Editing Prostitution in Germany (section)

== History ==
=== {{Anchor|medieval}}Middle Ages to Confederation (1815) ===
Sex work in historically German lands has never been outlawed and has been described since the [[Middle Ages]]. Since the 13th century, several German cities operated [[brothel]]s known as ''Frauenhäuser'' ("women's houses");
<ref>P. Schuster: ''Das Frauenhaus. Städtische Bordelle in Deutschland (1350–1600)'', Paderborn 1992</ref>
the practice of sex work was considered a necessary evil, a position already held by [[Saint Augustine]] (354–430). Some municipalities actively encouraged it and far from existing on the margins, sex workers were often honoured guests, who maintained domestic order as an outlet and lesser evil to such things as [[adultery]] and [[rape in Germany|rape]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/article-1G2-3460500150/prostitution.html|title=Prostitution - Dictionary definition of Prostitution - Encyclopedia.com: FREE online dictionary|website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref> The city also gained tax revenues from the prostitutes.

[[Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Sigismund]] (1368–1437) thanked the city of [[Konstanz]] in writing for providing some 1,500 workers for the [[Council of Constance]] which took place from 1414 to 1418.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://home.arcor.de/glanlaender/hausderfreuden/absurdum1.htm|section=Die Prostitution im Mittelalter|title=Alltag im Spätmittelalter|editor-first1=Harry|editor-last1=Kühnel|editor-first2=Helmut|editor-last2=Hundsbichler|edition=2nd|publisher=Kaleidoskop|year=1984|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140903061951/http://home.arcor.de/glanlaender/hausderfreuden/absurdum1.htm|archive-date=3 September 2014|language=de|trans-title=Everyday Life in the Early Middle Ages|via=Arcor.de}}</ref>

Sex workers were more vigorously persecuted beginning in the 16th century, with the start of the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]] and the appearance of [[syphilis]]. In 1530, [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] ordered the closure of brothels throughout the German Holy Roman Empire.<ref name="despeg">{{cite journal|date=7 April 1965|title=Hausen und Hegen|url=http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-46272150.html|journal=[[Der Spiegel]]|language=de|issue=15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170421013213/http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-46272150.html|archive-date=21 April 2017|access-date=13 November 2017}}</ref>

Section 999 of the 1794 [[General State Laws for the Prussian States]] determined that "dissolute female persons who want to do business with their bodies ... would have to go into the whoredom houses tolerated under the supervision of the state".<ref name="despeg" />
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
1537 Braunschweiger Monogrammist Bordellszene anagoria.JPG|[[Braunschweiger Monogrammist]]: Brothel scene 1537
Carl Spitzweg - Auf der Dult.jpg|[[Carl Spitzweg]]: Auf der Dult c. 1838; sex worker in foreground receiving disapproving glances
Abb187BerlinerZuhalter erwartet seineLiebe nach derKontrolle.jpg|Pimp waiting for a prostitute after her medical check, [[Berlin]], 1890
</gallery>

=== {{Anchor|Confederations}}The Confederations (1815–1871)===
Beginning in the 19th century, sex workers in many regions had to register with police or local health authorities and submit to regular health checks to curb [[venereal disease]]s.

The so-called ''Bremer Regulations'' of 1852 stated that prostitution was "not a trade in the true sense". By this distinction between prostitution and other trades, immorality of prostitution was defined in law.<ref>{{cite book |last= Schmitter |first= Romina |date= September 2013 |title= Prostitution – Das älteste Gewerbe der Welt? In: Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte |page= 23 }}</ref>

==={{Anchor|Empire|Imperial}}German Empire (1871–1918)===
In [[Imperial Germany]] (1871–1918) attitudes to sex work were ambivalent. While sex work was tolerated as a necessary function to provide for male sexuality outside of marriage, it was frowned on as a threat to contemporary moral images of women's sexuality. Therefore, state policy concentrated on regulation rather than abolition. This was mainly at the municipal level. The Criminal Code of 1871 prohibited brothels and "commercial fornication". In the 1876 version, prostitution was only punishable if the woman worked outside police supervision.<ref name="despeg" /> State regulation at the time created an atmosphere which defined what was considered proper, and what was proper feminine sexuality.

Controls were particularly tight in the port city of [[Hamburg]]. The regulations included defining the dress and conduct of prostitutes both inside and outside the brothel, thus making the occupation define their lives as a separate class of women on the margins of society.

At the beginning of the 20th century, prostitution was considered "harmful to communities".<ref>{{cite book |last= Ayaß |first= Wolfgang |date= 1992 |title= Das Arbeitshaus Breitenau |publisher= [[University of Kassel]] |isbn= 978-3-88122-670-7 }}</ref>  Nevertheless, there existed or originated in the 20th century, various brothel and [[red-light districts]] such as [[Helenenstraße]] in Bremen (from 1878), [[Linienstraße (Dortmund)|Linienstraße]] in Dortmund (from 1904), [[Stahlstraße]] in Essen (from about 1900), [[Rampenloch]] in Minden (from 1908), [[Im Winkel]] in Bochum (from about 1912), and the [[Flaßhofstraße]] in Oberhausen (from 1910 and 1963). It is estimated that in 1900 there were 50,000 women working in [[Berlin]]<ref>Friedrich Lenger.  European Cities in the Modern Era, 1850-1914. BRILL, 2012. {{ISBN|9004233385}}. page 238]</ref> (population 1 December 1900: 1,888,848).

==={{Anchor|Weimar}}Weimar Republic (1918–1933)===
In [[Weimar Republic|Weimar-era Germany]] the economy collapsed due to the loss of the [[First World War]] and the imposition of [[World War I reparations|war reparations]] at the [[Treaty of Versailles]]. As a result, the middle class lost their savings and the working class were unemployed. The Republic ended up printing money to pay its bills which lead to [[Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic|hyperinflation in 1923]]. The outcome of all of this was that women, including the millions of war widows, turned to prostitution. Licentiousness and streetwalking were common in this period and Weimar Berlin is famed for its decadence.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/critical-issues/transformations/persons-and-sexuality/project-archives/1st/session-1-prostitution-and-monogamy/|first=Julia|last=Bruggemann|title=Prostitution, Sexuality, and Gender Roles in Imperial German Hamburg: A Case Study {{!}} First Global Conference on Sexualities|year=2004|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928113422/http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/critical-issues/transformations/persons-and-sexuality/project-archives/1st/session-1-prostitution-and-monogamy/|archive-date=28 September 2011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vgnUZLAoLYIC&pg=PA19|title=Genealogies of Identity: Interdisciplinary Readings on Sex and Sexuality|first1=Margaret Sönser|last1=Breen|first2=Fiona|last2=Peters|date=10 April 2018|publisher=Rodopi|via=Google Books|isbn=978-9042017580}}</ref>

On a national scale, prostitution was officially proscribed, but within various locales, polices tolerated prostitutes if they were in state registry. Prostitutes were to have compulsory medical examines for STDs, banned from areas of large public gathering, and were required to give up personal freedoms of private residence, travel, and denying unwarranted search<ref>{{Cite book |last=Flexner |first=Abraham |title=Prostitution in Europe |publisher=The Century Co. |others=Introduction by John D Rockefeller Jr., Printed by Burr Printing House |year=1914 |isbn=9780875850306 |location=London |pages=415–419 |language=English}}</ref> under the German moral police, ''Sittenpolizei''. Unregistered prostitutes arrested for soliciting, or otherwise were not given the same legal protection or voice as average citizens, and due process was not practiced.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Roos |first=Julia |date=2002 |title=Backlash against Prostitutes' Rights: Origins and Dynamics of Nazi Prostitution Policies |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/sex.2002.0012 |journal=Journal of the History of Sexuality |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=67–94 |doi=10.1353/sex.2002.0012 |s2cid=142706546 |issn=1535-3605|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The Law for Combating Venereal Diseases was adopted in 1927,<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.zaoerv.de/01_1929/1_1929_2_b_536_2_541.pdf |title= Gesetz zur Bekämpfung der Geschlechtskrankheiten |website= Zaoerv |access-date= 13 November 2017 |language= de }}</ref> which decriminalized prostitution thus undoing the state-regulated system, ''Reglementierung''.<ref name=":0" />

=== {{Anchor|Nazi}}Nazi era (1933–1945) ===
During the [[Nazi Germany|Nazi era]], street based sex workers were seen as "asocial" and degenerate and were at times sent to [[concentration camp]]s, especially to the [[Ravensbrück concentration camp|Ravensbrück camp]].<ref>[http://www.taz.de/index.php?id=archivseite&dig=2007/02/05/a0161 Auf einem vergessenen Lager im Lager], [[Die Tageszeitung|taz]], 5 February 2007. {{in lang|de}}</ref> The Nazis did not entirely disapprove of sex work though and instead installed a centralized system of city brothels, military brothels (''[[German military brothels in World War II|Wehrmachtsbordell]]e''), brothels for foreign forced laborers, and [[camp brothel|concentration camp brothels]].<ref name=sz1>{{cite web|title=Diese verfluchten Stunden am Abend|url=http://programm.ard.de/TV/Programm/Sender/?sendung=2800710480412395|website=programm.ARD.de|access-date=10 April 2018|language=de|date=26 August 2013}}</ref>

During the [[Second World War]], the German [[Wehrmacht]] established about 100 Wehrmacht brothels in the occupied territories, including France, Poland, Italy, and Norway. [[Lothar-Günther Buchheim]] described his impressions from [[Brest, France|Brest]]: "If a large ship had arrived, the hookers simply laid there between sailors." Military prostitution was regulated, "Only a permit from the military command brothel allowed you to visit. Always use a condom (rubber protection). For the German soldiers there was a disinfectant syringe in the [[urethra]]."<ref>{{cite journal |url= http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-40749007.html |title= Fortlaufende Nummer |date= 31 October 1977 |journal= Spiegel Online |volume= 45 |access-date= 13 November 2017 |language= de }}</ref>

Between 1942 and 1945, camp brothels were installed in ten [[Nazi concentration camps|concentration camps]], including [[Auschwitz concentration camp|Auschwitz]]. [[Heinrich Himmler|Himmler]] intended these as an incentive for cooperative and hard-working non-Jewish and non-Russian inmates, in order to increase the productivity of the work camps.<ref>[http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,459704,00.html New Exhibition Documents Forced Prostitution in Concentration Camps] ''Spiegel Online'', 15 January 2007</ref> Initially the brothels were staffed mostly with former sex worker inmates who volunteered, but women were also put under pressure to work there.<ref name=sz1/>
In the documentary film, ''Memory of the Camps'', a project supervised by the [[Minister of Information|British Ministry of Information]] and the [[United States Office of War Information|American Office of War Information]] during the summer of 1945, camera crews filmed women who stated that they were forced into sexual slavery for the use of guards and favored prisoners. The filmmakers stated that as the women died they were replaced by women from the concentration camp Ravensbrück.<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/camp/ Memory of the Camps], Frontline, PBS</ref>

None of the women who were forced to work in these concentration camp brothels ever received compensation, since the German compensation laws do not cover persons designated as "asocial" by the Nazis.<ref name=sz1/>

In a famous case of [[espionage]], the Nazi intelligence service [[Sicherheitsdienst|SD]] took over the luxurious [[Berlin]] brothel [[Salon Kitty]] and equipped it with listening devices and specially trained sex workers.{{cn|date=November 2020}} From 1939 to 1942 the brothel was used to spy on important visitors.{{cn|date=November 2020}}

=== {{Anchor|GDR}}German Democratic Republic (GDR 1945–1990) ===
{{main|Prostitution in East Germany}}
After World War II, the country was divided into [[East Germany]] (German Democratic Republic) and [[West Germany]] (the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949–90). In East Germany, as in all countries of the communist Eastern Bloc, full-service sex work was illegal and according to the official position, it did not exist. There were high-class sex workers working in the hotels of [[East Berlin]] and the other major cities, mainly targeting Western visitors; the [[Stasi]] employed some of these for spying purposes. Street-based workers were available for the pleasure of visiting Westerners, too.

=== {{Anchor|BRD}}Federal Republic of Germany (BRD 1945–2001) ===
In West Germany, the registration and testing requirements remained in place but were handled quite differently in the regions of the country. In [[Bavaria]], in addition to scheduled [[Sexually transmitted infection|Sexually transmitted disease]] (STD) check-ups, regular tests for [[HIV/AIDS|HIV]] were required from 1987, but this was an exception. Many sex workers did not submit to these tests, avoiding the registration. A study in 1992 found that only 2.5% of the tested workers had a disease, a rate much lower than the one among comparable non-sex workers.<ref name=leopold/>

In 1967, Europe's largest brothel at the time, the six-floor Eros Center, was opened on the [[Reeperbahn]] in Hamburg. An even larger one, the twelve-floor building now called ''[[Pascha (brothel)|Pascha]]'' in [[Cologne]] was opened in 1972. The AIDS scare of the late 1980s had an effect on the business, and the Eros Center closed, as well as several other brothels in [[Hamburg]].<ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DEED71438F937A25756C0A96E948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print A Red-Light District Loses Its Allure], ''The New York Times'', 14 May 1988</ref><ref>[http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/0,1518,515535,00.html Willi Bartels ist tot], ''Spiegel Online'', 5 November 2007. {{in lang|de}}</ref> The ''Pascha'' continued to flourish, and has evolved into a chain with additional brothels in [[Munich]] and [[Salzburg]].

Anything which led to the "promotion of prostitution" (''Förderung der Prostitution'') remained a crime until 2001, even after the extensive criminal law reforms of 1973. This placed operators of brothels under the threat of potential legal action. Most brothels were, therefore, run as a bar with an attached but legally separate room rental. Many municipalities built, ran and profited from high rise or townhouse-style high-rent ''Dirnenwohnheime'' (lit.: "whores' dormitories"), to keep street-based sex work and pimping under control. Here workers sold sex in a room they rented by the day. These establishments, called "Laufhäuser" in Johns' jargon are now mostly privatized and operate as ''Eros Centers''. Even before the 2001 reform, many upmarket sex workers operated in their own apartments, alone or with other women. Luxurious country houses, called "FKK-Sauna-Clubs" are the higher-priced end of prostitution in Germany. There, women and men pay the same entrance fees ranging from about €50 to 100 and usually include meals and drinks and the sex workers negotiate their deals with the individual [[Client (prostitution)|clients]], thus avoiding the appearance of pimping ("Zuhälterei"). Illegal variations on that business model, like "Flatrate-Clubs" and "Pauschalclubs" also exist and advertise openly in daily newspapers and the Internet. These establishments charge an "all-you-can handle" fee of about €75 to €90.

Before the 2002 prostitution law, the highest courts of Germany repeatedly ruled that sex work offends good moral order (''verstößt gegen die guten Sitten''), with several legal consequences. Any contract that is considered immoral is null and void, so a sex worker could not sue for payment. Sex workers working out of their apartments could lose their leases. Finally, bars and inns could be denied licenses if sex work took place on their premises.

In 1999, Felicitas Weigmann<ref>see German Wikipedia, [[:de:Felicitas Weigmann|Felicitas Weigmann]], version 2 September 2009. {{in lang|de}}</ref> lost the licence for her Berlin cafe ''Psst!'', because the cafe was being used to initiate contacts between customers and sex work and had an attached room-rental also owned by Weigmann. She sued the city, arguing that society's position had changed and sex work no longer qualified as offending the moral order. The judge conducted an extensive investigation and solicited a large number of opinions. In December 2000 the court agreed with Weigmann's claim. This ruling is considered as precedent and important factor in the realization of the Prostitution Law of 1 January 2002. Only after an appeal process though, filed by the Berlin town district, was Weigmann to regain her café license in October 2002.

The compulsory registration and testing of workers was abandoned in 2001.{{cn|date=November 2020}} Anonymous, free and voluntary health testing has been made available to everyone, including [[illegal immigrant]]s.{{cn|date=November 2020}} Many brothel operators require these tests.