly, anyone with hidden, unresolved child-

hood complexes or an abnormal sexual appetite could

fall prey to murderous sociopathic urges. This meant

that the heavy cloud of suspicion and guilt suddenly

engulfed more than the professional thief or prostitute.

Virtually every German—the sunny-faced peasant, the

old flower-lady, the wise-cracking butcher—was a

potential lawbreaker and fugitive from the ancient

codes of human decency.

Graphic Berlin artists, like George Grosz, Otto Dix,

and Rudolf Schlichter, also reveled in horrid depictions

of Lustmord (or sex murder) scenes. For them, the

political message was obvious and taunting. Behind the

most placid bourgeois lifestyle lurked a sick and twisted

rage. It was never enough to merely stab or suffocate

a mate, neighbor, Kontroll-Girl; one had to disfigure the

body, eviscerate its reproductive organs, and destroy ered stuffed in chemical vats or bobbing inconspicu- Previous Left:
Survivor of
the corpse’s sexuality. ously on edges of polluted rivulets. a Lustmord
attack
The Neue Sachlichkeit novelists and painters of The unbroken string of shocking revelations both
Previous
Right:
Weimar claimed that they were only responding to a engrossed and confused the German public. In the
Hundegustav
regular, 1928
grotesque reality. Gruesome cases of Lustmord and midst of every city and town, it seemed, sat innocuous-
Opposite:
bizarre serial murders filled the front pages of German looking hunters of human souls who waited stealthily Lustmord,
Unknown artist
dailies. Hundreds of runaway children and prostitutes like immobile reptiles for their nocturnal quarry. The
Above:
had not quietly relocated to new climes as their rela- local constabularies appeared helpless to anticipate or Tied and
Assaulted
tives and pimps may have surmised. Eventually the prevent the grim onslaught. And even when caught,

mutilated torsos and limbs of the missing were discov- the sex-monsters perplexed the courtroom experts. The
231
 BERLIN UNDER-
WORLD JARGON
ALPHONSES—Pimps. [Some variant names: Fiesels, Hackers, Louies,
Ludwigs, Oilers, Quick-Businessmen, or Stripe-Men.]
BEINLS—[Corrupted Romany word for “Daughters”] Prostitutes. [Variant
names: Brides, Kalles (Yiddish for the same), Hannes, Lauras, Nafkes,
Violins, or Wall-Sliders. Common vulgarism was Pussies, which was
expressed in some one dozen European and dialect terms.]
BOOSTS—The proprietors of Kaschemmen. [Also called Baases.]
BREAKERS—The geniuses of Underworld Berlin. They researched and planned
elaborate criminal schemes, which their accomplices then undertook.
BULLS—The vice squad.
CAVALIERS—Heterosexual pederasts.
commonplace explanations of gratuitous sexual may-
CHOCHUM-LOSCHEN—[Yiddish for “Wiseguy Tongue.”] Dialect language of
hem (poverty, retribution, mental illness, shell shock,
Berlin’s Underworld. A colorful mix of criminal argot, Low-German, Romany,
and Yiddish. heredity) paled when the sadistic details were related
CHONTE-HARBORS—Brothels. [Variant names: Cum-Cabins, Exchanges, Slut in tabloid exposés and judicial proceedings.
Huts (pun on Russian term), or Traffic Houses.]
Criminologists reported that surprisingly few mur-
ETSCH—[“H”] Heroin. [From Hamburg criminal argot.]
GONTIFFS—Petty thieves. [From the Yiddish.] derers, crime bosses, con men, and swindlers per-

GREEN MINNAS—Police vice vans. [Also known as Children’s Cars.] formed their misdeeds solely for economic gain. Far too
HANIDES—Prostitutes who were incapacitated because of their menstrual
much brutality and unwarranted personal risk accompa-
flow. Said to be “riding the Red King.”
nied their anti-social endeavors. Even the language,
HOUR-HOTELS—Private hotels that rented rooms by the hour for sexual con-
tact. Mostly found in Berlin North. hierarchic relationships, kibitzing, and rewards of Berlin’s

KASCHEMMEN—Criminal dives. Many were still open at 3 a.m., the official outlaw classes contained a morbid erotic component.
closing time of Berlin Dielen.
Sexual perversion inescapably imbedded itself in the
KIETZ—Street environs of Underworld Berlin. The Life.
elaborate construction of Weimar criminality.
KUPPLERINS—Procuresses.
LAMP-MONEY—Kontroll-Girl’s payment to her Kupplerin.. And like the French obsession with the Apache under-

LOUIS—Syphilis. [Variant names: the Whole Jelly or Turkish Music.] world, German popular interest in Lustmord and the
MARIE—Advance payment for a sexual service. [Variant name: Bread.]
forbidden eroticism of Berlin’s gangs revealed a darker
NACHTLOKALS—Afterhours erotic cabarets. [Also known as Nacktlokals.].]
middle-class longing for ghoulish sexual pleasures.
NEPPLOKALS—Ripoff tourist traps.
NOSES—Stool pigeons. Criminals who informed on other lowlifes.
Lustmord fact, few German lust murderers had normal or forced Opposite:
K. Sohr,
The exact number of Lustmord crimes in Weimar intercourse with their victims. The killing and mutilation The Whore
and the Cripple
Germany cannot be easily tallied. Berlin sexologists itself substituted for coitus. As a rule of thumb, ejacula-
Above:
Lustmord
testified that many sexual-related homicides were tion took place during the actual moment of death or fantasy

unintentional—Suitors and rape victims expiring from immediately afterward when the sex maniac was

heart attacks or strokes; lethal roughhousing during madly sawing, pummeling, hacking, or dismembering

S&M play; auto-asphyxiation; spouses reacting to abu- the corpse’s head or genitals. Female lust murderers

sive sexual punishment. Even necrophiliac penetration typically climaxed just when their naked partners, after

following murder was not necessarily deemed Lustmord being informed of their dire situation, convulsed in

if the perpetrator violated the cadaver in a symbolic, agony from the effects of a poisonous cocktail.

rather than passionate, gesture. Two Lustmord trials in particular captured the

True Lustmord required sexual frenzy, where tor- imagination of Weimar Berlin and inspired a significant

ture, savage annihilation, and orgasm intertwined. In body of medico-legal and sexological literature. These
233
POLENTA—[Italian for “corn-meal.”] Police. [Variant name from Viennese
criminal argot: Razzis.]
PUSSIE PRESSERS—Berlin vice doctors.
THE ROBBER—Gonorrhea. [Also known as Small Jelly.]
SCHLEPPERS—[Yiddish term for “Laggards,” “Incompetents” or “Lowlifes.”
Literally “Creepers.”] Hired street hawkers, usually boys, who led customers
to Nachtlokals or Chonte-Harbors.
SCREENS—Professional cat-burglars, known for their daring and physical agil-
ity. Typically, they specialized in either ground-floor or upper-story break-ins.
SNOW—Cocaine. [Variant names: Cement, Cocoa, or Koks.]
SOHRE—Stolen merchandise.
SPANNERS—Street lookouts in criminal enterprises, they deflected attention
from the “Business” or acted as bouncers in illegal Kaschemmen.
STOCKING-MONEY—Payment from the prostitute’s first customer of the night.
Traditionally, the Alphonse allowed his Beinl to pocket all of it, which she
concealed in the top of her stocking. The amount was thought to be a por-
tent of the evening’s take.
SUITORS—Ironic term for the customers of prostitutes. [Variant name: Fleas.]
TRANSIENT-QUARTERS—Mini-brothels located in apartment flats and store-
fronts near the Alex.
were the cases of the “Werewolf (or Butcher) of
WICKER-WAYS—Street-corners or familiar sites where Kontroll-Girls met.
Hannover,” Fritz Haarmann, and the “Düsseldorf

Vampire,” Peter Kürten. Like their filmic namesakes,

Haarmann and Kürten generated enormous amounts of

misplaced empathy and a decade of sick folklore.

(Peter Lorre played a Kürten-like character in Fritz

Lang’s 1932 talkie, M.)

Haarmann was executed in the spring of 1925 for

the murder and sexual mutilation of one girl and 27

boys and young men. (Haarmann hinted at much

higher numbers but claimed he lost count at 40.)

Besides the sheer aggregate of bodies, the Haarmann

Lustmord case stood out for several unusual factors. For

one, Haarmann came from a wealthy bourgeois back-

 stool pigeon. This gave Haarmann

unlimited access to all the offi-

cially restricted areas in the main

railroad station and the exalted

appearance of some civic author-

ity. It was there that Haarmann

and his accomplices befriended

truant boys and young men seeking work. Usually Haar- Opposite Above:
Frau Niepraschke
mann bought his homeless ward a good meal and axed and shot her
husband, then
invited him back to his dingy abode. hanged herself

Opposite Below:
How Haarmann’s pedophilia and debauchery trans-
Morgue photo
of a Lustmord
formed into Lustmord varied from victim to victim. His
Left:
traditional M.O. was to pile on the small boy, licking Male Lustmord

and kissing his chest, and then engaging in some form Above:
Fritz Haarmann
of anal stimulation. As soon as the unfortunate child
Above:
Haarmann before
ground and married well. His father, who later dis- dozed off, Haarmann experienced an uncontrollable
his execution,
1924
owned him, ran a cigar factory in Hannover, and Fritz sadistic rush and bit into the boy’s throat, severing his

received further financial backing from his wife’s family.

Haarmann began seducing children in doorways and

abandoned cellars, virtually on a daily basis, after his

16th birthday. Not the sharpest knife in the drawer,

Haarmann was arrested for “indecent acts” and shuttled

in and out of mental wards for the next 23 years.

Released from the penitentiary immediately after

the Great War, Haarmann adapted well to the chaotic

times. The understaffed Hannover police graciously

accepted Haarmann’s offer to be their chief Nose, or

 carotid artery. The child’s shock, his apartment and the overall spooky atmosphere—boys

pitiful struggle, the hot stream of going in but not out—the Hannover police, of course,

blood, the disembowelment of the ignored their pleas; Haarmann was one of their own.

body—these were the elements But over a six-year period, too many young men

that fiendishly excited Haarmann. were last seen at the Hannover Bahnhof under the

More disconcerting was what watchful care of Fritz Haarmann. Also Haarmann had

happened next. Haarmann cleaved an overly generous habit of giving away the victims’

the dead youths into pot-sized recognizable clothing to his lowbrow friends. Frantic

portions and cooked up their organs relatives practically fainted when they saw their miss-

Above: and muscular parts. (The genitals were pickled and ing sons’ overcoats, caps, and homemade cravats on
Peter Kürten
preserved as mementos.) the bodies of complete strangers. And, finally, when a
Below:
Christophe, For meat-starved Hannoverians, Haarmann was tiny human skull washed up behind banks of Hannover’s
The Schlepper
at work
heaven-sent. He peddled the boy-flesh as fresh pork “Jew Town,” the police were forced to investigate the

and sold it at cut-rate prices. When neighbors com- murky Leineschloss shores for more clues. After exten-

plained about the smells emanating from Haarmann’s sive dredging, forensic scientists identified the skeletal

remains of 500 different individuals. Haarmann was

arrested but only confessed to a fraction of the dis-

patched bodies. The rest, he assured his lawyers, must

have come from the wastebins of the Anatomical

Institute in Göttingen upstream or from careless

grave-robbers.

Peter Kürten’s Lustmord spree occurred consider-

ably later and could not be attributed to Inflation mad-

ness. Between February 1929 and May 1930, over 40

girls and young women in Düsseldorf were attacked at

dusk by a maniac wielding a hammer, knife, short-

handled axe, scissors, or his bare hands. Nearly a

236
 Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com

dozen died from his attacks, which included

victims as young as five years old. Berlin

police commissioners and private detectives,

psychics, amateur crime-fighters, clairvoyants,

and graphologists from throughout the

German-speaking world came to Düsseldorf to

assist the authorities, who curiously wel-

comed them.

The vampire killer seemed to require blood

from his prey in order to achieve orgasm. He

mocked the Düsseldorf police unceasingly,

leaving trails of nutty riddles and farcical clues.

Kürten’s favored means of sexual assault was

squeezing or slashing at the female genitalia

or, in the case of small children, battering the

head with a mallet until blood poured from the

skull. Either method produced in the beast an

instanteous ecstatic release. Above:

Stéphane,
Kürten also visited the cemeter- Morphine

ies of the women he murdered Left:

The Hundegustav,
1927
and fingered the soil around

their graves until he spontane-

ously ejaculated in his pants.

Not the city-wide dragnet

but a foolish misstep resulted

in Kürten’s capture. A girl he

237

www.Ebook777.com
 written into his demented psyche. Kürten’s father repeat-

edly stripped his wife naked before the eyes of his

children and then beat her unmercifully before raping

her. In Kürten’s building, a sadistic dogcatcher taught the

boy how to control animals by masturbating and then

whipping them. One of Kürten’s earliest memories, as a

six-year-old, was throttling—and possibly killing—a

female classmate. The stories transfixed Berlin.

Before he was beheaded, Kürten bragged to his

executioner that he looked forward to the next supreme

pleasure of his depraved life: hearing the sound of

blood spurting from his decapitated torso while his

head bounced on the gallows floor.

Above: took home and later fondled in the park told her assail-
Mammen,
The Blue ant that she forgot his address. After Kürten freed her,
Stocking,
1929 the stalwart child led the police to the ghoul’s apart-
Right:
ment. Naturally, Kürten’s wife and neighbors refused
A cocaine addict

Opposite: to believe their gentlemanly Peter was Düsseldorf’s

Manassé,
Dangerous blood-sucking vampire. But during his year’s confine-
Passion
ment, Kürten confessed to 23 brutal slayings.

Kürten was intensely studied by Hirschfeld and will-

ingly filled out one of his Psycho-Biological Question-

naires. The sessions revealed much about the psychol-

ogy of lust murderers. Kürten attempted to parade his

normality and high intelligence but the link between

cruelty, humiliation, and sexual gratification was hard-

238
 Right:
Ulbrich and
model, studio
wall and store-
front, 1930

Below:
Lieschen
Neumann,
before
and after

The Curious Career and times and fathered four children. He ran a small repair

Untimely Death Of Fritz Ulbrich shop in Berlin North but his hobby and secret obses-

At the end of January 1931, one sensational mur- sion was amateur erotic photography. Starting in

der-trial lifted the veil on Berlin’s erotomania and its 1921, Ulbrich turned his tiny backroom office into a

toxic linkage into the city’s lower-middle classes. For pornographic studio and laboratory. He trolled the

months, local crime reporters and sexologists issued industrial parks and outlying regions of Berlin in search

lengthy accounts and examinations of the convicted of compliant teenage models. Astonishingly, over

perpetrators and their unlikely victim, Fritz Ulbrich, a 1,500 saucy Berlinerinnen acquiesced to the pudgy

57-year-old watchmaker. In a sense, both psychoana- watchmaker’s darkroom voyeurism.

lysts and newspaper readers interpreted the court pro- Why and how the bourgeois Ulbrich accomplished

ceedings as an indictment of Weimar Berlin’s unregu- his daunting mission fascinated Germany’s press corps

lated and out-of-control sexual folkways as well as the and shed light on a little known aspect of the Golden

growing viciousness of petty street criminals. Twenties’ Sex-Rush: the impoverished, the middle-

An unassuming businessman, Ulbrich married three aged, the non-artistic, and the disregarded of Berlin

also wanted their impious divertissements in the

promiscuous city.

Ulbrich approached fresh-faced girls on the

street and politely inquired if they had an interest

in appearing in his nude tableaux. Most agreed,

believing this might be a first stepping stone to

fashion magazine exposure or revue stardom. The

randy auteur arranged imitative still-life scenes

240
 Left:
Fritz Ulrich,
Before the Nun,
Diana, and
Amazon Float

Below:
Stolpes and
Benziger in
court

that extended from lesbian romantic couplings (with on a Cabaret of the Nameless program and were even

S&M overtones) to bewigged bare-breasted portraits. more ridiculed. But that did not impede the relentless

He rarely offered his charges little more than a cheap smith-cum-pornographer or his unending stream of

trinket or photographic rendering of their work. showbiz wannabes.

To outsiders, Ulbrich’s fetishistic compositions Lieschen Neumann, a 15-year-old delinquent, was

revealed a banal and utterly listless aesthetic talent. In introduced to Ulbrich in the fall of 1929. He paid her five

fact, the repairman’s direction was so lacking in profes- Marks and began to dress her in Diana and other faux-

sional flair and Nacktkultur pictorial vivaciousness that classic costumes. She allowed herself to be photo-

the Steinmeier Revue House allowed him to stage his graphed and paraded in a variety of hothouse presenta-

Living Statues as a comic prelude to their real erotic tions. But Neumann was no innocent, working-class

sketches. Ulbrich’s ghastly naked floats clearly belonged Pygmalion with sparkling eyes and flawless skin. She

had larger, more ambitious plans.

After one year, Neumann decided to do away with

her benefactor and steal his money. She elicited her

22-year-old, unemployed boyfriend, Richard Stolpe, to

murder Ulbrich in his studio bed. With a promise of 28

marks, Stolpe brought along an accomplice, Erich

Benziger, and together they asphyxiated the obsessive

old man.
241
 The reckless crew was quickly apprehended and basis and often joined them in their afterhours

brought to trial. On February 4th, 1931, Neumann was Kaschemmen and Dielen.

sentenced to eight years and three months of hard Narcotics and other artificial stimulants were essen-

labor in prison, Benziger to six years and three months; tial ingredients for Berlin’s sex life. Both pimps and

her lover was condemned to die by hanging. sexologists believed that they were powerful aphrodisi-

Unfortunately, Ulbrich was not there to record the dis- acs for women. Dr. Erich Wulffen wrote that large

quieting denouement. amounts of cocaine, when indigested nasally, could

transform hardcore lesbians into man-crazy hets. Even

Criminal Rings and the Underworld Hirschfeld bellowed that his Institute experiments

Like all metropolises of the interwar period, Berlin proved that morphine injections increased the blood

had an extensive criminal underworld. The police flow to the capillaries of the labia by 500%! And opium,

recorded 62 organized gangs, or Ringvereine. Grown- according to Berlin’s smart set, heated the most frigid

up Wild-Boys, the gang members congregated at of female constitutions. Through their drug dealings, it

selected Lokals and clubhouses. Each organization could be said, the Ringvereine were merely facilitating

had its own secret handshakes, initiation rites, regula- the eternal tango of courtship and love.

tions, styles of dress, enameled badges, and flashy The Polish-born Landau got it right when he

rings. Their meetings were conducted in solemn described his Berlin sojourn, “In some of the night clubs

secrecy. Billing themselves “sporting associations,” men and women produced little boxes with mysteri-

the Ringvereine took lugubrious titles, like “Hand in ous-looking powders at which they would sniff from

Hand,” “German Strength,” “Belief, Love, Hope,” and time to time. Their eyes would begin to sparkle, and

“Northern Pirates.” they would behave for the rest of the evening with an

The Ringvereine monopolized Berlin’s drug trade, almost ghostly brightness.”

illegal gambling, auto theft, and much of its child pros- Petty criminals also had their social gatherings and

titution. The criminals, like their Chicago brethren, also were a colorful subset of Berlin’s Kietz. Some 70 Dielen,

exacted a huge toll from protection racketeering and mostly hidden away in Berlin North cellars, catered to

blackmail. For the most part, the gangs were tolerated these declassé night creatures. Urban folklorists and

by the Bulls, who knew the Breakers on a first name journalists looking for a surefire Schnauze item followed
242
the stumblebums to their low haunts and recorded their trafficked in Sohre there. In the bottom-grade “Café Above:
Mager, The
fascinating conversations and downtime recreations. Dalles” the tin cutlery resting on the tables was Complete Vice

Besides, unlike their organized colleagues, these semi- attached to long iron-chains, which in turn were stapled

professionals stole, traded, drank, played, fought, and to the restaurant walls, preventing most utensil theft.

obscenely gossiped in the open. One plucky travel When a customer exited and the table setting needed

agency advertised post-midnight tours of criminal clubs a fresh-up, one of the Dalles’ employees hoisted a huge

in “darkest Berlin.” German and British tourists too hip vat filled with greasy broth and rinsed the used spoons

for the Topp and Eldorado excursions must have been and plates in it. None of the regulars complained.

the intended clientele. A few of the criminal Dielen had more inviting

Architecturally the Kaschemmen could not have atmospheres. The “Sing-Sing” was constructed like a

been easy on the eye. Dimly lit and crammed with prison dining hall and featured mock executions in a

mismatched junk furniture, the places seemed fit only wooden electric chair, a punishing apparatus which

for the Screens, assorted riff-raff, and their Brides who only existed in the New World. Other dives provided
243
 Betty”), “Bottom-Girl Ede,” the three Elses (“Dance-Else,”

“Jew-Else,” and “Sexy-Else”), two Ernas (“Cement-Erna

and “Wacky-Dance Erna”), two Metas (“Puffy-Eyes Meta”

and “English-Meta”) and two Trudes (“Bubikopf-Trude”

and “Pockmarked Trude”). The male characters had even

more cartoonish monikers: “Big Dick” (or “The

Breuslauer”), “Apache-Erich,” three Emils (“Harem-Emil,”

“Soldier-Emil, and “Brown-Emil”), “The Anti-Franz,” “Doll-

Brained Hermann,” “Jewface,” “Pickles-Julie,” two Karls

(“Muttalo-Karl” and “Raven-Hair Karl”), “Long Leo,”

“Insect Paul,” two Piepels (“Basher-Piepel” and “Robber-

Piepel”), “Madman-Robert,” “Shithead” (everyone’s

favorite raconteur), and three Walters (“Halitosis-Walter,”

“Palace-Walter,” and “Soldier-Walter”).

The Ringvereine brothers and the barely intelligible

street toughs had their time in the sun. Vice Commis-

sionaries with a literary bent and columnists glorified

in their rituals and jargonistic babble. The lawbreakers

Left and music and cabaret entertainments. Mostly, it was the had their own judicial systems and public ceremonies.
Opposite:
Novels denizens of Berlin’s underworld that attracted outsiders. When a Ringvereine member died, all of Berlin North
about cocaine
addiction
At the “Blue Stocking,” one could meet such Kietz lumi- was treated to a funeral procession that rivaled in com-

naries as “Boot-Job Else,” “Hedwig with a Cold Hand,” plexity and ornateness that of a reigning Balkan mon-

“Snot-Faced Adolf,” and “Singer-Franz,” who ranted arch. But like the rest of wicked Berlin, it came to an

that he once sang at the Komische Oper. abrupt end. In January 1934, Hitler’s SA-troopers

The “Hundegustav Bar” hosted another unlikely Dick cordoned off whole sections of the city and those

Tracy crew. The Beinls included “All-Tits,” “Cocaine- found on the old police lists of convicted felons were

Betty” (to be differentiated from her archrival “Cognac- dispatched to Dachau.

244
245
 Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com

Whoever stays for any length of time in Berlin hardly knows in the end where he actually came from.
Siegfried Kracauer, Frankfurter Zeitung, 1932

There was a sensation of doom to be felt in the Berlin streets.

Stephen Spender, World Within World, 1951

A WORLD IN FLAMES
Adolf Hitler was officially appointed

Reichschancellor on January 30th, 1933. It was

virtually the last gambit in a vain scheme by

the Nationalist and reactionary leaders to tame

and discredit their Nazi opposition. President of

the Weimar Republic, the revered 83-year-old

Field Marshall Paul von Hindenburg, assured

his right-wing partners that Hitler could do lit-

tle but hysterically seethe and storm without a

Nationalist Socialist majority in the Reichstag.

But on February 27th, the Reichstag itself was

destroyed by arson.

www.Ebook777.com
 Previous Left: That night the Berlin police seized a Dutch Communist So began Hitler’s Third Reich and the path to world
Pay Christian
Cartensen, New fanatic who confessed to the criminal deed. In order to catastrophe.
Germany, 1933
prevent the so-called Marxist uprising, Hitler demanded Unfortunately, the facts of the time don’t much sup-
Previous Right:
The destruction
from von Hindenburg emergency dictatorial powers. port this tempting Puritanical thesis.
of Hirschfeld’s
Institute, 1933
Anti-Nazi members of Hitler’s cabinet—in a spasm of Few Germans or foreigners living in Weimar Berlin
Above:
Hitlerjungen panicked confusion—acquiesced to the Führer’s peti- saw the moral linkage between the city’s tawdry hijinks
leader shows
picture of tion. They knew it would bring an end to Weimar’s and the calamitous events of 1933. After all, it was the
Hirschfeld in
book during the constitutional democracy. progressive citizens of Sodom on the Spree who fought
destruction of
the Institute,
the fascist menace with the utmost
1933

Below:
ferocity. All the political and media tools
The Reichstag
on fire, 1933 in their possession, however, could not

overcome Nazism’s deep mystical

appeal to the distressed farmers of

Schleswig-Holstein and other provinces

far from the fleshpots of the

Friedrichstadt. Hitler’s consolidation of

power resulted from a confluence of

248
many unforeseen factors, including the staggering folly Nazi Cleansing Above:
The Eldorado’s
of the Communist and central-right opposition parties, The erotic world of Weimar Berlin crumbled by transformation
into a Nazi
who themselves promulgated extremist programs to degrees. Already in the spring and summer of 1932, headquarters,
1932

eradicate Berlin’s conspicuous demi-monde. there were serious attempts by the Socis (Berlin’s

Michael Davidson, an old Berlin hand, challenged reigning Social Democrats) to ban most pornographic

the conventional postwar wisdom in his erotic memoir publications and seal the doors to the most flagrant

of the Thirties, The World, the Flesh and Myself: “There transvestite clubs. Even Koch’s nudist Berlin clinics were

must be people who believe that Hitlerism was a shuttered before the November 1932 elections.

stern reaction to this ‘German decadence,’ or alter- Gay leaders equivocated over the impending Nazi

nately regard the Nazi Party itself as a foul edifice of threat. Hitler’s second in command, SA-Führer Röhm, had

degeneracy—in either case blaming Germany’s blatant been ridiculed as a pederast in the leftist press and many

homosexuality for the Hitler tyranny. Both assump- of his Storm-Trooping cohorts were rumored to be aficio-

tions are false.” nados of boy-love as well. Hirschfeld, who had the most
249
 Socialist private militias proceeded to “cleanse”

Germany of Jewish and Marxist elements. They

started with Hirschfeld’s Institute of Sexology.

On May 6th, SA-men and students from the

School of Physical Fitness ransacked the Institute’s

library and vandalized the main buildings. After

pouring ink over the archival files, smashing the

exhibition cases, and playing soccer with erotic

artifacts, the loyal Hitlerjungen gathered 100,000

books and manuscripts to fuel an evening bonfire at

the Opernplatz. A brass band played throughout.

One Danish observer, with the infortuitous name

Frederik Böök, shared his unusual condolences over

the death of wicked Berlin: “Nor does it disturb me

in the least that the youth of Germany burned the

whole of the Sexual Science Library which was

attached to the University under the name Magnus

Above: to lose from a Nazi-led government, defended Röhm’s Hirschfeld Institute, and if a few irreplaceable collec-
Hendrik De
Leeuw’s Sinful orientation. Papa declared it was Röhm’s thuggish poli- tors’ treasures have thus been destroyed, I shall not
Cities of the
Western World, tics that should be combated, not his sexual escapades. shed a tear. If by this means the knowledge of a few
which described
prostitution and
Other Militant Homosexualists welcomed the jack-boot- particularly interesting sexual aberrations has been
brothels in Nazi
Berlin
ed Nazi warriors as fellow revolutionaries. Most Berliners lost—so much the better.” (An Eyewitness in Germany,

were in state of denial or shock at the prospects of a Lovat Dickson: London,1933).

“Brown Germany.” Hitler was kitsch incarnate. Other Nazi actions against Weimar’s inequity were

The March 5th, 1933 elections, held five days after difficult to fathom. The embarrassing issue of prancing

the Reichstag conflagration, handed the Nazis their final queers at the helm of the mighty SA was deflected by

civic victory. Now legal guardians of the nation, National the Führer for close to two years. Anglo-Saxon journal-
250
ists perceived the Storm-Trooper’s “sissy” interests and

Hitler’s shrill voice and mannerisms as evidence of a

weak and sexually confused administration. But the

Brit’s mocking prognosis changed after June 30th, 1934,

when Captain Röhm and the bulk of the SA leadership

were executed in a day-long bloodletting, known as the

“Night of the Long Knives.” Although Hitler rationalized

the messy purge as a purifying sexual measure, straight

enemies from the old Nationalist coalition and recalci-

trant Nazi intellectuals were liquidated too.

Early Nazi edicts against homosexuality were uncer-

tain and inconsistent. While legistrators in 1935 amend-

ed Paragraph 175 to include all forms of male sex

contact, lesbian behavior was utterly ignored in the

pamphlet-sized document. Prominent Aryan gay artists, Above:

Wilhelm
like the Ausdruckstanz pioneer Harald Kreutzberg, con- Bendow,
Magnesia,
tinued their international careers unabated. In 1934 the the Tattooed
Lady, 1927

bisexual actor Gustaf Gründgens received a commission

Left:
Harald
to head the venerable Berlin Staatstheater, where he Kreutzberg,
1935
produced eleven Reich-approved seasons. Even Wilhelm

Bendow, the swishy transvestite comic, enjoyed a

National Socialist following at his own cabaret house in

Berlin East. The government-approved Grieben’s Guide

Book for the 1936 Nazi Olympics magnanimously

placed “Bendows Bunte Bühne” on the “highly recom-

mended” list for nighttime pleasures.

251
 Right:
Portrayal of
healthy Nazi
sexuality,
SA-Mann,
SS-Mann, and
Nazi labor militia
man, 1933

Nazi Sex and the Nazis; but the antagonism of most went no

Generally, Christian, non-leftist Berliners accom- further than their private conversation and half of

modated themselves to the Nazi Revolution with these quickly changed sides after January 1933.”

surprising ease. One week after Hitler’s ascension to Berlin’s sex industry contracted and nearly disap-

the Reichs-chancellery, the formerly liberal peared throughout the summer months of 1933.

Rumpelstilzchen marveled at the colors of the Nazi Kontroll-Girls and Fohses abandoned the Friedrichstadt

flag and how dreadful the old national pennant and Kudamm storefronts. Most migrated to Berlin North

looked. Once again, Davidson captured the overall or bowed out completely. Other Beinls followed suit. By

mood of the city, “The ordinary people I knew—wage- spring of 1934, only 20 or so brothels remained in

earners, unemployed, little artisans, door-to-door Berlin and these were high-class joints for tourists,

hawkers, people employed in ‘vice’—loathed Hitler ranking Nazis, and soldiers on leave. “Café Aryan”
252
offered gay, cross-dressed, and straight shows for

the exorbitant fee of 20 American dollars but that

bit of Weimaria was closed down after the last

Olympic tourists departed.

One madam, Kitty Schmidt, kept her fancy

establishment running by reluctantly agreeing to

collaborate with the local Gestapo, who maniacally

turned the “Pensione” into a wired love nest. The

thousands of hours of taped recordings between the

Nazi-trained sex-workers and foreign diplomats

proved militarily worthless but provided a needed

thrill for the erotically deprived spymasters. In 1942,

Kitty was forcibly retired, her pensione cleared out,

and with it the last authentic remnant of Weimar

sexuality vanished.

Revisionist History
In the first years of the Reich, Nazis continued their logues also needed to construct a new historical narra- Above:
Program cover,
grand spiritual mission to demolish the vestiges of tive to thoroughly demonize the former sex capital. Sunshine for All,
1939
Weimar culture. A surprising number of the German Before 1933, the Jews were targeted by the Nazis

intelligentsia and professionals acquiesced to the Brown and their Nationalist allies as an insidious political and

Revolution in the mid-Thirties. They assisted in the book- financial foe of the German people. The election posters

burnings, Aryanization of publishing and media outlets, told it all. Behind the façade of democratic rule, the

confiscation of Jewish property, and the establishment parasitic Jewish race and their leftist minions controlled

of censoring boards. The mass arrests, incarcerations, the destiny of the mighty nation. These cowardly power

and physical violence were left to others. But to effec- brokers secretly profited from Germany's ills and humil-

tively obliterate Berlin's fabled erotic past, Nazi ideo- iations. Jewish sexual perfidy—as violators of Aryan
253
 Right:
“Here, little
ones, don’t
you want
some sweets?
But first you
must come
with me ...”
The Poisoned
Mushroom,
1938

women, ritual murderers, traffickers in white slavery, Ten years later, its circulation approached one-half mil-

abortionists, homosexual pederasts, purveyors of por- lion copies, making it one of the most popular journals

nography—was a minor electioneering theme during in the Reich. Der Stürmer and its sister publications

the Weimar era. advanced the preposterous Nazi theory about Jews and

In 1927, Julius Streicher's virulently anti-Semitic Nazi Berlin: Babylon-on-the-Spree was the invention of the

newspaper, Der Stürmer had only 14,000 subscribers. accursed Jews. Graphic color illustrations showed hid-
254
 Left:
“Behind his
glasses shines
the eyes of a
criminal and his
lips conceal lust.”
Nazi image of
Hirschfeld in the
children’s book,
The Poisoned
Mushroom

eous Jewish businessmen, doctors, lawyers, film direc- pornography, found more and more adherents as the

tors, even pastors (concealing their Hebraic origins) as real Weimar Berlin receded into history. The Prussian

lust murderers, dope peddlers, and defilers of Aryan metropolis was an evil place. Eternally evil. For the

youth. Decadent Berlin was a Jewish and homosexual German people and the nations who defeated them in

paradise and therefore a Germanic hell. 1945 after a superhuman struggle, Streicher's distorted

Streicher's relentless propaganda, itself a form of image remained. And endures.

255
The following listings were compiled by the author from approximately 200 sources, most of which appeared in
the late Weimar period between 1927 and 1932. Descriptions in the 1931–1932 Weimar Berlin guidebooks—the last to
appear—frequently mimicked earlier accounts and were likely “borrowed” renderings. Occasionally, a contrary situation
arose; some travel digests were widely at odds with one another over their assessment of the actual scope of depraved
activity in a featured Diele or entertainment environment. (When in doubt over which report to believe, I generally
accepted the more salacious account.) The 50 locales described here represent between five and ten per cent of all the
known erotic or nighttime establishments in Weimar Berlin. Solid-numbered establishments are included on the map.

GIRL-CULTURE 4 Haus Vaterland 9 Restaurant Hackepeter

VENUES 5 Heaven and Hell 10 Rio Rita Bar
1
Cabaret of the Nameless 6 Kakadu Bar 11 Stork’s Nest Cabaret
2 Café Braun 7 James-Klein Revue 12 Weisse Maus
3 Haller-Revue 8 “Resi”

256
HOMOSEXUAL 7 Meyer-Stube TRANSVESTITE
VENUES 8 Taverne VENUES
1 Adonis-Lounge 9 Toppkeller
1 Eldorado
2 Alexander-Palast 10 Verona-Lounge
2 Eldorado (New)
3 Bürger-Casino 3 Mikado Bar
4 Cabaret of the Spider NUDIST VENUES 4 Monocle-Bar
5 Cosy Corner 1 Berlin Association of Free
5 Silhouette
6 Karls-Lounge Body Culture
7 Monte-Casino 2 Birkenheide UNDERWORLD
8 Moustache-Lounge 3 Body Culture School of VENUES
9
Adolf Koch 1 The Blue Stocking
The Passage
10
4 Free Sunland 2 Hundegustav Bar
Zauberflöte
5 New Sunland 3 Red Mill Cabaret
6 Territory Adolf Koch
LESBIAN VENUES 4 Sing-Sing

1 Aukula-Lounge
SEX MUSEUM WEIMAR NAZI
2 Café Domino
1 Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld’s
VENUES
3 Café Dorian Gray
Institute of Sexology 1 Café Aryan
4 Café Olala 2 Pension Schmidt
5 Hohenzoffern-Café
6 Mali and Ingel

257
 CABARET OF THE NAMELESS Jägerstrasse 18 1926–1932

Area: Center of FRIEDRICHSTADT.

Atmosphere: Clamorous, malevolent,

sadistic. “Typical Berlin bad taste.”

Clientele: Thrill-seeking middle-class

Berliners bent on slacking their brutal, anti-
social impulses.

Decor: Standard small cabaret space with

tables and 98 chairs. Wine and champagne
are served.

Entertainment: Fifteen ten-minute

amateur acts are introduced by the acerbic
conférencier “Elow” (Erwin Lowinsky) over
the course of an evening. Selected for their
utter lack of performance talent, weird
physicality, and astounding naiveté, the
“artistes” are further deluded by Elow into
believing that they are about to receive their
big show-business break.
Typically, the clueless entertainers try to
imitate the work of established cabaret per-
sonalities and proceed to humiliate them-
selves completely in their numbing attempts.
While audience members drunkenly interrupt
and boo the wretched losers, Elow unctuously
takes the part of a kindly uncle or philanthro-
pist and encourages the amateurs to ignore
the vicious Philistines and continue their rotten singing, juggling, story- tors frequently target the slowest-moving performers with crumpled
telling, impersonations, or poetry recitals. Sometimes Elow “directs” a trio programs and coins. (Naturally the audience’s murderous insults and con-
of the most unskilled performers in a scene from a well-known German stant jeering are sometimes misinterpreted by certain simpleton-”stars”
classic. as yet another stormy accolade that affirms their exalted status.)

Unusual: The truly mentally unstable, ranting megalomaniacs, and

near-cripples are “the Nameless’” favored victims. Aggressive specta-

260
 CAFÉ BRAUN Alexanderstrasse 1 1928–1934

Area: ALEXANDERPLATZ. Concealed

in an alley around the corner from the
Alex. [Formerly the BEROLINA.]

Atmosphere: Sexy. Fast mov-

ing. “American” tempo. Crowded at
all hours.

Clientele: In-the-know, bohe-

mian types.

Decor: Standard restaurant dance-

club with band stage and bar. In the
back are outdoor “love porticos,” for
extreme privacy. These are normally
packed and available for two addi-
tional marks.

Entertainment: Dancing and

interacting with the restaurant staff.
and many others. Each brings a specialty dish from his country, like the
Unusual: All the restaurant employees (except the beautiful bar Hirohito Pineapple Bowl or Reparation Brandy.
maid) are dead ringers for world leaders and film stars. The hooked-nose In addition, every band member wears a facial mask of an interna-
doorman wears a monocle and looks and behaves exactly like the British tional celebrity and performs an appropriate musical solo/monologue
premier Lord Chamberlain. The waiters, scurrying by the jam-packed from his “country.”
tables with plates of wurst and steins of beer, seem to be wax-museum
figures of Harold Lloyd, Marshal von Hindenburg, Prime Minister Briand,

HALLER-REVUE Friedrichstrasse 101/102 1923–1929

Area: FRIEDRICHSTADT. At the
THEATER IN THE ADMIRALPALAST.

Atmosphere: Most extrava-

gant of the Revues. True reflection
of the topsy-turvy eroticism of
contemporary Berlin. Everything in
American rhythms.

Clientele: Elite Berlin crowds.

Foreign tourists. Seating varies
between two and three thousand.

Decor: Lush accommodations

with VIP sections. Elegant din-
ing and dancing available in the

261
Admirals-Kasino and Admirals-Lounge. The venerable Admiral-Baths are sion dancers (“Often copied—never equaled!”), blend—in both real and
also in the same building. parody forms—“Fordism,” gaudy French flesh-peddling, and the crystal-
line regimen of equestrian military drills.
Entertainment: International variety revue with some 50 Each production is led by an accomplished MC and includes juxtapo-
fast-paced acts. Emphasis is on outsized glamour, lewd pictorialism, sitions of common cabaret numbers with naked dance and highbrow
and female beauty. Famous for its Empire Girls (also known as the musical and dance pieces.
Lawrence-Tiller-Girls). Trained in London and New York, these 24 preci-

HAUS VATERLAND Köthener Strasse 1-5 1922–1936

Area: The entire POTSDAMER PLATZ. Palmtree Room, the Palace’s Variety show (admission is another 3M).
The upper four floors are connected by ugly marble staircases, which
Atmosphere: Exciting, international. Ersatz. Fun tourist trap, expert- direct the crowds into twelve restaurant “environments”:
ly designed for around-the-clock party ambi-
ance. The “Department Store of Restaurants”
is open until 3 a.m. and can serve 6,000
diners. For non-German-speakers “the jolliest
place in Berlin.”

Clientele: Mostly free-spending German

provincials and foreign tourists, except during
winter holidays when native Berliners domi-
nate. A substantial coterie of Half-Silks make
this their early-evening haunting grounds.

Decor/Entertainment: Over-
whelming and grandiose architecture,
combining Baroque and modernist styles.
Entrance fee to the madhouse is 1 mark. The
central lobby is broken up by an impressive
series of color-light fountains and leads to the

262
 1) LÖWENBRÄU: A Bavarian Biergarten, seating one thousand 4) SPANISH BODEGA: A huge Iberian inn jutting out from one
celebrants. At one end is a man-made lake, replicating the mountainous wall. Bathed in a bordello-red spotlight is a Gypsy girl with a flower in
Bernese Oberland. Buxom barmaids in traditional dress serve Bavarian her hair and dagger in her stocking hem. She sits provocatively on a wine
beer while young men in green waistcoats and short knickers stroll casket and dances with customers on request. Other female Gypsy danc-
through the restaurant, yodeling to one another. A Bavarian orchestra ers join her when the mandolin orchestra starts up. Green-uniformed
and revue of female chorines, an August clown, a family of jugglers, hussars serve as waiters.
and a parody of some South German dance (like the Munich Cauliflower
Feast) is staged every night. 5) RHINELAND WINE TERRACE: A cavernous room gives
the three-dimensional illusion of the Rhine riverside. Quarter-sized
2) GRINZING: A Viennese café (set outside the imagined city) paddle-boats float past a diminutive castle-ruins, where a singing troupe
with wooden trellises separating the tables. Diners performs Rheinish folk songs. On the hour, a five-
look out on the fantastic diorama of Old Vienna minute, artificial storm magically showers rain on
and the Danube River. A trompe-l’oeil of the cen- the delighted customers.
tral railway station is activated with tiny electric In addition, there is a dimly lighted Turkish
trains crossing miniature bridges and mechanical Café with cushions and short-legged divans; the
boats sailing beneath. The three-man Biedermeier Csarda, a “Hungarian” pastry restaurant set in Old
orchestra plays Strauss waltzes and other familiar Prague with zither music; an “open-air” Tuscan
Viennese fare. Comic washerwomen’s quartet is the plaza; a student beer-cellar from Old Heidelberg; a
chief attraction. Japanese tea garden; a sailors’ galley inside a rock-
ing Bremen ship; and finally a smart Berlin café,
3) WILD-WEST-BAR: A saloon (specializ- which opens as an independent restaurant onto
ing in pre-Prohibition American cocktails) is located Königgrätzerstrasse.
on an alcove and surrounded by a striking vista of
rolling prairies and cactus. Patrons enter through Unusual: Advertised as “An Inexpensive Holiday
swinging doors. Folk-singing cowboys in oversized Trip!” Kempinski’s Vaterland also provides, in its
ten-gallon hats serve as waiters. They carry order- Palmtree Room, a nightly floor-show of big-name
pads in their revolver hosters and alternate with an American jazz band variety acts and the Vaterland-Girls. Altogether, there are 12 bands, 24
as the musical accompaniment. Scantily-clad cowgirls perform Shimmys girls, and 50 separate cabaret numbers in this famous abode.
and sing American hit songs, which are available on 78 RPM disks.
Blackface minstrel show rounds out evening.

263
 HEAVEN AND HELL Kurfürstendamm 237 1924–1933

Area: BERLIN WEST. Across from the Memorial Church and the
ROMANISCHES CAFÉ.

Atmosphere: Glamorous, expensive. Always an erotic

buzz here. Risqué posters and illuminated signs promise a
sophisticated evening.

Clientele: Old-family scions, up-and-coming politicians,

playboys of every sort, the elite of Berlin’s nightlife. “The lon-
gest-legged women” of Berlin and highest-paid Minettes can be
found in the powder-rooms here.

Decor: A doorman, dressed like Saint Peter or a mustached

Satan, directs guests to their choice of two adjoining dining
areas, partitioned into “Heaven” or “Hell.” Both spaces of the
nightclub face the “Cabaret-Montmartre” stage.
Bathed in a mysterious dim blue light, the walls of “Heaven”

are lined with wooden angels, framed manuscripts, sacred statuary, and
miniature palm trees. The white-faced waiters, “garçons of Heaven,” are
dressed like angels (with gauzy wings and halos) and greet the custom-
ers with Lutheran appellations. Scroll-like menus, bowls of holy water,
and votive candles are placed on the tables. Religious music from an
organ is played intermittently.
“Hell” is illuminated in a phosphorescent red glow and its walls are
plastered to resemble that of a burning cavern. Dressed as red imps, the
waiters here scurry around a boiling cauldron and torment the orchestra
and diners alike with iron triads. When delivering the food to the “sin-
ners,” the devilish imps always describe the dishes’ individual punishing
qualities: “This bockwurst will seal your intestines for 20 days!”

Entertainment: Elaborate naked revues from the Cabaret-

Montmartre are presented every evening at midnight. Under the direc-
tion of French choreographer Madeleine Nervi, as many as 50 showgirls
appear in musical presentations of the “Beautiful Body Unveiled.”
Themes of the Montmartre evenings normally veer to Parisian-style
perversity, like “25 Scenes From the Life of the Marquis de Sade” or “The
Naked Frenchwoman: Her Life Mirrored in Art.” Staging is professional
and considered the highest caliber.

Unusual: Saint Peter and Satan often surface in their designated

areas to give appropriate and amusing exegesis during the perfor-
mance.

264
 KAKADU BAR Joachimstaler Strasse 10 1920–1936

Area: BERLIN WEST. Corner of Kurfürstendamm.

Atmosphere: Exclusive if slightly tacky. Free admission for the

well-dressed. A foot fetishist’s paradise. Open until 3 a.m.

Clientele: Stockbrokers, artistic types. Police officials, Italian tourists,

foreign journalists. Always Nuttes in revealing American-style flapper
outfits. (Some wearing red-white-and-blue sparkling foil in their hair.)
Entertainment: Bar, vegetarian restaurant, dance palace, and cab-
Decor: Mock Tahitian/German Samoan furnishings. Small tables aret, all in one place. The Barberina-Cabaret has a full program consisting
under palms. Lush red lighting. The blue and gold bar is advertised as of five acts. Typical evening consists of an acrobatic dancer, a sketch art-
the longest in the city. Fireplaces in the small lounge are kept burning ist, a comic monologuist (no political humor, thank you), a female dance
at all hours. Nearby are newly-acquainted couples, smooching heavily in trio, and an eccentric sailor dance. A jazz orchestra for pre- and post-show
chaise-longue chairs and sofas. dancing. The cocktail bar is reputed to have the most ravishing and scin-
tillating barmaids in Berlin West.

Unusual: Over every dining table

is a parrot in a cage—the logo of the
establishment. When a customer wishes
to leave, he merely taps his water-glass
with a knife. This signals the bird to
squawk, in a grating old man’s voice,
“The bill! The bill!” Regrettably, the par-
rots have an uncontrollable tendency to
let their droppings fall on the plates of
first-time or inattentive patrons.

265
 JAMES-KLEIN REVUE Friedrichstrasse 104a 1922–1930
Area: Upper FRIEDRICHSTADT. At the KOMISCHE OPER near the FRIED- Entertainment: Mostly lavish nude tableaux—or “meat shows”—
RICHSTADT train station. arranged around a comic theme and led by a well-known conférencier
like Paul Morgan or Hans Albers. Characteristic sensational poster ads:
Atmosphere: Crass. Expansively lewd. A touch of Inflation Era mad- “1,000 Completely Nude Women!” or “500 Sweet Legs!” Take It Off
ness mixed with Parisian Music Hall nudity. One critic referred to a James- was promoted as an “Evening Without Morals in 30 Pictures, Enacted by
Klein-Revue as “a pornographic magazine come alive.” 60 Priceless Naked Models.” [Actually only 24 scenes and 42 females
appear in the program.]
Clientele: Middle-class Berliners. German and foreign tourists.
Unusual: Any activity that is sexually over-the-top in Berlin is
Decor: Big revue house, seats 1,200. frequently labeled a “miniature Klein-Revue.”

“RESI” (RESIDENZ-CASINO) Blumenstrasse 10 1927–1936

Area: BERLIN EAST. Southeast of ALEXANDERPLATZ. Decor: Weird: outwardly decked out in a lavish, Parisian fin-de-siècle
style but surrounded by modern technological surprises. Building is
Atmosphere: Always a bit giddy and self-consciously naughty, like partitioned into a main room, loges, private cellar, four bar-counters,
a secretary’s bridal shower that is interrupted by a bachelor party down orchestra pit, and miniature Luna-Park gallery (with a carousel ride
the hall. A veritable institution for promiscuous, middle-class hijinks. for fun-addled adults). Ballroom ceiling is made of reflective glass and
painted in Japanese motifs.
Clientele: Out-of-towners, local bureaucrats, and “Merry Widows”
intent on fun. Lots of flirtatious women. (Ratio of single females to males Entertainment: One hundred whirling mirrored globes on
is usually 5 to 1!) Dance floor can accommodate 500 couples. poles open in rhythm to the bands and colored water displays cre-

266
 Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com

ate a continuous kaleidoscopic effect on the dance floor.

Warning: intense rays from the rotating illumination and
flickering dim-red bulbs or tango lights can be headache-
producing. (There are 86,000 electric lighting fixtures in the
place!) Sexy male- and female-only
orchestras play on opposite landings.

Food: Horrid Prussian fare.

Unusual: Two hundred private tele-

phones are fixed to numbered tables
and balcony stations. These encourage
audacious patrons to engage in across-
the-room introductions or in anony-
mous, suggestive chats. Guests can also
choose from among 135 pocket items
and have them shot, through air com-
pression, across the Resi ceilings and
handrails, where they are delivered to
netted baskets hanging from the num-
bered tables.

267

www.Ebook777.com
 RESTAURANT HACKEPETER Friedrichstrasse 124 1924–1933

Area: BERLIN NORTH. Near the ORANIENBURGER TOR.

Atmosphere: Merry. Biergarten mood.

Clientele: Working-class men and women mostly. Local

gourmands and curious downtowners in the evening. Devoted
Nuttes and female fans of Jolly in attention-getting blouses and
dresses.

Decor: Typical Upper Friedrichstrasse restaurant.

Entertainment: An unshaven hunger-artist named Jolly sits

in a glass booth with a water glass in one hand and a cigarette in
the other. While Hackepeter’s diners devour their carnivore delica-
cies, Jolly chain-smokes and sips seltzer water.

Food: Famous for its pig’s leg special (boiled, deep fried, and
then covered with a sticky cream sauce) in addition to steak-with-
fried-eggs and Hackepeter.

Unusual: At the top of the hour, a midget in a tuxedo bellows

into a megaphone the exact units of time that Jolly has gone
without food. Nearby a dark-suited attendant makes certain none
of Jolly’s devotees disturb the artist’s concentration or that any
morsel is secreted in the glass cage. At Jolly’s insistence, his lair
is guarded around the clock by bonded observers.

RIO RITA BAR Tauentzienstrasse 12 1931–1934

Area: BERLIN WEST. A few steps from

the Memorial Church.

Atmosphere: Packed chic bar and

“intimate” nightclub. Cultivated and ele-
gant. Friendly.

Clientele: Sex-obsessed artists,

playboys, British journalists. Top-drawer
German diplomats, monocled Ruhr indus-
trialists, and foreign businessmen travel-
ing incognito. Table-Ladies—mostly of the
demonic German or Spanish aristocratic
variety.

268
Decor: Simple, American-designed with dazzling panels in
cream and gold. Entrance is through the long bar-foyer into a
nightclub area surrounding an eight by ten-foot dance floor. Murals
illustrating the life of the Spanish dancer, Rita, and soft tablelights
(covered with dark glass spikes) break up the dance room, giving it
a warm intimacy. Two private, plush V.I.P. rooms, scented in orange
blossom, are located in the back.

Entertainment: Tangos begin at 9 p.m. Blind pianist heads

the well-regarded jazz band. Beautiful and exotic-looking host-
esses, dressed in the latest French fashions, sit at tables laughing
at customers’ jokes and repeating obscene gossip. Their job as
Table-Ladies, fetish-attired Geishas, is to make certain that bottles
of overpriced champagne and plates of fresh peaches are in con-
stant circulation.

Unusual: Much-in-demand Table-Ladies double as kinky

Minettes. Clients pay the head-waiter for “their time off” so the
playful ladies may leave the club for a few hours or retreat to one
of the back private rooms. Excellent place for the purchase of high-
grade opium and cocaine.

STORK’S NEST CABARET Oranienburger Strasse 42 1923–1931

Area: BERLIN NORTH. Near the ORANIENBURGER TOR. (Formerly the Photographs of the performers are hawked after each act.
CHANTANT SINGING HALL.) A normal evening consists of a few touring stars: Lola Niedlich, “the
Prize-Winning Torch-Singer, Three Times Engaged at Marienbad” (in her
Atmosphere: Sordid dive. Drunken, madhouse ambiance when the photo the sexy Lola demurely holds a doll in her arms); a coquettish
performance begins. (Said to be the model for the cabaret scenes in the toe-dancer named Charlotte Corday, who feebly attempts to engage the
1930 film The Blue Angel.) audience in tête-à-têtes; a transvestite-ventriloquist Paul Schiephacke,
who can’t get started—this trio is in addition to the half-dozen frumpy
Clientele: Greatly mixed: working-class but conservative patrons, regular artistes in garter belts and lacy skirts hitched up to their crotches.
local students, soldiers, some colorful criminal types. The female singers specialize in prostitute songs, patriotic war ditties,
and other standard cabaret fare.
Decor: Outside is a marquee of yellow and red lights and a glass case
displaying revealing photographs and boastful reviews of the evening’s Tourists: A few slummers from downtown, some of whom will exit
attractions. Inside, the tables, chairs, wall fixtures, benches, and stage sans billfolds, watches, and wedding rings.
are all at least a generation old. On the stage is a semi-circle of chairs,
facing the audience. Unusual: Customers can purchase seats on the stage during the
performance or meet privately with the cabaret stars in a succession of
Entertainment: In sequence, each cabaret performer leaves side-rooms. There, after port or cognac, negotiations for sex, usually of
her chair and moves downstage to replace the last entertainer just as the manual variety, take place.
she is completing her solo. Audience members traditionally send up
steins of beer to the chanteuses when they have completed a number.

269
 WEISSE MAUS Jägerstrasse 18 1919–1926

Area: Center of FRIEDRICHSTADT.

Atmosphere: Wicked, often raucous. Expensive. Customers who

wish to conceal their identities are given the choice of a black or white
half-mask to wear.

Clientele: Traveling salesmen on expense accounts, elderly gentle-

men from the provinces, underworld kings with small harems of Nuttes,
lesbian groupies, and Berlin intellectuals.

Decor: Beautiful 98-seat cabaret space with a curtained dance

stage.

Entertainment: Naked or “Beauty” dances are presented in close

proximity to audience. Productions usually last about one hour and
begin at midnight. A typical evening consists of a disingenuous—and
hysterical—introduction by the director, disclaiming any pornographic
intent: “We come here for Beauty alone.”

Unusual: Anita Berber, high priestess of the Inflation Era, performed

here until she smashed an empty champagne bottle on a patron’s head.
Berber had a devoted following because she enacted something other
than Naked Dances; she recreated her disturbing sex and drug-induced
fantasies. These nude dance-dreams were executed with a chilling real-
ism and activated by dark, metatrophic impulses. When harangued by
drunken spectators, Berber had been known to spit brandy on them or
stand naked on their tables, dousing herself with wine while simultane-
ously urinating.

270
 ADONIS-LOUNGE Alexandrinenstrasse 128 1924–1933

Area: BERLIN SOUTH. East of the HALLESCHES TOR. in a half-hearted attempt to attract the attentions of a Sugar-Licker.
The Boys here usually trade sex in the toilet for beer, wurst, coffee,
Atmosphere: Sullen Boy-Bar. Often referred to as “the Pits.” Familiar or—more frequently—cigarettes. Good place, however, to obtain inex-
down-and-out clubhouse mood. Quiet, desperate until Tree-Stumps or pensive cocaine and rolled balls of opium.
tourists appear, which create an eddy of excitement. Like Calcutta beg-
gars, the Adonis urchins hustle around the newcomers’ tables and follow
them into the street when they exit.

Clientele: Short-haired, blonde Wild-

Boys, sailors, and pot-bellied Tree-Stumps.
Sugar-Lickers around dinner time. Favorite
word-of-mouth spot for British queers living
on the cheap.

Decor: Discreetly blackened-out façade.

Entrance is shielded by a somber curtain
hanging from a flimsy shower rod. Inside
the smoky room are bare tables, separated
by paper arbors, and a bar-counter. Hanging
from the ceiling are paper garlands and
monstrously oversized cardboard grapes.
Two walls are covered with cheap landscape
paintings. Sparse lighting.

Entertainment: After 3 p.m., senti-

mental songs are pounded out on an antique
piano by the resident drunk. In the center
of the tiny room is an open area for one or
two “dancing” couples. Watered-down drinks
complete the nightmarish environment.

Women and Straight Men: Never.

Unusual: The lads here do not qualify as

professional Line-Boys. Too much cynicism
and despondency. The Wild-Boys listlessly
lean against the naked walls or slump over
tables. All eyes face the entrance way,

271
 ALEXANDER-PALAST Landsbergstrasse 39 1921–1930

Area: BERLIN NORTH. On ALEXANDERPLATZ. (Formerly the ALEXANDER- Decor: Gigantic American ballroom for 150 couples.
PALAIS.)
Entertainment: Big Band and cabaret stage. Dancing from 9 p.m.
Atmosphere: Upscale. Expensive. to 1 a.m.

Clientele: Mostly mature, middle-class gay couples in tuxedos and Unusual: AP offers monthly Transvestite Balls, which welcome non-
top hats; elderly shopkeepers, frock-coated clerks, and even policemen. transvestite guests. Separate lesbian nights are also offered.
Their quaint and courtly manners are a reflection of their conservative,
sometimes monarchist, political affiliations.

BÜRGER-CASINO Friedrichgracht 1 1927–1932

Area: FRIEDRICHSTADT. At the edge
of the Spree by SPITTELMARKT.

Atmosphere: Located in an iso-

lated tract by the river, the BC can only
be discovered through the reddish
glow of its outdoor marquee. The riv-
erfront district around the bar is quiet,
serene, and virtually abandoned at
night. Inside, the air is saturated with
clouds of blue smoke. General mood is
upbeat and highly flirtatious.

Clientele: Blonde Line-Boys

(many in schoolboy outfits that
expose their knees and upper chests)
crouch at the bar with their beer and
smoke cigarettes. Stiff-collared mer-
chants and state officials in expen-
sive suits. The Line-Boys here are
clean and great teases.

272
Decor: Tables separated by high garlanded trellises. Standard bar with many hidden
corners.

Entertainment: Live piano music. The middle-class men dance with boys; the Line-
Boys with each other. Little space for ballroom-style dancing, so there is much intentional
bumping, touching, and lingering glances. Lots of suggestive, girlish movements on the
dance floor.

Women and Straight Men: None.

Unusual: Many of the Line-Boys appear in freshly laundered sailor outfits since that is a
basic taste of their customers. Sexual contact takes place at a nearby pier.

CABARET OF THE SPIDER Alte Jakobstrasse 174 1922–1925

Area: BERLIN EAST. South of SPITTELMARKT.

Atmosphere: Wacky. No admission.

Clientele: Mostly petty bourgeois, mature

gays. Aunties.

Decor: Painted on a wall inside is the sign

of the lounge: a crouching spider resting
snugly in her web.

Entertainment: Saturdays and Sundays

at 7 p.m., a floor show is presented. A few of
the announced acts: “Luziana, the Mysterious
Wonder of the Earth—Man or Woman?”;
Liselott from the Mikado; the Alhambra-Duo,
a song-and-dance team of male twins; or Gert
Bathé as a man.

Women and Straight Men: None

273
 COSY-CORNER Zossener Strasse 7 1927–1932

Area: KREUZBERG. South of the HALLESCHES TOR. (Formerly NOSTER’S dows. A leather curtain conceals the entranceway from the inside.
RESTAURANT.) Photographs of boxers and cyclists are pinned up above the bar. That
overheated stove.
Atmosphere: Hard-drinking boy-bar. On cold nights, Bubes sit
around the pot-bellied stove with their sleeves rolled up and shirts Entertainment: Drinking and card games.
unbuttoned to the waist. In summer, the same wide-eyed boys sport
high-cut lederhosen. Women and Straight Men: None

Clientele: Rough-trade Bubes (working-class Line-Boys) and Unusual: The toilet stall is an open space without partitions or
their adoring Tree-Stumps. Aspiring British writers led by Christopher cubicles. Instead there is a long urinal trough, where the Bubes can
Isherwood. innocuously display their penises and pretend to urinate before titil-
lated Suitors.
Decor: Homely. Former neighborhood restaurant. Blacked-out win-

274
 KARLS-LOUNGE Karl Strasse 5 1921–1926

Area: BERLIN NORTH. South of the Hospital complex. (Formerly Café-

Restaurant CEMENT-CELLAR.)

Atmosphere: Private, underground. Very crowded and boisterous.

Heavy, depressed mood. Surprisingly free of tobacco smoke and alcoholic
beverages. Closes sharply at 2 a.m.

Clientele: Young Line-Boys, nearly all beardless in crisp, tailored

sailor outfits. Coolies and Tree-Stumps on the make. Hectic groups of Bad
Boys are constantly entering and then abruptly leaving for street action
or other lounges. (Many are dealing cocaine in the clubs.)

Decor: Stripes of wax paper cover the inside entrance to the “Cement
Cellar.” In the first room is a massive bar and a dusty glass liquor cabi-
net. A dim inner room is primitively decorated with jeweled lampshades
(made from the cloth of old coats) and jewel-studded walls covered with
mismatched paintings of men’s portraits and tiny porcelain tchotchkes.

Entertainment: At a broken-down baby grand piano, shoved into

a corner, a pianist and fiddler play. Regulars, like “Pretty Benno” and
“Karlo” waltz between the tables. Other couples dance in the shadows
against the bejeweled walls.

Food: Plates of Hungarian pastries and lemonade only. Unusual: Testy old waiters are dressed in nautical uniforms, identical
to the teenage Line-Boys they serve. Alcoholic drinks are not are served
Women and Straight Men: Why bother? to customers but drugs, especially cocaine and morphine, are freely
traded and used at the tables.

MONTE-CASINO Planufer 5 1923–1933

Area: KREUZBERG. South of the HALLESCHES TOR.
(Formerly RESTAURANT HEIDEBLUME.)

Atmosphere: Bizarre. “Unorthodox.” Falls into no set

category. Closes at 3 a.m.

Clientele: On weeknights, lower-middle-class men

with their Hausfraus in tow, some gay men and trans-
vestite couples. On weekends, lots of British and Dutch
“straight” tourists (both male and female) searching for
the “authentic Berlin.”

Decor: Dilapidated strip club with an elevated dance

stage. Bar on the side.

Entertainment: Amateurish transvestite revue—surprise: the girls are really boys. Dances

275
and songs are performed by eight or nine effeminate Line-Boys, rang- Unusual: Monte-Casino is owned by a “kind-hearted” drag queen
ing in age between 14 and 18. Some of them appear to be under- with a stable of obliging Line-Boys. They orally service the working-
nourished. Professional piano accompaniment. Hunky blonde teenager class customers in backroom cubicles while the young dancers prance
“Pretty Adolf” acts as energetic conférencier. on the cabaret stage. The ever-patient customer-wives sit in the hall
and drink beer (across from the tables of other lonely Hausfraus) and
Women and Straight Men: Strong word-of-mouth has made take in the entertainment.
this de rigueur for heterosexual foreign couples.

MOUSTACHE-LOUNGE Gormannstrasse 2 1929–1933

Area: BERLIN NORTH. Corner of ROSENTHALER PLATZ. Decor: Large beer-hall room lodges some 200 animated drinkers. Half
at tables, the others around the bar. In the back is a tiny stage, festooned
Atmosphere: “Celebratory.” Noisy. Heavy drinking of Pilsen with with flowers.
unconstrained displays of affection and sexual bravado throughout.
Entertainment: One lonely transvestite chanteuse.
Clientele: This is the outpost for Society Men—40- to 60-year-olds
with magnificent moustaches and facial hair. Every kind and color of Women and Straight Men: None.
hair-lock is here, from slight blonde Van Goghs to full Santa Claus beards.
Long bushy sideburns and Kaiser Wilhelm moustaches predominate. Unusual: Good pickup place for Line-Boys, charging 2 or 3 marks (about
The Society Men are a cross-section of middle-class Berlin: accountants, $12). Lots of sex between the Society and the boys in the toilet stalls.
publishing types, small business owners. Also a goodly number of non-
hirsute Line-Boys after midnight. Overheard Pick-up Lines: “Mine is bigger than yours!” (point-
ing to waxed moustache)

THE PASSAGE Between Unter den Linden and Friedrichstrasse 1919–1934

Area: Center of FRIEDRICH-
STADT.

Atmosphere: Creepy, old

fashioned, the refuse of a pre-
vious century. “A synthesis of
Byzantinism and pornography.”
Musty old shops where one can
buy dirty French postcards, glass
transparencies of the Madonna,
meerschaum pipes, or an amber
necklace for the wife. Discount
stores, tired travel agencies and
peepshows but each establish-
ment lacking in earnest business
prospects.

Clientele: Purveyors of the

various shops and cafés but
also—from 9 a.m. to 3 a.m.—the
main thoroughfare for desperate
Doll-Boys and their customers.

276
Decor: Faded glass-covered arcade supported by marble-paneled Food: Several cafés, all filled with Doll-Boys and their free-spending
iron columns. A strange Wilhelmian imitation of a Renaissance market. Suitors.
Prewar signs and unintentionally disturbing window displays.
Unusual: The competition among the dirty-faced Doll-Boys is so
Entertainment: THE ANATOMICAL MUSEUM, open until the great that many Tree-Stumps are able to offer them less than a mark
late evening, advertises exhibitions “Devoted to the Improvement of for an hour’s engagement. By 6 p.m., there are over 70 hardened Doll-
Mankind. No Children Admitted!” Inside are cases of antique manne- and Line-Boys posing in the vicinity of the “STAR-KINO” alone. Another
quins engaged in horrific rituals and surgical operations; also prominent 80, with their hands in their pockets, mill around the Behrenstrasse exit.
are displays of real body parts ravished by venereal disease and sexual (The Line-Boys wear peaked schoolboy hats and short pants to appear
organs representing the world’s “races.” considerably younger.)
WORLD-PANORAMA is a stereoscopic emporium, where as many as
25 viewers can sit around a huge wooden cylinder of peepholes and
watch three-dimensional images of naked people from exotic climes. A
pornographic cinema theatre, the “STAR” does a small tourist business
in the late afternoons and evenings.

ZAUBERFLOTE Kommandanstrasse 72 1926–1933

Area: FRIEDRICHSTADT EAST. “One minute from

SPITTELMARKT.”

Atmosphere: “The Most Beautiful Dance Emporium

in Berlin.” Wild, “American,” aggressive, noisy, fun.

Clientele: Both gay men and lesbians on separate

floors. Each of the dance halls can accommodate over
1,500 merry-makers.

Decor: Three stories: An enormous dance hall for les-

bians on first floor, “the American Dance Palace.” Second
and third floors, the “Florida Dance Hall” (with sweeping
pink lights) and “Oriental Casino,” a lounge area, are
exclusively for gay men.

Entertainment: Brassy orchestra plays on balcony

above dance floor, both jazz and German folk dance
music—for group dances that resemble gay square danc-
ing, which frequently results in lovers’ disputes.

Women and Straight Men: Absolutely forbid-

den by opposite groups.

Lesbian Floors: Aggressive, “masculine” mood

among the Bubis with lots of drunken brawls over avail-
able Mädis. Flower-sellers inside provide on-the-spot
gifts for public apologies by Bubis. On New Years, a
great costume ball, “The Silver Spider,” is given and at
midnight the Princess of the Moon releases a gigantic
balloon on the roof.

277
 AULUKA-LOUNGE Augsburger Strasse 72 1924–1933

Area: BERLIN WEST. Near NOLLENDORFPLATZ and the Hotel Eden.

[In 1929, renamed the GEISHA BAR.]

Atmosphere: Hot, weird, loud. The Bubikopfed maître d’, who

greets the guests, is attired in male/female garb: a man’s blue
sportscoat, which reveals her breasts, an officer’s leather tie, and pro-
vocative short skirt.

Clientele: Chic lesbians—mostly blonde, elegant Garçonnes wearing

high male collars and ties. Foreign tourists and their hired Nuttes.

Decor: Permanent “Japanese Cherry Blossom” theme—artificial snow-

balls affixed to overhanging cherry-tree branches. Dim Japanese paper
lanterns and table lamps. Red sofas and cushions line the walls, which
feature crude erotic cartoons drawn in green and black.

Entertainment: Upbeat, contemporary dance music played on

piano by eccentric former Russian prince. A female lead-dancer performs
solo pieces.

Men: Yes. Many voyeurs.

Unusual: Taking in the action are carloads of Japanese and Chinese

tourists, who sit silently with high-heeled German Nuttes in the “Tokyo”
section.

CAFÉ DOMINO Marburger Strasse 13 1921–1930

Area: BERLIN WEST. South of the Memorial Church.

Atmosphere: “The Intimate Bar of the West.” Sensuous, hard. A smoky pick-up bar, resem-
bling that of straight men. Specialty aphrodisiac drink is called “Cherry Cobbler.”

Clientele: Exquisite, wealthy Sharpers (many in tuxedo/short skirt combinations). (This is their
haunt.) Lots of jewelry and expensive perfume. Slim-hipped Mädis in shiny silk hose—always a
few feigning shock by the same-sex surroundings. Parties of head-turning Gamines on the week-
ends. Dodos and some straight men.

278
 Decor: Bar area completely illuminated in red light. Double rows of
champagne-filled tables. The tiny spaces between the tables provide a
shadowy area for seductive foxtrots and anonymous touches.

Entertainment: “Hot American jazz” on piano. Later in the evening,

Romanian singer, Jonescu, leads a “Gypsy Band.” “Naked” dancers from
Eastern European troupes perform at midnight.
Gertie, the brunette hostess in a sleek tuxedo, helps establish the lush
mood by dancing with patrons and then pairing off horny Sharpers and
Dodos with sweet-faced Mädis.

Men: Plentiful in the late evening but willfully ignored by Domino

regulars.

Unusual: On the nearby Tauentzienstrasse corner, an old Jew adver-

tises Domino’s evening theme—like “Sapphic Nights” or “Japanese Flower
Festival”—on a hand-drawn sandwich board. Intrigued male clients, many
just recovering mentally from nearby Boot-Girl sessions, are frequent
habitués of the midnight shows.

CAFÉ DORIAN GRAY Bülowstrasse 57 1927–1933

Area: BERLIN WEST. West of the POTSDAMER Train Station.

Atmosphere: Usually very hot. Loud, airy. Advertised as “The Intimate Nexus of the Ladies-
World.”

Clientele: Mostly lesbian couples, especially fun-driven Garçonne pairs. On special occa-
sions, like Wednesday “Sado-Masochist Nights,” transvestites of both genders are welcomed.
(“Gentlemen” are required to pay twice the admission.)

Decor: Artistic café interior in front. Real flowers on the tables. In backroom, cheap but elabo-
rate silken drapery, Japanese paper lanterns, beads, veils, palm trees.

Entertainment: Live tango music and an annoying male violinist who goes table to table,
hovering around until he receives a tip.

Food: Good Viennese kitchen.

Men: Rambunctious gay men (organizations of Bad Boys) reserve the spacious backroom for private parties on Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday
nights. [Curiously, both lesbian and gay clubgoers come dressed in similar leather blouses/shirts and fetishistic sailor costumes.]

Unusual: An imposing, humorless doorman makes certain that patrons have come to the correct lesbian or gay function. Friday nights are billed
as “Elite-Women’s Day”; weekday lesbian evenings have themes like “Wild Night,” “Bavarian Alpine Feast,” “Rhineland Wine-Growers Holiday,” or
“Three Days in the Wild West.”

279
 CAFÉ OLALA Zietenstrasse 11 1927–1932

Area: BERLIN WEST END. Near NOLLENDORFPLATZ.

Atmosphere: Loud laughter, but creepy, empty inside. Imitation Parisian

café. Flirtatious lesbian waitresses in French maid outfits add some sparkle.

Clientele: As many straight men looking for a cheap thrill as hard-drinking

Girl-Friends, Tauentziengirls, and Hot Whores.

Decor: Filthy windowpanes and generally messy tables.

Entertainment: Banal chansons play on scratchy phonographic disks.

Unusual: A special corner for Salvation Army Girls and Tauentziengirls. The
mother-and-daughter teams are on the vigil for interested pedestrians and
pass the time stealing each other’s schnapps before braving the streets.

HOHENZOFFERN-CAFÉ Bülowstrasse 101 1921–1933

Area: BERLIN WEST. Near NOLLENDORFPLATZ. Clientele: Downhome “married” lesbian couples. The Bubis wear
neckties, collars, and conservative men’s jackets and converse heartily
Atmosphere: Easygoing, somewhat faded. Formerly known as the with other another. The Sweet Mommies quietly sit between their “men”
HOHENZOFFERN HALL (then the “H-LOUNGE”), this is the oldest estab- and engage in small talk with other Mädis as they nurse cups of coffee.
lished lesbian café in Berlin.
Decor: Blacked picture windows to hide the interior
room. Large restaurant-style booths and padded chairs.

Entertainment: Occasional box-step, social

dances. Pop music performed by a gay duo on violin and
piano (or accordion).

Men: Tolerated.

Unusual: Sometimes straight men dance with

attractive Mädis—always first requesting permission
from their respective Daddies.

280
 MALI AND INGEL Lutherstrasse 16 1927–1933

Area: BERLIN WEST. East of WITTENBERG PLATZ.

Atmosphere: Exclusive. Brazenly lesbian. Always

packed. Fixed sign on entrance: “CLOSED FOR PRIVATE
PARTY.” At the front desk are two identically dressed, over-
sized Bubis, who wear noticeably huge diamond rings and
thickly applied eyeshadow. On their laps are two lissome
Gamines in translucent silk blouses. Both Bubis methodi-
cally rub the giggling girls’ nipples while one Bubi dutifully
checks the reservation list. (An enduring and memorable
image for all first-time male guests.)

Clientele: Very selective. Usually no more than 60

customers at any one time. Favorite hangout for lesbian
artists, intellectuals, singers, stage actresses, and film stars.
Lesbians working for Max Reinhardt’s theatre organizations
often stage birthday celebrations here. Deep comfortable chairs in the corners and erotic lesbian paintings
(donated by wealthy patrons) hanging on the walls.
Decor: Blacked-out picture windows. A relatively small room but
decorated stylishly with a traffic light flashing red over the dance floor. Entertainment: Both hot jazz and sentimental love songs per-
formed by professional male pianist. Crowd frequently shows its appre-
ciation by clapping in time to the music. Also visiting opera stars or
Russian actresses will be encouraged to sing arias or specialty lesbian
songs in their own tongue.

Men: Not admitted unless accompanied by a lesbian habitué. Even

with invitation, males are quickly disregarded by women after formal
introductions.

Unusual: Mali, one of the owners, is a beautiful Jewish Garçonne-

type who insists on dancing with each of her female clientele. Ingel, her
partner, is a vivacious Gamine. Together they create an aristocratically
refined if outrageously promiscuous mood.

MEYER-STUBE Xanterner Strasse 3 1927–1928

Area: WILMERSDORF. South of the Kurfürstendamm. Adjacent to Berlin Entertainment: Phonograph plays sentimental tangos.
publishing conglomerates.
Men: None.
Atmosphere: Serious, intellectual. Moody.
Unusual: A pick-up joint for high-achieving lesbians. Except for pluck-
Clientele: Regular crowd of famous journalists, novelists, graphic ing a cat’s hair from a stranger’s blouse or brushing a thigh, little overt
artists, and businesswomen. Mostly Dodos and their saucy Garçonne physical contact. Lots of heavy shop-talk and networking here, capped
companions. Also unattached Sharpers at the bar. off with a serious glass of Calvados or imported rum.

Decor: Immaculate bar-counter. Ten tables set with linen and flowers.
281
 TAVERNE Georgenkirchstrasse 30a 1927–1930

Area: BERLIN NORTH. “Two minutes from ALEXANDERPLATZ.” Unusual: Public necking and general bad behavior—humping dis-
plays by exuberant Bubis (pointing to bulging objects in their pants),
Atmosphere: Extremely downscale except on Saturday and Sunday jeers and Biergarten challenges brought on by inebriation, frequent
nights. Crude. Beery smell. An aura of frustration and menacing sadism. attempts to cop feels from the preening Mädis, and related boorish activ-
Sign on the door warns that the bar is closed for a “PRIVATE PARTY.” ity. Like rutting moose, some aggressive Bubis are easily provoked from
Newspaper promotion: “WHERE TO MEET LESBIANS? WHERE IS IT SEXY? symbolic fisticuffs into real physical combat.
HERE AT THE TAVERNE!”

Clientele: Elderly, burly Bubis usually in

singles or doubles. Troublesome, flirtatious
Mädis.

Decor: Disgusting. Outer foyer looks like

the waiting room of an abandoned train sta-
tion. Main parlor consists of distressed furni-
ture, an orchestra platform, and a ladies’
bathroom.

Entertainment: Very loud, overpower-

ing jazz band, led by the one-eyed “could be
a woman/could be a man” Charly. Hefty
blonde chanteuse, Gerda sings current hits.

Men: None.

TOPPKELLER Schwerinstrasse 13 1923–1932

Area: BERLIN WEST. Near NOLLENDORFPLATZ.

Atmosphere: Dangerous, fun, sexy. Bohemian. Normally packed and difficult to get
in on Friday nights. Regarded as a lesbian “Show-Bar” or “Stock Exchange,” it is an excel-
lent place for female encounters.

Clientele: Lesbian groups, top-of-the-line actresses (entering after shows), singers,

famous dancers, foreign tourists, Gougnettes, Hot Whores, unusually striking young
Garçonnes, straight males in search of whipping and bondage sessions, curious married
couples, S&M prostitutes.

Decor: The main room itself is surprisingly unattractive and filled with beer-hall tables
and dim lights. Hanging from the ceiling are paper garlands of herons. Scribbled on the
walls is phony graffiti, like a message of personal congratulations to the Ladies Club Pyramid
from Mussolini. There is also a proscenium stage with ten holes cut in the fore-curtains for
the late evening revue of the “Prettiest Female Calves,” knees, ankles, or feet.
More elegant space at the back of the club decorated with erotic murals and cutouts
of entertainers and the hostess Gypsy-Lotte.

282
Entertainment: A live-
ly four-piece brass band and—
for one year—a cabaret show.
Lesbian games, line dances,
and contests are held through
the night.
Especially popular is the
ritual dance, the Black Mass,
executed exactly at twelve
o’clock. Led by a stunning
Amazon in a black sombrero,
the lesbian participants (hold-
ing full cognac glasses) form
a circle around her as they
obey her strict commands to
kneel, stand, drink and fondle
a fellow celebrant.

Men: Straight men are

especially welcome—since
they are reputed to be the
premier drinkers and spend-
ers. During the day, many are
handed risqué flyers, asking
them to participate in the selection for the “Most Attractive Female Legs” married couples at the back of house are particularly welcome draws for
competition or “Best Breasts in Berlin” (of any sex) contest. these professional ladies. (Police reports claim that on weekdays close to
50% of the female spectators are actually high-end sex-workers.)
Unusual: Gougnettes, glamorous Half-Silks, and Dominas do a thriv-
ing heterosexual trade here, discussing their skills and negotiating fees
for next-day sessions. Reserved tables of foreigners and formally-clothed

VERONA-LOUNGE Kleiststrasse 36 1919–1931

Area: BERLIN WEST. East of WITTENBERG PLATZ. Men: Sophisticated types admitted when accompanied by a lesbian
entourage but treated as passive onlookers once inside. Waitresses will
Atmosphere: Usually pleasant and chic in the early evening but often regard them as nonentities.
erotic mood often turns tense with outrageous public scenes of lesbian
courtship. Berlin Vice Police sometimes harass Verona patrons by moni- Unusual: At the end of their commercial day, Gougnette patrons
toring their entrances and exits. meet here for open sexual displays of conquest and submission.
Gougnettes are easily recognized by their heavy makeup and character-
Clientele: Despite being advertised as “the ‘Love Domicile’ for All istic attire—stylish men’s hats, long fur coats, patent-leather footwear,
Girl-Friends,” the Verona is considered an afterhours headquarters for and specially tailored skirts that are sharply upturned in the center to
dominant Gougnettes. Also “serious” lesbians meet here, demonstrating reveal the tops of their glossy, sheer silk stockings.
intellectual support for their radical Sisters. Interested straight women
and voyeuristic male artists.

Entertainment: Lesbian orchestra conducted by comic MC Harylett.

Hot cheek-to-cheek tangos and contemporary social dancing.

283
 BERLIN LEAGUE OF FREE BODY CULTURE (FKK) Wilhelmstrasse 119/120 1920–1936
Affiliation: Nationalist (FKK). Led by anti-Koch doctor, Artur Fedor Fuchs. Official journal, Nacktsport.

Atmosphere and Philosophy: Class-oriented but pointedly progressive. Aryanism married to holistic principles of natural health.

Clientele: General mix of upper- and upper-middle-class Berlin. Bald aristocrats

(noticeably wearing their wire-rim glasses or monocles), flaccid matrons in red bath-
ing caps. A few attractive young women. (Jews, homosexuals, and Marxist types gently
discouraged.)

Health Regimen: No alcohol. Most members religiously imbibe a special Bulgarian

cultured-milk drink.

Separation of Genders: Implied. Modest display of breasts and male genitalia.

Studios: The Lunabad facility in the Lunapark on Sundays is reserved for FKK members.
Naked air baths, sunlamp treatments, and curatic massages are offered. On Tuesdays, the
Association rents the monstrous Wellenbad building, which features several indoor beaches
and two powerful wave machines that mimic North Sea currents. Every ten minutes, a
lifeguard issues a mock-serious warning to swimmers, “The waves are coming!”

Unusual: Nude members maintain Prussian protocol in the bath and restaurant,
where one can observe formal greeting rituals, such as bowing and hand-kissing; even
the military habit of clicking (barefoot) heels when meeting a superior is common here.
Refined and sanitary-minded naked dinners use silver tongs to pick up sugar cubes and
breakfast rolls.

BIRKENHEIDE Brandburg Motzen Lake Camp 1924–1933

Affiliation: Strictly apolitical. Undogmatic. Founded by the free- ness,” athletic beauty, or civic belief are ignored and often parodied.
spirited Charly Straesser. No membership cards, personal question-
naires, nor cultural, ethnic, and class restrictions. Clientele: A community of “New People.” Young, vivacious, attrac-
tive Berliners, including many 175ers. Former-Wandervogel types.
Atmosphere and Philosophy: Hedonistic and pleasure-ori- Wealthy actresses and their companions. Some nonconformist families
ented. Strong libertarian tenor. Guests have certain work obligations to with children. (Voyeurs toting cameras, and thrill-seeking bourgeois
help run the camp but may engage in any chosen activity after that. No patrons not admitted.)
rules regarding diet or dress. Organizational codes of “purity and cleanli-

284
 Decor: Extremely rustic, except for an outdoor coffee shop.

Health Regimen: Basically laissez-faire. Lots of medicine ball games, tennis, volleyball, free-
form gymnastics, popular social dance. Sun bathing and swimming. Nude exercises and competitive
games, like mud-wrestling, enacted in a playful atmosphere.

Separation of Genders: None.

Unusual: Public homosexual contact and inter-generational sex is common here and adds to the
aura of unfettered carnal freedom.

BODY CULTURE SCHOOL OF ADOLF KOCH Friedrichstrasse 218 1920–1932

Affiliation: Socialist (“Free Men, Union for Socialist Life Reform and Separation of Genders: All sexes and ages mixed, except
Free Body Culture in the Alliance of People’s Health”). Official journal during morning exercise sessions. Designated political lectures related to
Körperbildung/Nacktkultur. the Women Question.

Atmosphere and Philosophy: Fun blended with didactic Studios: Headquarters in the two floors of the Apollo Theater. Friday
study. Koch’s instructors pontificate that vigorous hygiene, Bode-like exer- night meetings in the Berlin State Bathhouse.
cises, and nudity are all married to good health. Lectures are often laced
with pedagogical and therapeutic terminology. Utopian, spiritual mood. Unusual: Everyone is addressed, as in Kindergarten, in the familiar
case (“Du”).
Clientele: Thousands of working-
class and unemployed families. [Over
300,000 members in 1932, of which
the out-of-work comprise almost half.
Payment is 5% of annual salary, if
any.] Lots of children. Among adults,
many overweight and unattractive
bodies. “Pendulous breasts and Zulu
hips” noted among mature female
members. Homosexuals and lesbians
welcome.

Health Regimen: Two-hour

sessions: 8 p.m.—public showers
and freestyle warm-ups; 8:30—spe-
cial group rhythmic gymnastics
(synchronized to tiresome children’s
songs on piano or drumbeats); 9
p.m.—nude bathing in municipal
swimming pool.

285
 FREE SUNLAND Brandburg Motzen Lake camp 1920–1936

Affiliations: Seemingly apolitical with a Nationalist slant (“Free Separation of Genders: During mornings, segregated activi-
Sunland Union” and the “Concerned Community of Free Sunland and ties for mature men (horseshoe-pitching), young men (boxing), women
Naked Sports”). Overseen by Dr. Artur Fedor Fuchs, editor of Nacktsport. (gymnastics), and children (handball). Mixed activities after lunchtime.
Groups of men in well-oiled bodies by the sea often register—to outsid-
Atmosphere and Philosophy: Upscale. Strangely erotic. ers—a strong homoerotic sensation.
Restricted to well-paying members and guests. (Each participant must
present a passport-like booklet that establishes his or her political Unusual: Males and children walk around the compound completely
beliefs.) Relatively little overt propaganda, but nudism is promoted as a naked but class and celebrity status of females is indicated by tiny accou-
healthful and vital aspect of pre-Christian German life. terments, like chic bathing-hats, pearl earrings, and fine gold necklaces.
Many wear distinct, French silk footwear for protection from pebbles.
Clientele: 6,000 paid-up members. Lots of middle-class denizens in
family units and office groups. Unconventional Nationalists, who often
gather by a far corner around the radio in the evening.
Many aristocrats and social butterfly types, including
gigolos and “Merry Widows” from the Resi. Also a place
for UFA film stars, like Willy Fritch and Lilian Harvey. A
few American tourists.

Decor: Entire encampment surrounded by wooden

fences and Gothic Verboten signs. Mock primitive within.
Sandy, pine-studded meadows. Two “fuck” cabins in
the woods, three chalets, a restaurant, and an outdoor
changing room, each covered in a characteristic rough-
hewn oak.

Health Regimen: No smoking, liquor, or beer.

Heavily sports-directed—organized swimming and div-
ing, javelin-tossing, medicine-ball throwing. Nude tennis
and volleyball being the most popular intersex group
activity after swimming. Massages and facials offered.

NEW SUNLAND Brandburg Motzen Lake camp at Birkenheide 1924–1933

Affiliation: Militantly apolitical. Founded by Fritz Gerlach. Member Decor: Agrarian and unpretentious.
of Reichs Union for Free Body Culture and Life Reform, a consortium of
organizations opposed to Koch and Fuchs’ tendentious beliefs. (“German Health Regimen: Nude sports—ball-tossing, swimming, bath-
Light-Bathing Society” and the “League for Free Life Reform”). Journal ing. Sun bathing, family picnicking, open campfires, folk singing, and
Licht-Luft-Leben. boating.

Atmosphere and Philosophy: Sexy and vibrant. Separation of Genders: None.

“‘Happiness—the imposed order of the day!”
Unusual: Displays of physical affection and romantic attachments
Clientele: Smart set, including members of the British Embassy allowed.
staff. Young suntanned, sports-group types. Beautiful boys and girls.
“Fatties” and photographers banned.

286
 Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com

TERRITORY ADOLF KOCH Brandburg Motzen Lake camp 1925–1932

Affiliation and Clientele: Same as Koch’s

Berlin schools.

Atmosphere and Philosophy: Socialist,

non-sexual. Family-friendly. Utopian, a bit of paradise
for the underprivileged.

Clientele: Mostly workers from North Berlin and

its suburbs. Unemployed and homeless youth who
can make the trek to the Territory are allowed one
free week of food and lodging.

Decor: Cabins and tents are surprisingly cozy but

set cheek-by-jowl like an Edenic slum. Trails, stone
pathways, swimming areas, and exercise grounds
are scrupulously forged from native materials.

Health Regimen: Nudists sign on for one- or

two-week sessions. In addition to attending Socialist
lectures and gymnastic classes, they are expected to
do practical work, like baking bread, building cabins,
digging sanitation ditches, and erecting fences. No
smoking or alcoholic drinks. Cheap vegetarian meals
are offered: fresh milk, butter, vegetables, whole-
grain breads, and a sticky root-vegetarian goulash.

Separation of Genders: None.

Unusual: All campers must fill out a detailed

“Free Men” questionnaire about their personal lives
and political orientation. Teenage boys, in addition,
are required to write about their most vivid sexual
fantasies. A female counselor then meets with them
in order to assess the likelihood of any embarrassing,
spontaneous arousal. Boys who experience erections
or other signs of “unnatural” excitement are sent to
a special clinic for therapy.

287

www.Ebook777.com
 DR. MAGNUS HIRSCHFELD’S INSTITUTE OF SEXOLOGY Beethovenstrasse 3 1919–1933

Area: A beautiful and isolated area of the TIERGARTEN. One block south Entertainment: The Museum is open to the public and contains
of the Spree. thousands of erotic artifacts and pictorial materials, categorized accord-
ing to Hirschfeld’s unique sexual taxonomy. The masturbation machines
Atmosphere: Dignified and seemingly scientific. A quaint throw- and mechanical sexual aids from everywhere, including Oceania and
back to the Wilhelmian era. Yet beneath its finely polished veneer, the Southeast Africa, are a public favorite. Also of special interest are the
Institute is a citadel of revolutionary and astonishing beliefs. Directly over 1,200 fantasy drawings by convicted Lustmord prisoners and 8,000
its massive portal is an inscription in Latin, “Sacred to Love and Sorrow.” selected photographs and cherished items from the collections of Berlin
foot and hand fetishists.
Clientele: Curious Berliners, foreign tourists, including many artistic
celebrities, and groups of international social reformers, anthropologists, Unusual: Sex manuals and magazines, scientific literature, traditional
physicians, and psychiatrists. aphrodisiacs from Asia and Africa, and erotic stimulants, which were
developed in the Institute, are sold at the Museum counter. Many of the
Decor: Three adjacent buildings on the former Radziwill and Hartfeld Institute’s employees fall into Hirschfeld’s “transitional” spectrum of “not
estates—some 65 rooms in all. In the Prince’s central mansion, the base- male/not female” categories. “Female” and “male” hermaphrodites,
ment is divided into domestic, kitchen, and office spaces. Main floor con- transvestites, transsexuals, and other Intergrades cook the meals and
sists of a reception area (with one room filled with mementos of Queen assist with the Museum activities and demonstrations.
Louise and Napoleon) and small consulting and waiting rooms. Second
floor is cleaved into Magnus Hirschfeld’s living quarters and the Museum
of Sexology. The top floor
houses various laboratories
and an X-Ray studio.
The second building hous-
es several outpatient clin-
ics and a large lecture hall.
Here counseling for vene-
real disease, birth control,
marriage difficulties, frigid-
ity, impotence, and gender
exploration is conducted. The
Institute’s records and scien-
tific library (which includes
Europe’s largest collection of
graphic and literary pornog-
raphy) is held in a smaller
courtyard unit.

288
 ELDORADO Lutherstrasse 29 1926–1932

Area: BERLIN WEST. “Face-to-face” with the SCALA Variety theatre. Decor: Huge banner over entrance proclaims: “HERE IT IS RIGHT!”
Nearby are two oversized frescoes that show Ulysses being beckoned by
Atmosphere: Wild ballroom excitement on weekends. Ostentatious gorgeous Circes (of course, in drag) and the trial of Paris, who hesitates
but thoroughly titillating. Flyers in tourist cafés advertise: “International between a trio of male Graces.
Trade, Interesting Nights.” The air itself is dense with clashing An eccentric series of pseudo-homilies are posted in the foyer and at
fragrances: French perfumes and the unmistakable scent of the pow- the hat-check room. One reads: “Don’t Worry about the Cold of Winter/
dered female body. Here You Can Warm Your Hands!’
Lou, a Valentino-lookalike maître d’, leads the customers to the main
Clientele: Berlin high society, adventurous foreign tourists, provin- dining room, where there are several dozen packed tables pushed to the
cial artists and writers, Dodos, and beautiful Ladies in evening finery. left and right sides of the dance floor. More frescoes of nude hieroglyphic
Uncommonly attractive Demi-Castors and Fohses—competing with a like figures are painted on the walls. Garlands hang everywhere and stringed
number of cross-dressed knockouts. balloons float from the tops of champagne bottles. A large cabaret stage
adjoins the far wall.

289
Entertainment: The effusive orchestra, costumed in unisex who play out a Latin
silk blouses, plays provocative and haunting songs from French and love-triangle. Lastly, Lou,
Argentinean repertoires. Major amusement is the difficult task of assign- the Andalusian maître
ing a biologic gender to the dancing couples, most of whom are convinc- d’, appears in a turban,
ingly made-up transvestites. naked except for a bra
A lavish floor-show is presented at midnight. Typical production con- and skimpy G-string.
sists of five or six numbers: “Sweet Carlo,” an androgynist, twirling boy is She/he executes an
introduced to stormy applause; then a courtly diva sings (in shrill falsetto) exotic, totally believable
a medley of risqué Parisian chansons, which concludes with a baritone “naked” ballet. With the
finale. This is followed by a comical trio of rumba dancers in drag, striking of the last percussive note, Lou throws her turban in the air,
revealing a distinctly pomaded male mane.

Unusual: There are two service bars: a long American counter

near the entrance with a row of
femme bartenders (including a
poor, stranded 21-year-old English-
speaking girl). Over the counter is
a disturbing series of S&M photo-
graphs. The second bar is at the
rear. It is ministered by a jocular
bartender, who insists on kissing
every lady’s hand. Despite the tell-
ing Eton haircut, this character is so
obese that it is impossible—even
for Eldorado regulars—to determine
his/her sex.

Overheard conversation:
Society Matron to transvestite
dancer: “Are you really a man?”
Falsetto reply: “I am whatever sex
you wish me to be, Madame.”

ELDORADO (New) Motzstrasse 15 1928–1932

Area: BERLIN WEST. Near NOLLENDORFPLATZ. international travelers, due to a clever campaign of promotion in straight
hotel guides and the powerful inducement of free admission.
Atmosphere: Even more glamorous and fashion-driven than
the first Eldorado. Magazine advertisement: “Original Or Not—We Are Decor: “HERE IT IS RIGHT” marquee re-appears over the club doorway.
Ready!” On the Motzstrasse side of the building, there is a garish mural that exhib-
its this Eldorado’s philosophy. A series of cartoonish drawings of dancing
Clientele: Serious male and female transvestites, usually in parties of couples unfolds, beginning with a man clasping a woman; second image
four to ten. French and Scandinavian Ladies on holiday. Also lots of staid is a man waltzing with another man; then a woman with a woman;

290
next a ridiculous cross-dressed pair;
a threesome doing a polka; and
finally a man romantically embrac-
ing a frisky, perverse poodle.
Inside a Chinese motif prevails:
standing copper gongs and sketch-
es of opium-smoking Chinamen on
the walls. More spacious seating
than in the Old Eldorado.

Entertainment: Hot dance

orchestra, the Bernd Robert
Rhythmics. Weekends feature
female impersonators, like the
ostrich-headressed Muguette (in a
tribute to French Music-Hall chan-
teuse legend Mistinguett). Still,
drinking and intersexual gawking
are the evening’s cardinal activity.

Unusual: The opening of a

second Eldorado created a pressing social problem among Berlin’s stylish Ladies: which to patronize. As always, there is an elegant solution—begin
the evening at Lutherstrasse 29 and then slowly migrate here for unbridled fun and games.

291
 MIKADO BAR Puttkamerstrasse 15 1907–1933

Area: FRIEDRICHSTADT SOUTH. East of ANHALTER Train Station.

Atmosphere: Jokey. Comic-aggressive. The oldest extant transvestite

club in Berlin. Once the center of organized male homosexual activity.

Clientele: Attractive drag queens (flagrantly sauntering back and

forth from the Ladies Room), tantalized provincials, and heterosexual
tourists. Some masculine women in suits (conspicuously using the Men’s
Room).

Decor: Tacky Oriental furnishings with Japanese lanterns and hang-

ing beads over doorway arches. Flashing red traffic light illuminates the
dozen tables.

Entertainment: The Baron Sattergrün (known simply as the

“Baroness”) on piano and a violinist play tango ballads and dance music.
Transgendered illusionists dance with one another. A complete transves-
tite revue is offered on weekends.

Unusual: Four or five assertive divas with short-cut dresses and rub-
ber breasts go table to table, demanding the straight males dance with
them. Tourists amuse themselves, guessing which powdered patrons are
biological females. Every night, a few transvestite prostitutes manage to
usher confused heterosexual admirers to their nearby apartments.

MONOCLE-BAR Budapester Strasse 14 1929–1933

Area: BERLIN WEST. Near NOLLENDORFPLATZ. (Formerly
the political cabaret KÜKA).

Atmosphere: Militantly gynocentric. A hefty female

transvestite at the door makes certain males do not enter.
(He/she holds a riding crop in one transgendered hand.

Clientele: Mostly cross-dressed Dodos and Garçonnes

in pants. A few Mädis and daring married women.

Decor: Rows of hard, wooden benches against the

walls, tables, a cabaret stage.

Entertainment: All-girl orchestra performing an

up-to-date international repertoire. Cabaret acts are intro-
duced by conférencière Lola Gray.

292
 SILHOUETTE Geisbergstrasse 24 1926–1933

Area: BERLIN WEST. Near NÜRNBERGER PLATZ.

Atmosphere: Calm, self-assured. Blanketed in a blue haze

of cigarette smoke. The cynosure of worldly sophistication. Maître
d’ unerringly knows who is a suitable guest and who does not
belong.

Clientele: The most cosmopolitan mix in Berlin: film stars (nota-

bly Conrad Veidt, Anita Berber, and Marlene Dietrich—circa 1925),
wealthy transvestite first-nighters, and in-the-know foreigners. Many
Bubis in natty smoking jackets and marcelled hair, “giving off sparks
like virile gigolos.” Mädis wrapped in long sequined dresses. Seated
at one of the front bars is always a string of 20-year-old Ladies with
large gazelle-like eyes and dresses that emphasize their tiny waists
and foamy, soft artificial breasts.
Decor: Long narrow room illuminated by dim pink lights
and red Japanese paper lanterns. Two counters on either
side of the foyer; each bar is “manned” by three youths in
white silk shirts, matching signet rings, and slicked-back hair.
Every so often, one of the narcissistic bartenders stops in the
midst of preparing a martini and admires himself in a mirror
over the opposite booth.
Small nightclub with limited floor seating in the back.
Sofa-like chairs are arranged against the walls. Along the
secluded second-floor balustrade, there are a dozen parti-
tioned areas, consisting of low-lying tables with sunken leg
spaces underneath.

Entertainment: Dapper-looking orchestra. Dancing

on a long red carpet spread over parquet floor. Most cus-
tomers come here for the dining and private socializing
although rhapsodic female impersonators perform in the
early evening.

Unusual: This is the only Berlin club where male and

female transvestitism is a natural, if elevated, form of erotic
display. The darkened and comfortable surroundings on the
balcony are ideal spots for midnight trysts. Little in the way
of commercial sex.

293
294
 THE BLUE STOCKING Linienstrasse 140 1923–1933

Area: NORTH BERLIN. Behind the St. Johannes Evangelical Church. (Also
called the LINIEN-CELLAR.)

Atmosphere: Extremely friendly, if a bit on the wild side. Each

patron is checked out or greeted by Karl, the elder of Berlin’s Spanners.
He sits studiously on a wooden block outside the Kaschemme. Only Karl’s
clicking approval opens the cellar door for approaching customers.

Clientele: Wealthy Crackers and their colleagues, pickpockets,

mulatto prostitutes in revealing blouses, boxers, assorted cocaine addicts;
hand-job whores; cocky Alphonses; suspicious Polish-Jewish smugglers,
and sickly Gravelstones. After 1:30 a.m., the “Hub of Berlin’s Lowlife”
begins to heat up.

Decor: Fifteen or so bare tables and a bar-counter. Dim, blue lighting.

Entertainment: A droopy zither-player intermittently plays a few

chords. Singer-Franz (a late-evening patron who claims he once sung with
the Komische Oper) provides obscene ditties while his Kalle, the refined Unusual: This is the best place to come for underworld gossip. The
Cold Ente, and her promiscuous rival, Bootjob-Else, flash their tits. Stocking’s Boost, Uncle Hans, knows all and tells all. Also, Hans special-
izes in settling petty disputes among his oft-feuding customers.
Tourists: Not if Karl can help it.

HUNDEGUSTAV BAR Borsigstrasse 29 1921–1933

Area: BERLIN NORTH. Near STETTINER Train Station. (Formerly the BORSIG-CELLAR.)

Atmosphere: Air thick with mischief but friendly. Place picks up considerably after 3 a.m. Hundegustav,
the Boost, and his wife attempt to make everyone feel at home. A waiter, who wears a white coat over his
nightshirt, also helps maintain order.

Clientele: Gangster bar habitués: pickpockets, assorted Grids, Kontroll-Girls and their Louies, sadis-
tic Johns, German-speaking Africans from the Cameroons, a few homeless types. All the Berlin Police
Commissioners (the Bulls) and City Public Defenders like to make a showing here afterhours as private
citizens and have their own tables.

Decor: An old coal cellar with tables and chairs.

295
 Entertainment: A trio of musicians: a guitarist, a banjo player, and
a piano/accordion-player vocalist. Spectators also sing along and play
percussion at their tables. Execrable, homemade Berlin North imitations
of tango and Charleston music.

Tourists: Good number of thrill-seekers—although the neighborhood

is a bit on the dangerous side. Outside are always a few limousines and
hired cars. (Police usually raid Hundegustav’s the day after any reported
violent hold-up.)

Unusual: Dive named after the Boost Gustav, who once worked as
a dogcatcher. Also rumored that he still enjoys eating dog meat. Hence
the name “Dog-Gustav.”

RED MILL CABARET Mühle Strasse 49 1919–1929

Area: BERLIN EAST. 200 feet south from SCHLESSISCHER Train Station. Clientele: All deadbeat underworld types, especially Ludwigs, Grids,
cocaine dealers, marriage-swindlers, and Kontroll-Girls.
Atmosphere: Lowest of the low. Disorderly and crowded after
9 p.m. Tumultuous every night. (Said to be the inspiration for Bertolt Decor: Old restaurant cellar.
Brecht’s The Three Penny Opera.)

296
Entertainment: Music by the “Armchair Orchestra.” Starting at Tourists: Occasional.
10 p.m., a cabaret. This normally consists of six standard acts: a dopey
over-the-hill chanteuse; a “quick-poet,” who creates clever rhythms from Unusual: Lots of drunken behavior, culminating in shouting and inane
audience suggestions (almost all obscene); a “husband-and-wife” dance- threats to the cabaret performers, who are called “Shits,” “Garbage,”
team; a Bavarian folk singer; a neighborhood ventriloquist, and Jack, “Pimps,” “Fart-gas,” and “Bulls.” The headwaiter Erich does a heavy trade
the Escape-King, who demonstrates how to slip out of regulation police in loan-sharking and high-quality cocaine transactions.
handcuffs and other arm and leg restraints.

SING-SING Chausseestrasse 11 1927–1933

Area: BERLIN NORTH. Near the

ORANIENBURGER TOR. (Sometimes
referred to by its old name, the CAFÉ
ROLAND.

Atmosphere: Rough. Bizarre. The

cauliflower-eared Spanner is dressed
in a prison guard’s uniform and menac-
ingly slaps a rubber truncheon against
his palm. Only open from 1 to 6 a.m.

Clientele: Real gangster-types,

Grids, pickpockets, big-shot pimps,
Kontroll-Girls, petty thieves, hangers-on,
lovesick Nuttes. Many tough-looking ex-
cons with shaved heads and tattoos.

Decor: The entire establishment is

designed like a hideous prison restau-
rant-cum-execution chamber. (Largely
based on the actual dining quarters of
the Berlin penitentiary at Plötzensee.)
The windows are outfitted with thick iron grills, the tables are made of Tourists: Acceptable if subdued in dress and respectable of the
heavy wood, and waiters wear stripped and numbered convict uniforms. real cons, who look with disdain on anyone with less than one year’s
Against the main wall stands a crude replica of Sing Sing’s electric chair. hard-time incarceration. Unattended coats, wallets, passports, and
wrist-watches are sometimes outsiders’ involuntary contribution to this
Entertainment: Each night, usually between 2 and 3 a.m., a jaunty, underworld milieu.
customer is selected to be executed on the Iron Lady. As soon as the
“condemned” is seated and placed behind the “Swedish curtains,” Unusual: For many of Sing-Sing’s regulars, the bar brings back nos-
which conceal his face, a mad ruckus ensues throughout the restaurant talgic memories of their bittersweet years in the pen. The unpredictable
with whistles, obscene jeering, much banging and stumping of boots. and nasty-tempered Spanner, the resentful waiters, even the poorly
A particularly convincing victim, who squirms in realistic agony, is prepared menu, the gaffed games, counterfeit money, and strange
often encouraged to face the coup de grace several times before his companionship all hark back to a simpler, if more difficult, environment.
delighted public. Police occasionally collar petty criminals here, especially those with well-
connected rivals or loser types who are just plain homesick for authentic
Food: Prison fare. All the cutlery and dishware are regulation cell-block institutional living.
tin. (Not worth stealing.)

297
 ARYAN CAFÉ Dragonerstrasse 10 1933–1934
Area: BERLIN NORTH. (Formerly the site of the CAFÉ PARIS.) picture hangs loosely from the ceiling and, when moved, reveals a peep-
hole to one of three naked cabarets.
Atmosphere: Outside building—creepy, perverse, secretive. Brusque
Spanner with a bulldog face and huge scar on right cheek scrutinizes Entertainment: For 20 American dollars, visitors have unlimited
potential customers. Those selected must then negotiate several doors access to all three shows: a) a luxurious transvestite revue with libidinous
inside a hallway until they enter a tiny booth, where a black man ques- (rather than comic) overtones; b) a masochistic bacchanalia, featuring a
tions them through a peephole. Inside: perverse, carefree, saturated with Domina flagellating a brutish-looking SA-Mann type to orgasm; and c) a
the smells of cigar smoke, imported liquor, expensive perfumes, facial Nordic-looking couple (she is blonder and taller) who perform intercourse
creams, sweat, and strong disinfectant. while a female voice from an instructional phonographic record pedanti-
cally explains the joys of the wedding night.
Clientele: Men in tuxedos, Minettes, stylish Nuttes, smugglers, crime
bosses and other underworld types. Unusual: The rapturous performance of the “married couple”
concludes sharply with the gramophone’s final admonition: “Heil Hitler!”
Decor: A cocktail lounge in front for “business,” leading to a huge Under a mystic bluish light, the nude statuesque Aryan pair take a curtain
banquet room. Displayed on the wall there are erotic drawings (grossly call.
detailed renditions of heterosexual and gay copulation) and pornographic
photographs, which are separated by Prussian blue drapes. Each framed

PENSION SCHMIDT (“SALON KITTY”) Giesebrechtstrasse 11 1930–1942

Area: BERLIN WEST. Near the Kurfürstendamm.

Atmosphere: Highbrow, relaxed, extremely upscale bordello. Kitty

Schmidt, the charming, fiftyish madam, has created a good facsimile of a
turn-of-the-century Parisian literary salon-cum-brothel. Reputed to be the best
establishment of its kind in Berlin.

Clientele: High society, musicians, flush bureaucrats, German army

officers on leave, foreign embassy types, occasionally a few randy heads of
state—usually Italian or Romanian dignitaries.

Decor: Old-fashioned Wilhelmian foyer and drawing room with refined,

bourgeois furnishings: Persian carpet, velvet curtains, grand piano, Art
Nouveau knick-knacks. Seven bedrooms, all tastefully arranged with overhead
mirrors, bidet, and sink. Clean sheets and bedding.

298
Entertainment: German canapés, beer, French wine, champagne, and partake in post-coital socializing with other customers and winsome
coffee, and hard liquor are available in the foyer. Customers are handed prostitutes in the foyer. The (often extraordinary) bill is settled discreetly
photographic books, where they discuss with Kitty their predilections with Kitty in her office.
(usually by hair color) and select among 20 striking women. Kitty then
telephones the chosen prostitute, who quickly outfits herself in the Unusual: In late 1939, the Berlin SS added a dozen “prostitute-spies”
desired attire, walks to the nearby Salon, and is introduced to her “suitor” to Kitty’s stable and installed 120 electrical bugs in an elaborate espio-
in the drawing-room. Typically, after drinks and small talk, the pair is nage scheme. Over 24,000 wax disks were used to record “sexual inter-
directed to a numbered room. rogations” of loose-tongued Axis diplomats and Wehrmacht officers.
Clients are encouraged to order more food and drink in the bedroom

299
 The visual material of this book is
from the author’s private archive.
The vast majority of the erotic art
work reprinted here was confiscated
from the original legal owners—most-
ly Jewish-owned agencies and pub-
lishing houses—and then “Aryanized”
by the German government in 1933
and 1934.
The cover photograph is typical. It
first appeared in Die Aufklärung (April
1929, 1:3), a monthly “Sex and Life
Reform” journal edited by Magnus
Hirschfeld and Marie Krische. In March
1933, the Nationalist Socialist authori-
ties not only organized the physical
destruction of Hirschfeld’s Institute,
they also appropriated Hirschfeld’s
extensive intellectual properties and
disbursed them to various German
institutions. The University of Cologne,
for instance, still acts as the copyright
owner of this photographic image.
Today when it assigns publication
rights for the “Masked Woman,” it
does so without any recognition or
attribution of its 1929 sources.
Each individual graphic in Volup-
tuous Panic has a complex artistic
and legal history. Some appeared
in Weimar periodicals and Sitten-
geschichten simultaneously. Others
found their way into foreign journals
via official Nazi photo agencies after
1933. Readers wishing additional
information on any specific illustration
may contact Feral House directly.
 Opposite:
D’Ora,
Droste and
Berber in
Martyr dance,
1922

Left:
Berlin kiosk,
1926

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Joseph Hergesheimer, Berlin. New York: Alfred Knopf,
GUIDEBOOKS AND 1932.
CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNTS Magnus Hirschfeld, Sittengeschichte der Nachkriegzeit. 2
John Chancellor, How To Be Happy in Berlin. London: vols. Leipzig: Verlag für Sexualwissenschaft Schneider
Arrowsmith, 1929. & Co., 1932.
Le Crapouillot, Paris: April 1931 (Issue on Berlin). Kennen Sie Berlin? Stettin: Verlag F. Hessenland, 1929.
Hendrik De Leeuw, Sinful Cities of the Western World. Alfred Kind and Julian Herlinger, Flucht aus der Ehe.
New York: Citadel Press, 1934. Leipzig: Verlag für Kulturforschung, 1931.
Ernst Engelbrecht, 15 Jahre Kriminalkommissar. Berlin: H.R. Knickerbocker, Germany—Fascist or Soviet? London:
Peter J. Oestergaard Verlag, 1926. John Lane, 1932.
———, In den Spuren des Verbrechertums. Berlin: Peter J. Rom Landau, Seven: An Essay in Confession. London: Ivor
Oestergaard Verlag, 1930. Nicholson & Watson, 1936.
Ernst Engelbrecht and Leo Heller, Kinder der Nacht. Berlin: “Losa,” Sexuelle Verirrungen. Berlin: Auffenberg
Hermann Paetel Verlag, 1925. Verlagsgellschaft, 1930.
Jay Gay, On Going Naked. Garden City, NY: Garden City Netley Lucas, Ladies of the Underworld. Cleveland:
Publishing Co., 1932. Goldsmith Publishing, 1927.
Charles Graves, Gone Aboard. London: Ivor Nicholson & Frances and Mason Merrill, Among the Nudists. Garden
Watson, 1932. City, NY: Garden City Publishing Co., 1931.
Daniel Guérin, The Brown Plague. Durham and London: Curt Moreck, Führer Durch das “Lasterhafte” Berlin.
Duke University Press, 1994. Translated and introduced Leipzig: Verlag moderner Stadtführer, 1931.
by Robert Schwartzwald. ———, Kultur-und Sittengeschichte der Neuesten Zeit: Das
Leo Heller, So siehst aus Berlin! Munich: Verlag Parrus & Genussleben des Modernen Menschen. Dresden: Paul
Co., 1927. Aretz Verlag, 1929.
301
 Conrad Wel, Das Verbotene Buch. Hannover: Verlag Paul
Witte, 1929.

GENERAL HISTORICAL
AND SCHOLARLY BOOKS
Wolf von Eckardt and Sander L. Gilman, Bertolt Brecht’s
Berlin: A Scrapbook of the Twenties. Garden City, NY:
Anchor Press, 1975.
Bilder-Lexicon. 4 vols. Leipzig: Verlag für Kulturforschung,
1928–1931.
Susanne Everett, Lost Berlin. Chicago: Contemporary
Books, 1979.
Otto Friedrich, Before the Deluge: A Portrait of Berlin in
the 1920s. New York: Harper & Row, 1972.
Thomas Friedrich, Berlin Between the Wars. New York:
Vendome Press, 1991.
Alex de Jonge, The Weimar Chronicle: Prelude to Hitler.
New York and London: Paddington Press Ltd., 1978.
Anton Gill, A Dance Between the Flames: Berlin Between
the Wars. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 1993.
Anton Kaes, Martin Jay, and Edward Dimendberg (eds.),
The Weimar Republic Sourcebook. Berkeley, Los
Angeles, London: University of California Press, 1994.
Walther Kiaulehn, Berlin: Schicksal einer Weltstadt.
Munich: Biederstein Verlag, 1958.
Bärbel Schrader and Jürgen Schebera, The “Golden”
Walter Polzer, Sexuell-Perverse. Leipzig: Asa-Verlag, 1930. Twenties: Art and Literature in the Weimar Republic.
Above: Ruth Margarete Roellig, Berlins Lesbische Frauen. Leipzig: New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1988.
Delhi, Bruno Gebauer Verlag, 1928. Translated by Katherine Vanovitch.
The Stallion
Louis-Charles Royer, Let’s Go Naked. New York: Brentano’s
Publishers, 1932. Translated from the French by Paul
Quiltana. MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHIES
Rumpelstilzchen [Adolf Stein], [Gesammelte Schriften.] 15
Luigi Barzini, The Europeans. New York: Simon and
Vols. Berlin: Brunnen-Verlag, 1920–1935.
Schuster, 1983.
Roger Salardenne, Hauptstädte des Lasters. Berlin:
Hans Blüher, Werke und Tage. Munich: Paul List Verlag,
Auffenberg Verlagsgellschaft, 1931.
1953.
Bernhard Schidlof, Prostitution und Mädchenhandel.
Michael Davidson, The World, the Flesh, and Myself.
Leipzig: Lykeion, 1931.
London: Arthur Barker, 1962.
Francis Scott (editor), Halbwelt von Heute. Leipzig: ASA-
Sefton Delmer, Trail Sinister. London: Secker & Warburg,
Verlag, 1927.
1961.
———, Prostitution. Berlin: ASA-Verlag, 1927.
Gerald Hamilton, Mr. Norris and I. London: Allan Wingate
———, Das Lesbische Weib. Berlin: Pergamon-Verlag,
Ltd., 1956.
1933.
Christopher Isherwood, Christopher and His Kind, 1929–
Charly Straesser, Jugend Gelände. Thüringen: Self-pub-
1939. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1976.
lished, 1926.
Leo Lania, Today We are Brothers. Boston: Houghton
Eugen Szatmari, Berlin: Was Nicht im Baedeker Steht.
Mifflin Company, 1942. Translated by Ralph Marlowe.
Munich: R. Piper & Co., 1927.
Ludwig Lenz-Levy, The Memoirs of a Sexologist. New
“WEKA” [Willy Pröger], Stätten der Berliner Prostitution.
York: Cadillac Publishing, 1954.
Berlin: Auffenberg Verlagsgellschaft, 1930.
302 Klaus Mann, The Turning Point. New York: L.B. Fisher, 1942.
J.H. Morgan, Assize of Arms. New York: Oxford University
Press, 1946.
“PEM” [Paul Markus], Heimweh nach dem
Kurfürstendamm. Berlin: Lothar Blanvalet, 1952.
Curt Riess, Das Waren Zeiten. Vienna-Munich-Zurich-
Innsbruck: Verlag Fritz Molden, 1977.
Charlotte Wolff, Hindsight: An Autobiography. London,
Melbourne, New York: Quartet Books, 1980.
Carl Zuckmayer, A Part of Myself: Portrait of an Epoch.
New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1970.
Translated by Richard and Clara Winston.
Stefan Zweig, The World of Yesterday. New York: Viking
Press, 1943.

DIRECTED STUDIES
Michael Andritzky and Thomas Rautenberg (eds.),
“Wir Sind Nackt und Nennen Uns Du.” Giessen:
Anabas, 1989.
Peter Auer, Adlon. Vienna: Wiener Verlag, 1997.
Eldorado: Homosexuelle Frauen und Männer in Berlin
1850–1950. Berlin: Edition Hentrich, 1984.
Fritz Giese, Girlkultur. Munich: Dephin-Verlag, 1925.
Goodbye to Berlin? 100 Jahre Schwulenbewegung. Berlin:
Verlag Rosa Winkel, 1997.
Magnus Hirschfeld, Geschlectskunde. 5 vols. Stuttgart:
Julius Puttmann, 1926–1930.
———, Sittengeschichte des Weltkrieges. 2 vols. Leipzig:
Verlag für Sexualwissenschaft Schneider & Co., 1930. Leo Schidrowitz, Sittengeschichte der Geheimen und Above:
Verbotenen. Leipzig: Verlag für Kulturforschung, 1930. Delhi,
Peter Jelavich, Berlin Cabaret. Cambridge, MA, and
Breaking In
London: Harvard University Press, 1993. Claudia Schoppmann, Days of Masquerade. New York:
Alfred Kind, Die Weiberherrschaft. 4 vols. Leipzig: Verlag Columbia University Press, 1996. Translated by Allison Following:
für Kulturforschung, 1931. Brown. Das Magazin,
Jürgen Lemke (ed.), Gay Voices from East Germany. Karl Toepfer, Empire of Ecstasy. Berkeley and Los Angeles: 1931
Bloomingdale and Indianapolis: Indiana University University of California Press, 1997.
Following
Press, 1991. Translated and edited by John Borneman. Charlotte Wolff, Magnus Hirschfeld. London: Quartet
Opposite:
Allan H. Mankoff, Mankoff’s Lusty Europe. New York: Books, 1986.
Illustrirte
Viking Press, 1972. Knud Wolfram, Tanzdielen und Vergnügungspaläste. Zeitung, 1930
Peter Norden, Madam Kitty. London: Abelard-Schuman, Berlin: Edition Hentrich, 1992.
1973. Translated by J. Maxwell Brownjohn. Heinrich Wörenkamp and Gertrude Perkauf, Erziehungs.
Harry Oosterhuis and Hubert Kennedy (eds). Flagellantismus. Vienna: Verlag für Kulturforschung,
Homosexuality and Male Bonding in Pre-Nazi 1932.
Germany. New York: Harrington Park Press, 1991.
Hans Ostwald, Sittengeschichte der Inflation. Berlin:
Neufeld & Henius Verlag, 1931.
Norman Page, Auden and Isherwood: the Berlin Years.
New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998.
Ernst Schertel, Der Erotische Komplex, 3 vols. Leipzig:
Parthenon, 1932.
———, Der Flagellantismus als Literarisches Motiv. 4 vols.
Leipzig: Parthenon, 1929–1932. 303
ADDED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Marian Dockerill, My Life in a Love Cult: A Warning to All
Young Girls. Chicago: Better Publications, 1928.
Stephen Flowers, Fire and Ice. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn
Publishers, 1990.
Mel Gordon, Erik Jan Hanussen: Hitler’s Jewish Clairvoyant.
Los Angeles: Feral House, 2001.
Eugen Grosche, Karma und Astrologie. Berlin: Orient
Berlin, 1930.
Ottoman Hanish, Mazdaznan Atem– und
Gesundheitspflege. Leipzig: Mazdaznan Verlag, 1930.
Francis King, Sexuality, Magic, and Perversion [1971]. Los
Angeles: Feral House, 2003.
Richard Kaczynski, Perdurabo. Tempe, Arizona: New
Falcon, 2002.
Rudolf von Laban, Choreographie. Jena: Eugen Diederichs
Verlag, 1926.
Ulrich Linse, Barfüssige Propheten. Berlin: Siedler Verlag,
1983.
Rudolf Olden, Das Wunderbare. Berlin: Rowohlt Verlag,
1932.
Alexander Pilcz, Über Hypnotism, Okkulte Phänomene,
Traumleben. Vienna: Deuticke, 1926.
Theodor Reuss and Aleister Crowley, O.T.O. Rituals and
Sex Magick. Thame, UK: I-H-O Books, 1999 [Edited by
A.R. Naylor. Introduced by Peter R. Koenig].
Theodor von Rheine, Massage-Institute. Berlin: Private
Edition, 1932.
———, Stiefel-Mädchen. Berlin: Private Edition, 1932.
Ernst Schertel, Magie: Geschichte, Theorie, Praxis. Prien:
Anthropos, 1923.
Paul Scheurlen, Sekten der Gegenwart. Stuttgart: Quell-
Verlag, 1930.
Alice Bunker Stockham, Karezza Ethics of Marriage. New
York: Private Edition, 1896.
Montague Summers, Geography of Witchcraft. London:
Routledge & Kegan, 1927.
Lawrence Sutin, Do Want Thou Wilt. New York: St.
Martin’s Press, 2000.
Cornelius Tabori, My Occult Diary. London: Rider and
Company, 1951.
Leopold Thoma, Wunder der Hypnose. Württemberg:
Johannes Baum Verlag, 1926.
Erich Wulffen and Felix Abraham, Fritz Ulbrichs
Lebender Marmor. Vienna-Berlin-Leipzig: Verlag für
Kulturforschung, 1931.

Also see Peter-Robert Koenig’s website, http://user.

cyberlink.ch/~koenig/hallo.htm
JOURNALS AND MAGAZINES
Die Aufklärung, Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung, Berliner Leben, Der Junggeselle, Jugend, Körperbildung/Nacktkultur,
Berolina, Die Dame, Der Eigene, Freikörperkultur und Lachendes Leben, Licht-Land, Lustige Blätter, Das Magazin,
Lebensreform, Figaro, Form und Farbe, Die Freudinnen, Die Magazin für Alle, Pegasus, Der Pranger, Der Querschnitt,
Garçonne, Hanussen-Magazin, Ideal-Ehe, Illustrirte Zeitung, Reigen, Die Schönheit, Simplizissimus, Tempo, Uhu.

MEL GORDON is professor of theatre arts at University of California at Berkeley and author of Dada Performance (New York: Performing Arts
Books, 1986); Erik Jan Hanussen: Hitler’s Jewish Clairvoyant (Los Angeles: Feral House, 2001); Expressionist Texts (New York: PAB, 1987); The
Grand Guignol: Theatre of Horror and Terror [Revised Edition] (New York: Da Capo Press, 1997); Lazzi: the Comic Routines of the Commedia
dell’arte (New York: PAB, 1982); Meyerhold, Eisenstein, and Biomechanics: Revolutionary Acting in Soviet Russia (Jefferson, NC: McFarland
Press, 1996) [co-written with Alma H. Law]; Mikhoels the Wise (New York: Gateway Press, 1982); and The Stanislavsky Technique: Russia
(New York: Applause Books, 1988).
 Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com

By Barbara Ulrich, Introduction by Jerry Stahl

Extravagantly illustrated and hotter than Coney Island’s “Dante’s Inferno,” Barbara Ulrich calls forward the
best graphic examples of girlkultur in Weimar Berlin, which became, for a mighty decade, the Shangri-La by
the Spree. Here beautiful girls take their favorite stimulants and appear in revues and cabarets, the all-night
Bummel, the boudoir and the bordello.

“Sizzlingly, spankingly hot.” —Forum

“Evokes an era when sexual orientation was a laughing matter and cruel boots were not.” —Playboy
“Delicious, decadent and delightful.” —Frontiers

81/2 x 11 • 110 PAGES • FULL COLOR • $19.95 • ISBN: 0-922915-76-8

By Mel Gordon
The first contemporary biography of the notorious actor/dancer/poet/playwright who scandalized sex-
obsessed Weimar Berlin during the 1920s.
In an era where everything was permitted, Anita Berber’s celebrations of “Depravity, Horror and Ecstasy”
were condemned and censored. She haunted Weimar Berlin’s hotel lobbies, nightclubs and casinos, radiantly
naked except for an elegant sable wrap, a pet monkey around her neck, and a silver brooch packed with
cocaine.
Multi-talented Anita saw no boundaries between her personal life and her taboo-shattering performanc-
es. As such, she was Europe’s first post-modern woman. After sated Berliners finally tired of Anita Berber’s
libidinous antics, she became a “carrion soul that even the hyenas ignored,” dying in 1928 at the age of 29.
The Seven Addictions and Five Professions of Anita Berber chronicles a remarkable career, including over
150 photographs and drawings that re-create Anita’s enduring “Repertoire of the Damned.”

7 x 10 • 260 PAGES • COLOR AND B&W ILLUSTRATIONS AND PHOTOGRAPHS • $22.95 • 1-932595-12-0

By Mel Gordon
Erik Jan Hanussen was Europe’s most audacious soothsayer. Billing himself as “The Man Who Knows All,”
he performed in music halls reading minds and hypnotizing women to orgasm. In March 1932, when Adolf
Hitler’s political future seemed destined to failure, Hanussen predicted a resurgence of the Nazi party, and
soon after became Hitler’s confidant. What Hitler did not know initially was that Hanussen was not the Dane
he claimed to be but a Jew from Moravia whose given name was Herschel Steinschneider. This lavishly illus-
trated book is the first English-language biography of this significant and strange man.

“Author Mel Gordon’s devastating bio-history... explores and illuminates a fateful turning point in contem-
porary European history. Hanussen’s all-consuming quest to gain admission into the German universe culmi-
nates when the Nazi dictatorship emerges from the flames of the burning Reichstag, then collapses as the
Holocaust claims him for one of its first victims.”—M. Michael Thaler, former President of the Holocaust Center
of Northern California

6 x 9 • 269 PAGES • HARDCOVER • EXTENSIVELY ILLUSTRATED • $24.95 • 0-922915-68-7

www.Ebook777.com