August 29th 2019 | Author: Anne S. Respondek / Translator: Mario Respondek
(photo: German Military Brothel in Brest, source: Bundesarchiv, Bild 101II-MW-1019-21 / Dietrich / CC-BY-SA 3.0)
This is how an instruction sheet of the Wehrmacht informed German soldiers about the nation’s expectations concerning their lifestyle:
„A soldier with a venereal disease cannot do military service; disability for service brought on by their own fault, however, is unworthy of a German soldier! Your fatherland expects not only your full soldierly service, but also that you start a healthy family and become father to healthy children!“[2]
The battle against venereal diseases gained a political dimension to the National Socialist leadership at the latest when the war broke out: as the medical officer informed the military governer of the General Government in October 1940, Poland alone was heavily infested[3] with venereal diseases, so that the Wehrmacht feared a hundred- thousandfold dropout of German soldiers, who succumbed to (illegally) having intimate relationships with Polish women, or to making use of prostitution there, or to committing violent sexual attacks. Step by step, the National Socialist state tried to revoke what the 1927 act to combat STDs (Gesetz zur Bekämpfung der Geschlechtskrankheiten) had established: the partial decriminalisation of prostitutes and the coinciding criminalisation of brothel owners.
Involuntary Prostitution to the Benefit of Nazi Germany
The abolition of obligational medical examinations and the relocation of responsibilities from the police to the public health department were revoked by the National Socialists. Doing so, their aim was not to abolish prostitution, but rather enable the National Socialist state to harness it.
Brothels and bordello streets housing prostitutes emerged not only in the cities to be frequented by civilians. There were also brothels designated for migrant workers, forced labourers, concentration camp detainees, Todt Organisation workers, members of the German Reichsbahn (i.e. the German State Railroad Company), members of the Gestapo and police, as well as members of the SS and German Wehrmacht.
The idea behind the establishment of brothels for concentration camp detainees was to create a reward system that included a visit to a brothel in order to increase work performance. Aimed at soldiers, however, this type of establishment was considered a necessity by the administration of the Wehrmacht for other reasons. The battle against venereal diseases afflicting the troops led army doctors to conclude:
„Venereal diseases are pretty wide-spread. Their frequent outbreak is fostered by an exceptionally distinctive rate of secret prostitution. By all available means, we have to work towards the containment of venereal diseases in the German Wehrmacht, and that sexual intercourse with medically unvetted females be prevented. The only opportunity to practice auspicious control over prostitution sits with the inhabitants of the brothels.“[4]
It was assumed that the soldiers‘ „Sexualnot“ (paucity of sexual acts) would cause rape of civilian women and undesired homosexual actions in the occupied countries.[5] Making state-controlled brothels available was supposed to prevent that. Furthermore, especially the areas of the Soviet Union were fearfully suspected to make soldiers vulnerable to espionage by so-called „Freie“ (free ones), i.e. prostitutes that were not barracked.[6]
While it remains open to scrutiny whether or not the availability of brothels really had a reducing impact on homosexuality and espionage, the Wehrmacht soon had to admit:
„the „Triebabfuhrtheorie“ (sexual gratification theory), which implies that offering up prostitution to the troops will lead to a decrease in the number of rapes, has failed. Only a very few soldiers who commit sexual attacks are taken to court, and those who are, will sometimes swerve and profess that they thought at the time that the woman was a prostitute. They do not receive punishment.“[7]
What is more, is that the Wehrmacht detected a change in the soldiers‘ attitude towards women, which, seeing as this included German women as well, was cause to concern with regard to the soldiers‘ suitability for family life.[8]
According to critical voices within the leadership of the Wehrmacht, running brothels would not only serve to satisfy pre-existing needs, but would also cause them in men who otherwise would never enter a brothel. The huge crowds the German military brothels had to manage were seen as the result of a snowball system that would never have come into existence had the brothels never been made available to begin with:
As a military doctor states at the time, the disadvantages of brothels are the overall repulsive mass processing, and the fact that large numbers of young soldiers and those, who would hardly engage in this otherwise, are taken along by comrades and practically coerced into have intercourse with prostitutes, and he goes on to complain that all these evident disadvantages are in no way compensated by the existing means of exerting control.[9]
Despite this, the brothels were not closed down. The ‚Standardbordell für Besatzungszwecke“ (standard brothel for occupying purposes) continued to be erected and maintained within the operational area of the Wehrmacht (e.g. in France, Poland, Greece, Italy, Belgium, and the entire Sovjet Union). Oftentimes, the Wehrmacht established brothels in houses they had formerly seized from Jewish people[10], or they took control over pre-existing brothels. An admission of three Reichsmark was fixed for a visit to a brothel.[11] The establishments were under the control of local command, or, respectively, civil administration within occupied Poland. As to who was allowed to enter the houses, differentiation was strongly enforced. Civilians were not to visit the brothels for the Werhmacht and vice versa.[12] Similarly, often this differentiation was extended to different military units; officers were regularly not allowed to visit brothels for the troops, since for them, there were special brothels called „Absteigehotels“ (dosshouse/ flophouse).[13]
Sadomasochistic practices and intercourse without a condom were prohibited[14], and after each visit, the soldierly punter had to have himself sanitised.[15] The prostitutes in the brothels were obliged to have medical checks two times a week[16], and they could be reported for suspected sexual diseases at any time by soldierly punters, to which end all prostitutes received a card proving undergone medical checks, which they had to show unsolicitedly to every German soldier exploiting them.[17]
The ways in which women were taken to the brothels are diverse. First of all, the Wehrmacht had access to the files of local health authorities, which enabled them to trace down women who were prostitutes before, as well as those who were under suspicion to be. Subsequently, actions were taken by the police and razzias followed.[18] Detained women and those, who where reported in the pursuit of sources of infection with regard to venereal diseases, were subjected to mandatory medical checks.[19]
Women who were having sexual intercourse with soldiers of the Wehrmacht despite having a venereal disease received harsh punishment.[20] A directive concerning the displacement of women into brothels can be found in the form of an enactment from the Reich Governer, according to which foreign women who had sexual intercourse with Germans could be taken to a brothel.[21]
In the brothels, soldiers were exempted from accusations of committing „Rassenschande“ (racial defilement). Concerning brothel visits, racial regulations for German Wehrmacht, SS and police were nullified by Heinrich Himmler. In June 1942, he states:
In principle, sexual intercourse between a member of the SS or police and a Polish woman will be prosecuted as a military offense. It is of no significance whether theirs is a relationship of love, or only a single, or repeatedly pursued sexual contact without any emotional ties. […] Under no circumstances do I wish to ease the prohibition of sexual intercourse with Polish women. […] I do not mistake the trouble with regard to sexuality the men of the SS and police are confronted with in the General Governorate. For this reason, I will not interfere with sex in brothels or with harlots that are under administrative and medical control, seeing as neither conception, nor emotional bonds of any kind are to be expected in this connection.[22]
Other distinctions were already in place, as illustrated by a medical officer in 1940:
The girls are Polish. Sex with Polish women in the brothels would not be considered a social act, since for the Polish this is under prohibition by the Führer’s decree. The connection between the harlots and their various visitors are of a functional and economical nature. They also do not have the social impact that an acquaintance made in the publicness of urban space, or street prostitution, or any other kind of getting acquainted would have. A social act requires a certain amount of respect and rapport that the brothels do not facilitate.[23]
Taking all of this together, it would seem that the displacement of women of other nationalities into the brothels served further purposes to the Wehrmacht and its soldiers: To reduce women to being women, and to identify women of other countries as prostitutes, whom they owe no signs of dignity or respect, thereby putting their countries on an equally low level. By implication, the men of an ostensibly superior nationality and „race“ thereby firmly established and demonstrated the status of an occupying force.
This extends to Jewish women, whom to displace to a brothel for the Wehrmacht or SS was de facto outlawed. However, there are occasional mentionings that some of them, as well as Sinte and Roma women, and also black women were taken to brothels.[24]
In France, so-called „Freie“ (free) prostitutes were criminalised by the German occupying forces. While some attempted to avoid persecution and arrest by registration into a brothel, others were transferred to brothels by their pimps, and again others tried to make it out of prison camps and into a brothel by „volunteering“.[25]
Much like elsewhere, the recruitment of women in the Reichsgau Wartheland happened accessing the resources of local authorities. The health offices, criminal investigation division, Gestapo and patrolling troops played a part in the selection and displacement of women into the brothels.[26]
Further East, terror and abuse were acted out more blatantly: Women were taken in raids at cinemas, cafés and in front of the employment offices and found themselves faced with the choice of either registering into a brothel, or to be taken to Germany for forced labour (which often entailed being separated from their families, raped, abused and killed).[27] Others were point-blank abducted.[28] In the case of girls who were displaced into a military brothel in Ukraine, a medical check clarified that 85 % of the young women were still virgins upon their arrival at the brothel.[29]
Even if one or another registration into a brothel makes the impression a voluntary act, the beginning of „work“ eventually makes very plain that it actually meant forced prostitution. A lot of times, women were given a leaflet informing them that they would be taken to a concentration camp should they not follow the rules in the brothel.[30] Once in a brothel, the inmate was confined to it: A „work contract“, if there was any such document, was not terminable onesidedly, a day pass had to be authorised and was possible only under ward, a leave of absence for regenerative purposes was declined in many cases, an attempt to flee and the refusal to „work“ or undergo the obligatory medical checks was under penalties such as fines or imprisonment, or even to be taken to prison camps and concentration camps.[31] Moreover, there are sources that are suggestive of women who were shot dead by the SD (Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS) in Eastern Europe because they caught a venereal disease in the brothel that housed them.[32]
The Wehrmacht tried to give their soldiers an incentive to use the brothels rather than uncontrolled prostitution, as pointed out in a situation report from 1942: The „quality“ of the girls is constantly monitored and heed is paid to only engage young, presentable and pretty girls, as this seems to be the only way to compete efficiently with uncontrolled prostitution.[33] In consequence, huge crowds were eager to visit certain brothels, such as the one at the military training area in Neuhammer, as a military doctor remarked on shortly after it was opened:
„In the period 4th – 10th March 1943, there was an average of 22.6 punters per prostitute in the East division, and 25.7 in the West division. On Sunday, 7th March 1943, there was a peak of 27.6, respectively 46.5 punters per prostitute. Since the brothels had opened only seven days earlier, the doctor assumed that an increase in number could be expected.“[34]
Especially interception records are indicative of soldierly punters that knew about the modes of recruitment for the women, and their living conditions, as an example from 1940 clearly illustrates:
„In Warsaw, our troops cued up at the front door. In Radom, the first room was full, while our truck drivers were waiting outside. Each woman had 14 to 15 men in an hour. They replaced the women there every other day there.“[35]
The absence of empathy towards the women marks the traditional claim of a victorious and occupying force to be able to do violence to the women of the opponent in the form of sexual abuse, but also bears wittness to racist motivations. It was denied that French women and Slav women had any kind of „Geschlechtsehre“ (sexual dignity) that could be harmed to begin with.[36] Soldiers claimed furthermore, that what had been done to these women was not significant by reason that they had been prostitutes all along.[37]
Although sometimes soldiers stated on their own account that Wehrmacht brothels are a violence-stricken subject, this did not stop them from making visits to the brothels en masse, nothwithstanding that it was not demanded of them. Using the space to act out sexual violence that the state provided was therefore their own choice. This did not only serve to satisfy sexual needs, but also to secure the image of them as men and an occupying force, as well as enforcing the affiliation with a potent in-group of offenders. The soldierly punters have been talking about what they felt were „erotic feats of valour“ even long after the war, some of them after a boasting fashion, and sometimes quite outspokenly so. The women who have survived the brothels on the other hand, faced life-threatening consequences were they to speak about what had happened to them: Exclusion from society, but also prison, deportation, or death sentences on the grounds of alleged collaboration with the enemy.
A review of Anne S. Respondek’s book „Gerne will ich wieder ins Bordell gehen…“ Maria K.s „freiwillige“ Meldung für ein Wehrmachtsbordell (280 pages, ISBN 978-3-944442-73-0, 34 Euro) published 2019 by Marta Press in Hamburg is available as of October 2019 at the libertarian media library Graswurzelrevolution Nr. 442.
[1] Wehrmachtangehöriger Felbert und Kittel, Abhörprotokoll SRGG 1086, 28.12.1944, TNA, WO 208/4169, zitiert nach Neitzel, Soldaten, p 153
[2]Merkblatt für Soldaten. Merkblatt 53/13. „Deutscher Soldat! Merkblatt zur Verhütung von Geschlechtskrankheiten“, Bundesarchiv Militärarchiv RH12-23-71
[3]Leitender Sanitätsoffizier beim Militärbefehlshaber im Generalgouvernement, Spala, den 2. Oktober 1940, Bericht über die Bordelle für Heeresangehörige im Gen.-Gouv., Bundesarchiv / Militärarchiv RH12-23-1818, p. 1
[4]Der Heeresarzt im Oberkommando des Heeres, Gen St d H / Gen Qu Az. 265 Nr. 17150=40, Abschrift. Betr.: Prostitution und Bordellwesen im besetzten Gebiet Frankreichs, H Qu OKH, den 16.7.1940, Bundesarchiv / Militärarchiv RH12-23-1371
[5]Der Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres, Nr. 8840/41 PA2 (I/Ia) Az. 15, H Qu OKH den 6. September 1941, Geheim. Betr.: Selbstzucht, Anlage 1 Nr. 18497/40, 31. Juli 1940, Bundesarchiv / Militärarchiv RH12-23-1371
[6]Oberkommando des Heeres, Generalstab des Heeres, Generalquartiermeister, Az. 1271 IV b (IIa), Nr. I/13016/42, HQuOKH, den 20. März 1940, Betr.: Prostitution und Bordellwesen in den besetzten Ostgebieten, Bundesarchiv / Militärarchiv RH 12-23-1818
[7]Cf. Gertjejanssen, Wendy Jo, Victims, Heroes, Survivors. Sexual violence on the eastern front during World War II, Ph.D., University of Minnesota, 2004, p. 161
[8]Disziplinarbericht der 8. Zerstörerflotte „Narvik“ für die Zeit vom 1. Juli 1942 bis 1. September 1943, BA/MA, RM 58/39
[9]Wehrkreisarzt XVIII, Schreiben an den Heeressanitätsinspekteur in Berlin, 3.1.1945, NARA, RG-242 78/189, Bl. 761 f., here Bl. 761, quoted by Mühlhäuser, Eroberungen, p. 236
[10]Leitender Sanitätsoffizier beim Militärbefehlshaber im Generalgouvernement, Spala, den 2. Oktober 1940, Bericht über die Bordelle für Heeresangehörige im Gen.-Gouv., Bundesarchiv / Militärarchiv RH12-23-1818
[11]Richtlinien für die Einrichtung von Bordellen in den besetzten Gebieten. Armeeoberkommando 6 O.Qu./IVb, A.H.Qu., am 23. 7. 1940, Bundesarchiv / Militärarchiv RH20-6-1009
[12]Cf. Der Heeresarzt im Oberkommando des Heeres, Gen St d H / Gen Qu Az. 265 Nr. 17150=4o, Abschrift. Betr.: Prostitution und Bordellwesen im besetzten Gebiet Frankreichs, H Qu OKH, den 16.7.1940, Bundesarchiv / Militärarchiv RH12-23-1371
[13]Attachment 3 to ObdH Nr. 8840/41, PA2 (I/Ia) vom 6.9.41, Oberkommando des Heeres, Genu GenStdH, Nr. 11672/40 geh., HQu, den 7. August 1940, Bundesarchiv / Militärarchiv RH12-23-1371
[14]Der Heeresarzt im Oberkommando des Heeres, Gen St d H / Gen Qu Az. 265 Nr. 17150=4o, Abschrift. Betr.: Prostitution und Bordellwesen im besetzten Gebiet Frankreichs, H Qu OKH, den 16.7.1940, Bundesarchiv / Militärarchiv RH12-23-1371 sowie Leitender Sanitätsoffizier beim Militärbefehlshaber im Generalgouvernement, Spala, den 2. Oktober 1940, Bericht über die Bordelle für Heeresangehörige im Gen.-Gouv., Bundesarchiv / Militärarchiv RH12-23-1818
[15]Der Heeresarzt im Oberkommando des Heeres, Gen St d H / Gen Qu Az. 265 Nr. 17150=4o, Abschrift. Betr.: Prostitution und Bordellwesen im besetzten Gebiet Frankreichs, H Qu OKH, den 16.7.1940, Bundesarchiv / Militärarchiv RH12-23-1371
[16]Ibid.
[17]ADML, 80 W 37, dateless document, receipt stamp of the prefecture Maine-et-Loire: 11.7.1940, referrenced after Meinen, Insa, Wehrmacht und Prostitution im besetzten Frankreich, Bremen 2002, p. 57
[18]Oberkommando des Heeres, Generalstab des Heeres, Generalquartiermeister, Az. 255 IV b, Nr. 11244 / 40 (geh.), HQuOKH, 29. Juli 1940, Betr.: Prostitution und Bordellwesen in Belgien und im besetzten Gebiet Frankreichs, Bundesarchiv / Militärarchiv RH12-23-1371
[19]Der Reichsminister des Innern (i.V. gez. Dr. Conti), IVg 3473/39 5670, Betrifft: Bekämpfung der Geschlechtskrankheiten, Berlin, den 18. September 1919, Bundesarchiv / Militärarchiv RH12-23-1818
[20]Feldkommandantur 581, Verwaltungsstab, Vw.Gr. I/2 an die Kreiskommandanturen Rennes, St.-Malo, Fougéres, Redon, Betr.: Überwachung der Prostitution – hier polizeiliche Massnahmen und Strafen, Rennes, 4. April 1941, Bundesarchiv / Militärarchiv RH36-444
[21]Cf. the case of Maria K., Staatliche Kriminalpolizei, Kriminalpolizeileitstelle Posen. Gewerbsunzucht. Staatsarchiv Poznań, Sign.: PL 53/1024/18
[22]Der Reichsführer SS und Chef der Deutschen Polizei im Reichsministerium des Innern, Tgb.Nr. III/491/42 Be./Ha., Führer-Hauptquartier, den 30.6.1942, Betr.: Geschlechtsverkehr von Angehörigen der SS und Polizei mit Frauen einer andersrassigen Bevölkerung, Bundesarchiv / Militärarchiv NS 19/1913, NS 7/266
[23]Leitender Sanitätsoffizier beim Militärbefehlshaber im Generalgouvernement, Spala, den 2. Oktober 1940, Bericht über die Bordelle für Heeresangehörige im Gen.-Gouv., Bundesarchiv / Militärarchiv RH12-23-1818
[24]Cf. Gertjejanssen, Wendy Jo, Victims, Heroes, Survivors. Sexual violence on the eastern front during World War II, Ph.D., University of Minnesota, 2004, p. 195
[25]Cf. Meinen, Wehrmacht und Prostitution, p. 195, p. 204 – 212
[26]Cf. Respondek, Anne S., „‘Gerne will ich wieder ins Bordell gehen‘ – Maria K.s ‚freiwillige‘ Meldung für ein Wehrmachtsbordell“, Hamburg 2019, p. 41 – 69. This essay partly summarises the research results presented in the publication given above.
[27]Cf. Mühlhäuser, Regina, Eroberungen. Sexuelle Gewalttaten und intime Beziehungen deutscher Soldaten in der Sowjetunion, 1941 – 1945, Hamburg 2010 p. 223 ff.
[28]Cf. Gertjejanssen, Victims, p. 177 – 186
[29]Cf. Mühlhäuser, Eroberungen, p. 224
[30]Staatliche Kriminalpolizei, Kriminalpolizeileitstelle Posen. Gewerbsunzucht. Staatsarchiv Poznań, Sign.: PL 53/1024/18, p. 43
[31]Cf. Respondek, „‘Gerne will ich wieder ins Bordell gehen‘“, p. 183 – 185
[32]Cf. Beck, Birgit, Wehrmacht und sexuelle Gewalt. Sexualverbrechen vor deutschen Militärgerichten 1939 – 1945, Paderborn 2004, p. 112
[33]Lagebericht vom 2.10.1942. Blatt 16 zum Lagebericht, Bundesarchiv / Militärarchiv RW35-1221
[34]Div.-Arzt 162.Inf.Div., o.U., den 12.3.43, Betr.: Bordelle auf dem Truppenübungsplatz Neuhammer. Bezug: Ferngespräch des stellv. Wehrkreisarztes VIII mit dem Adjutanten des Div.-Arztes am 11.3.43. An den Korpsarzt beim stellv.Gen.Kdo.VIII A.K. (Wehrkreisarzt VIII) Breslau. Bundesarchiv / Militärarchiv, RH 26-162-58
[35]Wehrmachtangehöriger Wallus, Abhörprotokoll SRA 735, 14. 10. 1940, TNA, WO 208/4120, referrenced after Neitzel, Sönke und Welzer, Harald, Soldaten. Protokolle vom Kämpfen, Sterben und Töten, Frankfurt am Main 2011, p. 221
[36]BA-ZNS S 167, Gericht der 7. Pz.Div., sheet 13, Rechtsgutachten vom 21. Juli 1940, referrenced after Beck, Wehrmacht und sexuelle Gewalt, p. 287 und BA-ZNS S 152, Gericht der 35. Inf.Div.., sheet 9f: Feldurteil vom 24. Oktober 1943, here sheet 9, referrenced after Beck, Wehrmacht und sexuelle Gewalt, p. 290
[37]Beckermann, Ruth, Jenseits des Krieges, Ehemalige Wehrmachtssoldaten erinnern sich, Wien 1998, p. 134, referrenced after Beck, Wehrmacht und sexuelle Gewalt, p. 115