German brothels are modern. Eight of the best red light districts in the world. Best of the Unmentioned

The topic of prostitution in Germany during World War II has always been taboo; only in the 90s did German publications begin to cover this layer of history. This is hard to believe, because as soon as they came to power, the National Socialists began by adding a paragraph to the Criminal Code, according to which disturbing a citizen with a depraved proposal could land him behind bars. In Hamburg alone, about one and a half thousand women accused of prostitution were detained in six months. They were caught on the streets, sent to camps and subjected to forced sterilization. Those women who sold their bodies, combining prostitution with government assignments, were somewhat more fortunate. We are talking here primarily about the notorious “Kitty Salon”, glorified in the painting of the same name by Tinto Brass. (19 photos)

1. In the 19th century in Germany, the creation of brothels was encouraged to avoid numerous diseases. Men, accustomed to the availability of the female body, did not deny themselves their habits and did not consider it immoral to pick up a prostitute. The tradition continued under Nazism, therefore, in connection with numerous cases of rape, homosexuality and diseases of soldiers, on September 9, 1939, Minister of the Interior Wilhelm Frick issued a decree on the creation of brothels in the occupied territories.
To account for front-line brothels and prostitutes, the military department created a special ministry. The cheerful Frau were considered civil servants, had a decent salary, insurance, and enjoyed benefits. The fruits of the propaganda work of Goebbels’ department cannot be discounted: the German man in the street, who had a son or brother during the war, was sensitive to the Wehrmacht, and even among the prostitutes, along with the professionals, there were, as they say, quite a few who went to serve front-line soldiers from patriotic motives.

2. The highest quality service was expected in the hospitals of the Luftwaffe, Goering’s favorite brainchild, where it was envisaged that there would be one full-time Frau for every 20 pilots or 50 technicians from the ground support staff. According to strictly followed rules of conduct, a prostitute met the pilot in clothes, with neat makeup; Immaculately clean underwear, like bedding, had to be changed for each “iron falcon”.

4. It is curious that soldiers of the satellite armies were denied access to German sex establishments. The Reich fed them, armed them, equipped them, but sharing their frau with the Italians, Hungarians, Slovaks, Spaniards, Bulgarians, etc. was considered too much. Only the Hungarians were able to organize for themselves a semblance of field brothels, the rest managed as best they could. The German soldier had a legal limit of visits to the brothel - five to six times a month. In addition, the commander could personally issue a coupon to the person who distinguished himself as an incentive or, on the contrary, punish him with deprivation for misconduct.

6. An hour was allotted for the visit, during which the client had to register a coupon, where the girl’s name, surname and registration number were entered (the soldier was instructed to keep the coupon for 2 months - for every fireman), receive hygiene products (a bar of soap, a towel and three condoms) , wash (according to the regulations, you had to wash twice), and only after that was allowed to the body.
Barter flourished in the units: womanizers exchanged coupons from those who loved food more than sex for marmalade, schnapps, and cigarettes. Some daredevils resorted to tricks and, using other people's coupons, made their way into the sergeants' brothels, where the girls were better, and some even penetrated into the officers' brothels, risking ten days if caught.

8. Having capitulated on June 22, 1940, France provided its numerous brothels to the German occupiers. And in the second half of July, two orders arrived to suppress street prostitution and create brothels for the Wehrmacht.
The Nazis confiscated the brothels they liked, recruited management and staff, adhering to the criteria of Aryan racial purity. Officers were prohibited from visiting these establishments; special hotels were created for them. Thus, the Wehrmacht command wanted to stop sodomy and the spread of venereal diseases in the army; increase the soldier's motivation and resilience; stop intimate relationships on the side, for fear of espionage and the birth of defectives; and saturate it with sex to stop the sex crimes that are shaking the ranks of the army.

9. Only foreigners worked in these brothels - mostly Polish and French. At the end of 1944, the number of civilians exceeded 7.5 million. Among them were also our compatriots. For pennies, raising the economy of warring Germany, living in closed settlements, they had the opportunity to shop with a coupon in a brothel, which was encouraged by the employer.

11. To visit the brothel, the prisoner had to make an application and buy the so-called Sprungkarte worth 2 Reichsmarks. For comparison, a pack of 20 cigarettes in the canteen cost 3 Reichsmarks. Jews were prohibited from visiting the brothel. Weak after a day of work, the prisoners did not willingly go to the brothels provided to them by Himmler. Some for moral reasons, others for material ones, a brothel voucher could be profitably exchanged for food.

Germany is one of the few countries in Europe where prostitution is legalized. Sex tourists and sex workers from all over the world flock here. The turnover of this business is already estimated at billions of euros, but tax revenues, according to German authorities, are still extremely small. In order to shake out money, tax audits are carried out in brothels and at the place of registration of prostitutes and legislation is tightened. How Germany turned into the largest brothel in Europe - in the material of Lenta.ru.

Promising market

Since the beginning of the third millennium, Germany has held the title of Europe's largest brothel. On January 1, 2002, the “Law on the Regulation of Legal Relations of Persons Engaged in Prostitution” came into force in the country. Thanks to him, sex workers were able to officially register, including as self-employed, and received social insurance and pensions. The law also spells out the job duties of brothel owners and pimps; their main task is to ensure the safety of prostitutes.

After legalization, the market began to grow rapidly. According to expert estimates, in the first few years it increased by 30 percent. Now people come to Germany both to earn money (in most neighboring countries prostitution is still punishable by law) and for entertainment. Now this is one of the main centers of sex tourism; trips are organized, among other things, by special travel agencies that select routes depending on the preferences of clients. For example, you can visit nine clubs in several large cities in six days.

imago stock&people / Globallookpress.com

Most of the market still remains in the shadows. Germany's Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth admitted in 2016 that there are no reliable statistics on the number of sex workers in the country. Experts agree that we are talking about at least 400 thousand people involved in prostitution, who serve an average of one million clients per day.

Most of the employees are women, but men, of course, are also involved in this business. Approximately 89,500 people are employed in brothels, which include bars, clubs, massage parlors and so-called party clubs. About 71.6 thousand prostitutes work on the streets. Another 60 thousand men and women collect orders through modeling agencies and thematic websites. It is unknown what proportion of the total number are forced to sell their bodies, but such cases apparently still occur. According to the European Commission, between 2010 and 2012 more than 30 thousand people became victims of human trafficking in Europe.

German megaprojects

After the business became legal, new formats began to be actively promoted in the country. For example, megabrothels have appeared - huge complexes employing hundreds of people. The most famous among them are Artemis in Berlin, Pascha in Cologne and Paradise in Stuttgart, you can also remember Babylon in Hamburg or Magnum in Dusseldorf. For example, Artemis occupies about three thousand square meters. The club was founded in 2005 with investments amounting to 5 million euros. Like most mega-brothels, Artemis bills itself simply as a health club that provides a meeting space. Prostitutes there work independently, paying rent for meeting rooms located on the third floor. Every day there are 80-120 girls there; the establishment’s website specifically states that they decide for themselves when to go to work and can always refuse visitors.

The three-story club includes two cinemas, three saunas, a swimming pool, a gym, a dining room and a roof terrace. The entrance ticket costs 80 euros (pensioners and taxi drivers pay half). The price includes access to the saunas and swimming pool, soft drinks (you have to pay extra for alcohol separately) and a buffet. Visitors pay the girls themselves, and only in cash. It is worth noting that Artemis has been criticized for offering unprotected oral sex (this is contrary to German law, paragraph 32 of the Prostitution Act). According to Artemis spokesman Egbert Krumeich, the average number of visitors is about 110 thousand people a year.

Leonhard Foeger/Reuters

The Pascha brothel, located in Frankfurt, is considered the largest in Europe. It occupies 12 floors, the total area is nine thousand square meters. It employs 120 prostitutes and about 80 other employees, and receives about a thousand clients a day. It is also stated here that the girls work independently, for staying in the club they pay 180 euros per day, this amount includes health insurance and 20 euros, which are transferred as tax. It is worth noting that only 30 percent of employees at Pascha are German citizens. For a long time, so-called Flat Rate Bordelle operated in the country - establishments of a lower class, where for a fixed amount (usually about 150 euros) you could get unlimited sex with women present, but after the law on prostitution was tightened in 2017, such places were banned as promoting exploitation.

Taxes are not paid extra

Prostitution in Germany is classified as personal services and is subject to a progressive income tax that starts at 17 percent and rises as income increases. In addition, you must pay a sales tax of 19 percent or a flat tax not tied to fees. In Germany, it is called the “Düsseldorf procedure” - the average fixed rate is usually 25 euros per day, its amount is determined by local authorities, so the amount may fluctuate.

According to the court's calculations, the annual turnover of German sex workers ranges from 30 thousand to 120 thousand euros, while, as the Court of Audit suggests, about 100 thousand people are employed full time. Total sales tax collections should be 1.4 billion euros, or 1 billion euros if the Dusseldorf procedure is 25 euros per day. As stated in the cover letter to the Arbitration Court's report, in fact there is "no significant tax revenue of any kind going to the Treasury." Representatives of the fiscal authorities complain that this business is dominated by cash payments, which are not recorded in any way, employees tend to frequently change their place of residence and rarely register with the tax authorities, a significant part of the employees are foreigners who come to work from neighboring countries, and then the watches are returning.

Business is a nightmare

The authorities continue to try to bring sex work under strict control. Thus, in April 2016, a police raid took place in Artemis, in which more than 900 police officers, customs officers and prosecutors took part. The owners of the mega-brothel were suspected of connections with the Hells Angels motorcycle club, banned in Germany, and human trafficking. At a press conference, representatives of security forces said that the girls were forced into prostitution, while they “worked like slaves in the cotton fields.”

These high-profile accusations soon fell apart. An official audit, which was later confirmed by Die Welt journalists who organized an independent investigation, showed that the women at Artemis were not employees and were not coerced by the administration or clients. Also, connections with the Hells Angels have not been confirmed. Bikers actually visited the club, but the employees themselves reported them to the Department of Criminal Investigations.

Law enforcement officers did not want to give up and immediately brought forward the following charge - tax evasion. Prostitutes in Artemis must adhere to a dress code and internal rules of conduct. This was regarded as a relationship between employees and the employer, so the club owners were suspected of failing to pay the required deductions. During the investigation, it was recognized that there are cases where self-employed people are required to comply with the internal rules of the site where they work, but this does not transform them into the status of employees. The investigation lasted two years, but never came to trial. The press regarded this as a police fiasco. “The campaign was started without any serious evidence; as a result, the reputation and authority of the capital’s security forces suffered greatly,” one of the Berlin officials commented on the end of this high-profile case.

Other brothel operators have not been so lucky. In 2017, the Augsburg District Court sentenced the founder of the Pascha club to three years and nine months in prison for tax evasion. In Düsseldorf, the brothel owner received eight years and one month in prison. He was accused of crimes against clients - blackmail, robbery, causing bodily harm. He also administered sleeping pills to his guests.

A new round of repression

In 2017, the law on prostitution was amended and tightened, which caused discontent among trade unions. For example, one of the oldest associations of sex workers in Berlin, founded in 1980, HYDRA, opposed it. The Germans were also supported by their foreign colleagues; in France, a demonstration of solidarity was held by the local organization STRASS, many of its members come to work in Germany. Most of all, the professional community was outraged by the mandatory registration of sex workers, including erotic or tantric massage therapists/masseuses and dominant service providers (professions related to the demonstration of sex - filming porn, participating in peep shows, and the like - the rules do not apply).

From 18 to 21 years of age, registration must be renewed every year, and after that every two years. A registration certificate (“passport for prostitution”, Prostituiertenausweis) is required to be carried with you while working, indicating the surname and first name or pseudonym, date and place of birth, citizenship and permanent jobs. It is also necessary to obtain a work permit for operators of sexual services - owners of brothels, specialized bars, and so on. Previously popular practices in Germany - Flat Rate Bordelle and Gang Bang Parties - were banned because they "contradict sexual self-government and promote exploitation."

Maurizio Gambarini / DPA / Globallookpress.com

Lawmakers said the credentials would increase protections for market participants, but unions saw only repressive practices that would lead to additional stigma. Many people hide such work from relatives, and mandatory registration can make this information public. The right of the police and tax authorities to carry out inspections at the workplace, stipulated in the law, was perceived as a violation of the right to the inviolability of the home.

It must be said that the fears have already been partially confirmed. Opponents of the law recall the story of one employee working as an escort: after registration, representatives of the tax police paid a visit to her place of residence to find out some of the nuances associated with paying sales tax. The woman herself was not at home, but the police had a long conversation with her parents, for whom their daughter’s profession came as a surprise. It is not surprising that registration is extremely reluctant. By July 2018, only 87 of the 8 thousand prostitutes working in the city were registered in Berlin.

Brothel operators also complain about difficulties in re-registration; they have to face criticism from a variety of inspection bodies. There is no single list of requirements; local authorities decide a lot, so the interpretation of regulations can be very different: some pay increased attention to hygiene, while others pay special attention to fire safety. As a result, there was a decline in the erotic real estate market; some owners were already exhausted by the confrontation with the authorities and were ready to go out of business, but at the end of 2018 it was extremely difficult to find buyers.

Due to tightening regulations, the services of lawyers and real estate agents who understand the specifics of the market have become in demand. Prostitution is becoming a more serious business that needs more specialists working in a variety of fields. Those who are used to working the old fashioned way may be thrown out of the game by the new rules, but a new type of pimp will willingly take their place. Given that neighboring countries have less liberal legislation, Germany will remain a magnet for sex tourists and sex workers from all over the world.

War has always required young and strong men, who had to be under stress for many days and months in an all-male team. Women who made their income from selling their own bodies found great demand among the soldiers for the services offered. Two ancient activities - war and prostitution - found their common ground in military brothels.

The history of the official emergence of brothels goes back to the 7th century BC, when the legislator Solon first introduced the definition of prostitution into the code of laws - “women for public use, ready for services for payment.” “Public women” needed a room in which they could provide services - so brothels appeared among the city buildings, they were also brothels, they were also brothels. The latter name refers to Roman law, which already introduced a distinction between prostitutes working officially and secretly. Later, a special name appeared for a brothel located in a separate building - lupanarium. The name comes from the Latin word for she-wolf (lupa), which is what prostitutes were called in Rome.

Roman society was militarized. In peacetime, the size of the army was about 100 thousand people, and in case of war it increased threefold. Since legionnaires were forbidden to start a family, brothels were set up near the fortress walls, where the barracks were located. During the campaign, prostitutes made up a significant part of the military convoy. The commander Scipio (185–129 BC) was forced to expel two thousand prostitutes from his convoy in order to “lighten” the army. Sometimes, especially in remote regions of the empire, settlements of prostitutes near garrisons gradually turned into permanent settlements. Thus, already in ancient Rome, brothels became an integral part of the functioning of the army.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, prostitution did not disappear in Europe, but the dominance of the Christian Church brought it out of the legal field. Thus, in 1256, the French king Louis IX issued a decree in which he banned specialized brothels and introduced very strict measures against taverns where the body trade was carried out. But the European Middle Ages were by no means lost to the development of brothels. Wars played a significant role in this. The Crusaders returned bathhouse prostitution to Europe, the tradition of which was completely forgotten after the Great Migration. Joint bathing was widely practiced in the East, and the participants of the crusades, admired by this practice, began to actively use it in Europe after returning home. After the Crusades, the connection between baths and prostitution became so close that in Avignon some baths began to be officially called brothels. In this regard, in 1441, the city leadership had to issue a special decree prohibiting married men and members of the clergy from visiting the baths.

In the 14th–15th centuries, brothels were gradually legalized not only in the form of baths, but also specialized establishments were created. During this period, in European cities, authorities recommended opening brothels on specially designated streets, which were often built near barracks and universities. This was the prototype of future “red light districts”. It is noteworthy that this name also comes from Ancient Rome, where at the entrance to a brothel candles were lit according to the number of free women.

The heyday of brothels at the end of the Middle Ages ended in the 16th century, when Spanish and French soldiers brought syphilis from the first colonial wars in the New World, leading to the outbreak of a large-scale epidemic in 1496. In 1512 it will reach Japan. Historians call syphilis the leading cause of death in Europe in the 16th century. For several centuries, European states sought to regulate prostitution, paying particular attention to hygiene. The development of science and the emergence of a scientific picture of the world stimulated the introduction of special rules for brothel owners and prostitutes. By the middle of the 19th century, prostitution was legalized in almost all European countries. In Russia this happened in 1843. In this regard, the question of creating special “military brothels” was almost never raised in the 17th–19th centuries. The conquest of an enemy city promised soldiers and officers access to brothels, the workers of which adhered to international beliefs.

At the beginning of the 20th century, armies continued to grow. The First World War was a triumph for the idea of ​​a mass conscript army - 71 million men were put under arms. To maintain an army for years, an entire industry was now required. In such a situation, the issue of sexual services for soldiers was still resolved by seizing nearby brothels. They were divided according to the quality of services provided into officers and soldiers. In large front-line cities there were stationary “sexual relief units”. The Austrians specially organized a civilian additional corps, where thousands of women underwent difficult sexual service. Nurses performed a similar function in the Russian army.

In France, they came up with an innovative solution to providing brothels for a multimillion-dollar army. Mobile brothels were created and attached to military units. These were cargo trailers in which up to ten women “worked.” This innovation later appeared in many European armies.

Already during the First World War, military doctors stated that, despite the hygiene measures provided, mobile brothels turned into breeding grounds for sexually transmitted diseases. But the military command chose to ignore these complaints.

WEHRMACHT BROTHELS

The basis of family policy in Nazi Germany was the “principle of three Ks” - Kinder, Küche, Kirche (child, kitchen, church), outlining the boundaries of a woman’s interests. While declaring family values, the Third Reich simultaneously welcomed prostitution. German police chief Heinrich Himmler considered it an antidote to the homosexuality and rape that flourished in the Wehrmacht. At the same time, the life of prostitutes was strictly regulated, like any activity in the Nazi state. The truly German desire to do everything in the best possible way led to the fact that absolutely precise instructions were drawn up, prescribing not only what a brothel worker should wear when meeting a client, but also how many times this same client had to soap himself before accessing bed pleasures.

All brothels were divided into categories: soldiers', non-commissioned officers' (sergeants') brothels, sergeant's (sergeants') brothels and officers' brothels. In soldiers' brothels, the state was supposed to have prostitutes in the ratio: one per 100 soldiers. For sergeants, this figure was reduced to 75. But in the officers' quarters, one prostitute served 50 officers. In aviation units it was supposed to have one prostitute for every 20 pilots and one for every 50 ground staff. In addition to “stationary” brothels, there were also mobile ones, which were trailers on wheels. So that they could keep up with the advancing units, they were made small - 5, 10 and 20 workers each.

Everything related to the “sexual provision” of soldiers was organized with German pedantry - almost every military unit (especially in the first two years of the war) was followed by a field brothel assigned to it by state. Scrupulous Germans kept strict records of front-line brothels and prostitutes. All prostitutes who worked in field brothels were listed as government employees of the defense department. They received a salary, insurance, uniforms, and had certain benefits. “Production standards” were established for each prostitute. A soldier's prostitute in the ground forces had to serve at least 600 clients per month. In aviation and navy, only 60 clients needed to be accepted per month.

At first, the selection criteria for prostitutes in brothels were very strict. Only true German women who grew up in the internal, native German lands of Bavaria, Saxony or Silesia had the right to work in officer brothels. They had to be at least 175 cm tall, have fair hair, blue or light gray eyes and have good manners. German women went to brothels exclusively voluntarily and out of patriotic motives. Moreover, this work was considered honorable: German girls sincerely believed that they were making their contribution to the victory of great Germany. After the attack on the USSR, in brothels for sergeants and foremen it was allowed to have prostitutes of Latvian nationality, indigenous residents of Karelia, and German women from colonists who settled on the Ukrainian lands of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. The soldiers had an even easier time getting workers. When Belarus and Ukraine were occupied, local Volksdeutsche were also allowed to participate in competitions for work in brothels. They tried to select girls who were as close as possible to Aryan standards - height, hair and eye color, absence of deformities and knowledge of the language. The selection of prostitutes from the occupation territories was under the control of local Gauleiters. There was no shortage of applicants, since even the Volksdeutsche received salaries, food rations, and certain benefits. However, they were no longer considered civil servants and were not entitled to a work book, insurance, or vacation.

There were also rules for the behavior of soldiers and girls in a brothel, and each branch of the military added its own to the general paragraphs. For example, a prostitute had to meet pilots in clothes and neat makeup. The girl's underwear, as well as the bed linen, had to be immaculately clean and changed for each visitor. But in the ground forces, where the situation with comfort was worse, and the time for each client was limited (10-20 people had to be received per day), the girl could meet the next lucky guy already lying in bed in only underwear. Bed linen in officers' establishments was changed for each client, and in soldiers' brothels it was supposed to be changed after every tenth client. But this did not mean that a prostitute could afford to receive soldiers in unsanitary conditions. All girls, as well as their rooms, were examined daily by a doctor; if necessary, he immediately prescribed preventive or therapeutic procedures. This was strictly monitored by the brothel manager, who usually had a medical background.

In addition to the fact that every German soldier had the right to relax with a girl five or six times a month, commanders could personally issue him incentive coupons. Such a reward could await the one who destroys an enemy officer higher than the company commander or machine gun crew. At the same time, a ticket to a brothel in the hands of the commander was a tool (and a very effective one) for maintaining discipline in a company or battalion. After all, for violating the order, a soldier could be deprived of his scheduled visit to a brothel. By the way, only soldiers’ and sergeants’ brothels moved directly behind the troops. They were located in a village or town not far from the unit where the soldier received his leave. Officers were served in specially created hotels. For those officers who were not allowed to go far, prostitutes were delivered to their homes. And soldiers and sergeants received a special pass on their leave. They were issued according to a strict list, and before going to the lady, the soldier was necessarily examined by the unit’s doctor in order to prevent the girls from contracting skin and fungal diseases that were very common among soldiers. Soldiers had a blue ticket, sergeants had a pink one. But this was just the beginning of all the severity. Firstly, a soldier was given only an hour to visit a prostitute. At the entrance to the brothel, he had to present a soldier’s book, register a coupon (the counterfoil with a note about the visit then had to be returned to the unit’s office), and receive personal hygiene products (this gentleman’s set included a bar of soap, a small towel and three condoms). Then you had to wash yourself, and according to the regulations you had to wash yourself twice! And only after this could the soldier come to the prostitute. The time to prepare for the trial was counted in the total time allotted according to the rules. The cost of visiting a soldier's brothel ranged from one to three marks. Doctors and paramedics from military units had to provide brothels not only with soap, towels and disinfectants, but also with a sufficient number of condoms. The latter, by the way, until the end of the war were centrally supplied from the Main Sanitary Directorate in Berlin. Even when supply problems began to arise in the Third Reich, and rubber was provided for certain industries on a special schedule, the Nazis never skimped on condoms for their own soldiers. In addition to the brothels themselves, soldiers could purchase condoms in buffets, kitchens and from supply officials.

The Germans cared less about their allies (Hungarians, Bulgarians, Slovaks, Finns, etc.). Food, weapons and uniforms were supplied, and the organization of brothels was entrusted to the allies themselves. And only the Hungarians were able to organize something like field brothels. The rest got out as best they could, since access to German establishments was closed to soldiers of the satellite armies. For example, in Stalino (now Donetsk) there was a brothel called “Italian casino for Italian soldiers and officers.” 18 Ukrainian women worked hard there.

"Kitty's Salon"

The elite brothel in Nazi Germany existed in a single copy. From 1939 to 1942, Berlin hosted the so-called “Kitty Salon” for important foreign guests. But representatives of the Nazi elite also loved to go there. The idea of ​​​​creating an elite brothel belonged to the head of the Main Directorate of Imperial Security of the SS R. Heydrich, and it was brought to life by Walter Schellenberg. Considering the specifics of the service under whose auspices “Kitty’s salon” was created, it is not surprising that the brothel was stocked with listening equipment. Personnel selection was carried out strictly. Schellenberg personally selected 20 women who had to look intelligent, know several foreign languages, be convinced Nazis and have pronounced tendencies towards nymphomania. After this, they received espionage training. In fact, in Kitty’s salon they checked how faithful the top functionaries were to the regime and the ideas of National Socialism. In his memoirs, Labyrinth, Schellenberg noted that the costs of training the girls and equipment were not covered by the bits of information obtained, despite the fact that the brothel was visited by high-ranking foreigners and officials of the imperial government. In 1942, the house where Kitty's salon was located was hit by an air bomb. The salon was partially restored, and under the control of the security service it existed almost until 1945. From 1946, it began to function for its intended purpose until its end - 1994.

Brothels in the occupied territory

On September 9, 1939, German Interior Minister W. Frick, trying to keep soldiers from rape, homosexuality and venereal diseases, ordered the creation of brothels for the Wehrmacht in the occupied territories. In 1942, there were already 569 official brothels, divided approximately equally between the Western and Eastern Fronts. Despite this, the criminal statistics of the Wehrmacht for 1944 numbered 5,349 men convicted of moral offenses, pederasty, pedophilia... For the rape of minors, the tribunal could sentence them to death. And most of the cases were brought in France. In the East, such crimes were treated more tolerantly, although there were orders prohibiting Wehrmacht soldiers from having sexual relations with women of non-Aryan origin, motivated by the need to save the seed fund.

Brothel in the building of a former synagogue. France. 1940

Typical “stationary” French brothels

German soldiers on vacation with French women. Coast of France 1940

Street prostitutes in Paris

France, as the world-recognized country of love, made one of the most significant contributions to the sexual services of the occupiers. The country capitulated at the end of June 1940, and already in mid-July decrees appeared on the fight against street prostitution and the creation of brothels for Wehrmacht military personnel. The Germans simply confiscated the brothels they liked, including mobile ones, changed their management and strictly monitored the implementation of the rules they established. In Paris alone, by decision of the occupation authorities, 20 brothels were preserved. According to some estimates, during the Second World War, about 400 thousand German soldiers became infected with venereal disease in French mobile and “stationary” brothels. In general, about 1 million German soldiers fell ill during the war years.

In Scandinavia and the Benelux countries, the Wehrmacht also made extensive use of existing brothels. Moreover, their owners received significantly more income when collaborating with the army than under normal conditions.

In the USSR, there was no official market for sexual services, and the occupiers had to create one. At first, girls were brought to the Eastern Front from Western Europe. For example, in Zhitomir, the Germans opened a brothel with Dutch women after cases of sexually transmitted diseases became more frequent among the troops stationed in the city. A fashionable brothel for Luftwaffe officers was opened in Smolensk. Its personnel were brought from France and Poland. Soon there was a shortage of Aryan citizens and in March 1942 an order was given to staff the brothels with local women who met Aryan beauty standards and spoke German. The further into the interior of the country the occupiers moved, the softer the selection criteria became - they looked only at external indicators. Women from occupied nations were hired to work in brothels not always with their consent. Some were offered work with their bodies through labor exchanges that operated in occupied cities, while others were taken by force. And some went to similar extremes to escape hunger. Sometimes the German authorities simply deceived the Slavs. For example, in Kyiv, the city labor exchange at one time offered Ukrainian women jobs as waitresses. But after two or three days in the officers' messes, they were forcibly sent to the officers' brothels. Typically, brothels employed between 10 and 30 women.

In settlements with a significant number of Wehrmacht units, the field commandant gave permission to open a brothel and took responsibility for its equipment in strict accordance with hygienic standards. Bathrooms with hot water and toilets were mandatory, and a poster hung above the bed prohibiting doing “this” without personal protective equipment.

There are cases when brothels were not officially registered. In some canteens and restaurants where German soldiers dined, there were so-called visiting rooms. Waitresses and dishwashers, in addition to their main work in the kitchen and hall, additionally provided sexual services.

Brothel in Ukraine. 1941

Regulatory orders on the operation of brothel houses were issued by the commandants of German-occupied settlements. Here's what the daily routine of an average brothel looked like:

6.00 – medical examination.

9.00 – breakfast (soup, dried potatoes, porridge, 200 g of bread).

9.30–11.00 – exit to the city.

11.00–13.00 – stay at the hotel, preparation for work.

13.00–13.30 – lunch (first course, 200 g of bread).

14.00–20.30 – customer service.

21.00 – dinner.

Individual prostitution was also regulated. Here is one such order from the commandant of Kursk dated September 19, 1942, entitled “Instruction for the regulation of prostitution”:

- Only women who are on the list of prostitutes, have a control card and are regularly examined by a special doctor for sexually transmitted diseases can engage in prostitution.

— A prostitute must adhere to the following regulations when performing her profession:

a) engage in her trade only in her apartment, which must be registered by her in the housing office and in the Department of Law Enforcement;

b) nail a sign to your apartment, as directed by the relevant doctor, in a visible place;

c) has no right to leave his area of ​​the city;

d) any attraction and recruitment on the streets and in public places is prohibited;

e) the prostitute must strictly follow the instructions of the relevant doctor, in particular, regularly and accurately appear at the specified time for examination;

f) sexual intercourse without rubber guards is prohibited.

The order also provided for punishments for the guilty priestesses of love. Women who infect Germans or members of the Allied Nations with a venereal disease were punished with death if they knew about it before sexual intercourse. A prostitute who had intercourse with a German or a person of an allied nation without, as the document stated, a “rubber guard” and infected him, was subject to the same punishment. Those girls who were engaged in the most ancient craft could get six months of work without submitting documents to be included in the list of prostitutes.

The earnings of girls in brothels were approximately 500 rubles a week (the Soviet ruble circulated in this territory in parallel with the stamp, the exchange rate was 10: 1). Street prostitutes could work simply for food or small gifts. The luckiest ones had regular customers and led a fairly prosperous lifestyle.

It should be noted that in addition to prostitution, the occupiers simply forced many women into cohabitation, intimidating them with the possibility of execution or blackmailing them with children and relatives, sometimes for the opportunity to receive food.

However, the presence of brothels and free working prostitutes did not protect Soviet women from mass rape by German soldiers.

Despite all the measures taken by the occupiers to prevent and combat sexually transmitted diseases, they left a rather difficult legacy for the country. After the war, the average incidence of syphilis in the USSR was 174.6 people per 100 thousand population. Although the main merit in this belonged not to the women who withstood the occupation, but to the men who visited Europe on a liberation mission. It took Soviet medicine 10 years to return the average level of the disease to the pre-war level (3.5 cases per 100 thousand people).

Brothels for foreigners and hired workers

After the capture of Poland, an influx of civilian workers began in Germany; in 1940 there were already more than a million of them. To prevent unwanted pregnancies of German women and to provide an outlet for the sexual energy of foreigners, brothels for hired workers began to be organized in the fall of 1941. In November, the number of institutions that were supposed to not only preserve the purity of the Aryan race, but also increase efficiency, reached 60. Only foreigners worked in these brothels - mostly Polish and French. At the end of 1944, the number of civilians exceeded 7.5 million. For pennies, raising the economy of warring Germany, living in closed settlements, they had the opportunity to shop with a coupon in a brothel, which was encouraged by the employer.

Brothels in concentration camps

According to the proposal of Reichsführer SS Himmler, brothels on the territory of concentration camps were supposed to increase the productivity of loyal prisoners. Visits to brothels were included in the list of permitted incentives for camp prisoners, along with improved living conditions, enhanced rations, monetary rewards and the purchase of tobacco products. In total, 10 camp brothels were opened in 1942-1945, through which several hundred women passed. Such camps existed in the Mauthausen, Gusen, Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Flossenbürg, Neuengamme, Dachau, Dora-Mittelbau and Sachsenhausen camps. Slave prostitutes were recruited mainly from the Ravensbrück concentration camp, the main contingent of which were women.

Brothel building at Mauthausen concentration camp

Himmler's inspection of the camp brothel

The first brothel for prisoners was opened in the Mauthausen camp in Upper Austria in barracks No. 1. It was located in ten small rooms with barred windows, designed for 10 women. According to the developed standard, there was one prostitute for every 300-500 men. The largest brothel was in the Auschwitz concentration camp - 60 women were selected from among the prisoners who “worked” almost until the last day of the camp’s existence. To distinguish prostitutes from ordinary prisoners, “black triangles” were sewn onto the sleeves of their jackets.

In total, up to 500 women aged 17 to 35 years passed through camp brothels in ten camps, according to various estimates. More than 60% of the prostitute prisoners were German, in addition, in the “special teams” there were Polish women, prisoners from the Soviet Union and one Dutch woman. There were no Jews among them; Jewish prisoners also did not have the right to visit the camp brothels. In addition, brothels were used for forced "correction" testing of homosexual prisoners. Approximately 70% of prostitute prisoners were sent to concentration camps as “asocial elements”, and some had previously engaged in prostitution while free and were used as mentors in brothels. SS camp personnel were strictly forbidden to have sex with brothel prostitutes.

Women selected for the camp brothels were placed in the infirmary, where they were brought into “shape” - they were given calcium injections, they took disinfectant baths, ate themselves and sunbathed under quartz lamps. They were then transferred to the brothels themselves, which were typically fenced buildings on the edge of the camp, guarded initially by female SS personnel and, from late 1943, by prisoners drawn primarily from the elderly prisoners of Ravensbrück. The brothels had rooms for doctors, waiting rooms, water closets and showers.

In accordance with the racist hierarchy, at first only German prisoners from privileged “classes” were allowed to visit the camp brothels: overseers, elders and the like, and the cost of visiting was high - 2 Reichmarks, which went to the imperial treasury. Later the rules extended to foreigners. To visit the brothel, clients received a special coupon - “Sprungkarte”, which could be profitably exchanged for food. Brothel clients could choose a woman, but first underwent a medical examination and received permission. Conversations and simple communication, without sexual intercourse, were prohibited. The duration of the visit was regulated by 15 minutes, privacy was not provided during intercourse - the rooms had peepholes for surveillance, and only the missionary position was allowed. The daily rate of one prisoner was up to 10 men in two to three hours. As a rule, the brothel worked in the evening, from 19 to 22 hours. On those evenings when there was no light or water, an air raid alert was announced or the Fuhrer's speech was broadcast on the radio, the brothel was closed.

It was rare to get pregnant in brothels, both because of the forced sterilization of many prisoners and because of the harsh conditions of detention; when pregnancy was detected, the woman was replaced and usually sent for an abortion. Condoms were not provided, and women had to figure out how to protect themselves. To prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, visitors were provided with disinfectant ointments, and prostitutes were constantly swabbed for gonorrhea and blood for syphilis, and those infected were also replaced. Among the prisoners, their own hierarchy arose: there were those who were loved and those who were not popular. “Favorite” girls, in order not to be tormented by visits, paid supervisors to redirect clients. For one client, the girl was entitled to 45 pfennigs, but only 20 came into her hands. The guards played the role of pimps, providing especially notable girls with new clients, paying the girls with clothes and food.

The position of a camp prostitute, extremely humiliating from an ordinary point of view, in the monstrous conditions of the concentration camp was regarded by many prisoners as desirable and prestigious; almost all camp prostitutes lived to see liberation. In addition, women were lured by rumors that after six months of working in a brothel, prisoners were released, although usually after this period they were either left to continue working or returned to the camp. The supposed “voluntary” participation of women in camp brothels served as one of the reasons for the stigmatization of victims and the subsequent taboo of research into this phenomenon. The topic of sexual slavery in concentration camps was not addressed at the Nuremberg trials and was taboo in scientific research until the 1990s. Even today it is hushed up under the slogan of the absence of sexual violence in European society.

"COMFORT STATIONS" IN JAPAN

“Comfort stations” were military brothels that operated from 1932 to 1945 in Japanese-occupied territories in East and Southeast Asia, serving Japanese soldiers and officers. Considering materials about the mass rape of local women by Japanese soldiers in the occupied territory of China, Lieutenant General Yasuji Okamura appealed to the command with a proposal to create “comfort stations,” justifying this by the fact that “the stations are created to reduce anti-Japanese sentiments that arose in the occupied territories, and also for the sake of the need to prevent a decrease in the combat effectiveness of soldiers due to the appearance of sexually transmitted and other diseases in them.”

Women of "comfort" 1945

The first “comfort station” was opened in 1932 in Shanghai, where female volunteers from Japan were recruited. However, over time, the number of stations increased, and with it the demand increased. Then women began to be brought from Indonesian and Philippine internment camps, and advertisements for young women were published in the occupied territories. According to various estimates, from 50 to 300 thousand young women passed through the “comfort stations,” many of whom were under 18 years of age. Only a quarter of them survived to the end of the war due to the terrible living conditions - they served 20-30 soldiers a day. Due to the unbearable “working” conditions at the stations, there were frequent cases of women committing suicide. In addition, Japanese soldiers could abuse women with impunity, beat and maim them, and even kill them. The exhausted and sick were also killed. The mortality rate among women was especially high in the marching brothels that followed the front line.

In front of the Japanese Embassy in the Republic of Korea stands a bronze statue of a girl, symbolizing "comfort women"

From 1910 to 1945, Korea was a Japanese colony and its residents were forced to learn Japanese, which meant that Korean women were easier to use and communicate on "stations" compared to women of other nationalities. The Japanese military, together with the police, rounded up Korean women during raids and forced thousands into sexual slavery. Both girls aged 11-14 years old and women with infants were sent to the “stations”, from whom they were forcibly separated. According to various estimates, up to 200 thousand Korean women were kept as “comfort women” in Japanese military brothels. Twenty years ago, the Japanese government publicly apologized for the actions of the Japanese army in Korea. That statement said that "the Japanese army was directly and indirectly involved in the establishment and operation of brothels and the supply of Korean women to them, often against their will."

Malay girls forcibly taken by the Japanese military to work in "comfort stations". 1945

The "comfort stations" were divided into three groups. The first were under the direct control of the Japanese military command. These were elite institutions where pretty young Japanese women worked. Only senior officers were clients here. The second, the largest in number, were formally controlled by private individuals, but de facto were subordinate to the military. They were owned by persons close to senior officers. The supply of “live goods” to them was carried out both by themselves and by the military. Still others were purely private establishments, in which, if they had money and desire, they could serve both military and civilian clients.

Women underwent weekly medical examinations for sexually transmitted diseases. There were cases when military doctors themselves raped healthy people. If infected, they were administered “drug 606,” an arsenic-containing drug called salvarsan. With the same medicine, but in higher doses, doctors saved girls from unwanted pregnancies. The fetus simply could not withstand the aggressive chemical and died in the womb. After which it was impossible to get pregnant again. If a woman’s uterus did not reject the fetus, the woman could even die from sepsis.

Since 1938, the number of “comfort stations” began to increase sharply, covering the entire territory of the Japanese Empire. By mid-1942, there were 100 “comfort stations” in Northern China, 140 in Central China, 40 in Southern China, 100 in Southeast Asia, 10 in the South Seas, and 10 in Sakhalin. In total, 400 were operating. comfort stations." However, despite such a number of “comfort stations,” the rape of local women did not stop, since for each visit of soldiers to the “station” they had to pay.

The “comfort stations” ceased to exist with the defeat and withdrawal of the Japanese from the occupied territory.

Interrogation of a Chinese sex slave. 1945

Estimates of the number of “comfort women” range from 20 thousand (Japanese data) to 410 thousand (Chinese data). There is controversy regarding the nature and scale of this phenomenon in Japanese, Chinese and Korean historiography. Japanese historians tend to emphasize the purely private and voluntary nature of prostitution. Chinese and Korean historians point to facts of abduction and forced prostitution of girls at “comfort stations”, indicating direct intent to commit these crimes on the part of the Japanese command. In the 1990s. The Japanese government apologized several times for forcing women into prostitution, but refused to provide financial compensation.

Home of the former Japanese "Comfort Station" in Shanghai. 2011

In 1995, the Asian Women's Fund was created by the Japanese government to compensate comfort women from South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, the Netherlands and Indonesia. In addition to monetary compensation, each woman also received a written apology signed by the Prime Minister of Japan. The fund was created and financed by the government, and was under the direct control of the Japanese Cabinet and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The foundation was a quasi-public organization, but was run by volunteers who were private citizens. The fund did not operate in China and North Korea. The Japanese government failed to reach an agreement with China, and Japan does not maintain diplomatic relations with North Korea. Japanese nationalists opposed the fund's activities because, in their opinion, it was trying to solve a "non-existent problem." During the foundation's operation, the amount of donations amounted to 565 million yen (about 4.7 million dollars). It was aimed at paying compensation to “comfort women” who were alive at the time of payment. 285 women from the Philippines, South Korea and Taiwan received compensation in the amount of 2 million yen (about 16.7 thousand dollars) each. 770 million yen ($6.5 million) was allocated to provide medical care to the above-mentioned woman and 79 other women from the Netherlands. 370 million yen ($3.1 million) was allocated for the construction of medical facilities and nursing homes in Indonesia. The fund was closed in 2007.

Brothel in Japan. 1946

After 1945, the former Axis countries were occupied. The difficult economic situation contributed to the involvement in prostitution of women who wanted to provide themselves with food. Their services were in demand primarily among soldiers of the occupying armies. This phenomenon has reached a special scale in the countries of East Asia occupied by the US Army. The Recreation and Entertainment Association has appeared in Japan. This government organization called on patriotic Japanese women to prevent the mass rapes that were expected from the Americans. The Japanese leadership was confident that the Americans would prove themselves in the occupied territories no better than the soldiers of the Imperial Army in China and Korea. By January 1946, 55 thousand women had been recruited into the organization. Such a large number of women were attracted to prostitution due to the huge number of orphans and the prevailing poverty in post-war Japan. Quite often, recruiters promised, in exchange for temporary work as prostitutes, to provide future work in factories or government agencies. Mostly girls aged 14 to 25 responded to the government’s proposal. The maximum earnings of prostitutes in brothels for American soldiers were about two dollars. The American command welcomed this decision of the Japanese authorities, and at first they even provided military patrols to the “red light” areas to keep order. Army doctors established constant monitoring of the health of prostitutes, but, as is usually the case, this did not give the expected result. Venereal diseases began to spread among the soldiers. So in the 34th Australian Infantry Brigade, 55% of the personnel suffered from gonorrhea and syphilis after six months of the occupation of Japan. The leadership of the occupation administration was forced to distribute penicillin, which was missing even for the US Army, among prostitutes. After this, the Americans began to insist on the elimination of prostitution in Japan. As a result, by November 1946, the scale of prostitution in Japan had been reduced to a few “red light districts” throughout the country.

American sailors at a Japanese brothel. 1946

The situation was similar in neighboring Korea, where the Japanese left a huge number of army “comfort women” after 1945. During the Korean War (1950–1953), 350 thousand Korean women were involved in prostitution, of whom 60% worked with American clients. In subsequent years, brothels in South Korea were organized near American military bases, where their services were in steady demand. In the 1960s, about 25% of South Korean GDP came from the sex market. It is believed that over the years, American soldiers left $1 billion with Korean prostitutes. Despite the fact that prostitution is officially prohibited in South Korea, scandals associated with it often arise. In 2010, the US State Department admitted that one of the main manifestations of human trafficking in South Korea is prostitution in bars near US military bases.

Shinonome Comfort Station Museum for Japanese soldiers in Nanjing. China

Following the capture of Nanjing in December 1937 during the Sino-Japanese War and four weeks of massacres and rapes, the Japanese military began establishing brothels in the city, calling them "comfort stations." In total, more than 40 such “stations” were opened in which over two hundred women from China, Korea and Japan were simultaneously involved in sexual slavery. In 2014, a decision was made to include a complex of seven surviving former “station” buildings on Liji Alley on the list of protected cultural heritage sites in Nanjing to preserve evidence of the tragedy of women who suffered from the policies of Japanese militarism.

WOMEN'S FIELD BATTALION IN ALGERIA

In Algeria, which was under French jurisdiction during World War II, there was an organization called the Women's Field Battalion. Very soon, however, it was secretly renamed the “Mobile Field Brothel,” because the Algerian women who worked there not only bandaged the wounded after the battle, but also provided other services to recovering soldiers in order to earn at least some means of subsistence. Management turned a blind eye to this situation because, in their opinion, it reduced the number of rapes and helped curb the rise in the number of sexually transmitted diseases.

MARKING FIELD WIVES IN THE RED ARMY

Field wife (PPW) - during the Second World War, this was the name given to women, usually front-line colleagues, with whom the commanders of the Red Army had intimate relationships of their own free will or under the latter’s coercion. It is known that this phenomenon was widespread everywhere, from battalion commanders to marshals. This topic, according to communist ideology, was anti-moral, was practically not studied by either scientists or journalists. The topic was secretly closed. On the one hand, it compromised the communist system, where family values ​​were promoted as the only correct ones. On the other hand, it stigmatized women, since the same ideology, like religion, instilled in Soviet people a negative attitude towards adultery, not to mention prostitution. In human terms, the topic is complex, ambiguous, bordering on bright feelings, hopelessness and baseness. A topic that is exclusively individual in nature and cannot be generalized. A theme inherent in war and incomprehensible to peaceful life. Justifying men or blaming women is as pointless as refuting the laws of nature. We must accept everything as it is, as history...

Since PPV was a well-known topic both at the front and in the rear, information about the phenomenon was passed on by word of mouth. She was not written about in newspapers or mentioned in books or films of that time. In the late 90s, the topic of PPV began to appear in transparent hints in films about the war, and they wrote more openly about it in memoirs. Individual journalists, usually from the scandalous or yellow press, tried to publish the memoirs of front-line soldiers on this topic. It is noteworthy that such memories were from war participants who, due to their position in the army, did not have PPV, which means their objectivity can always be questioned. Accordingly, there are almost no memories from officers who had PPV, and even less often you can hear them from the women themselves who have been in this role. At the same time, rare documents appeared that directly confirmed the phenomenon. For example:

"TOP SECRET.

In the headquarters and command posts of division and regiment commanders there are many women under the guise of serving, seconded, etc. A number of commanders, having lost the face of the communists, simply cohabitate...

I order:

It is under the responsibility of the Military Councils of armies, commanders and commissars of individual units to remove all women from headquarters and command posts by September 23, 1941. A limited number of typists will be retained only in agreement with the Special Department.

Deliver execution on September 24, 1941.

Signed: Commander of the Leningrad Front, Hero of the Soviet Union, Army General Zhukov.”

As you can see, this order appeared at a time when the USSR stood on the edge of an abyss, they were retreating without seeing the edge, losing weapons and equipment. I can’t believe that Zhukov at that time did not have other more important things to do than to keep an eye on marital fidelity or the moral corruption of the commanders of the Red Army. At the same time, the document’s classification as “top secret” suggests that the phenomenon of PPV significantly interfered with the command and control of troops, turning command posts into unofficial brothels. In addition, the classification of secrecy and a day to carry out the order speak not so much of a reluctance to disclose the phenomenon, but of the exclusion of the possibility for commanders to “hide” the PPZH. The order to the Military Councils to remove the women indicated that the commanders themselves could sabotage the order. At the same time, the softness of the order of Zhukov, who always had a tough disposition, is noteworthy. No punishment or tribunal was provided. Perhaps because Zhukov himself was dragging a female paramedic along with him.

The PPV phenomenon became widespread in the second half of the war, after the Red Army stopped retreating. Here, not only the division commanders carried a harem with them, but also the battalion commanders were “tired” of abstinence. A special caste was the special officers (later Smershovtsy) and the rear guards. The former frightened women, the latter bought them. It was at this time that there were already about half a million women at the front - signalmen, paramedics, typists, gunsmiths... The same number also participated in the war as nurses and laundresses, cooks and waitresses... According to conservative estimates, approximately 50-70 thousand PPZh were at the front and in front line. The relationship between the military and the local female population in the rear does not relate to this phenomenon and was not taken into account in the calculations.

A few words about the PPZ themselves. For the most part, regardless of the method of getting to the front, as a volunteer or by conscription, as well as their position or place of service, women found themselves in a hopeless situation. The situation was especially difficult during the period of calm at the front. Either to the PPZh, or to the front line, where in a week or a month there will be death, or again the same choice. Naturally, there were principled, persistent, strong-willed people, but few could withstand the constant pressure, as a rule, they ended up either on trial or on the front line, where they spent a week or a month... A few were lucky, the commander was an OFFICER and did not give offense. In rare cases, especially at the front, the soldier’s team stood up for their nurse as if they were their own sister. Those who were more daring among the women chose a commander with an older rank, thereby protecting his position from the harassment of lower ranks, and, of course, from the ridicule of ordinary soldiers. A minority of the women themselves were not against having an affair, getting a warm place, and settling down away from the front line. There were those who fell in love, mutually, and got married. After all, in war it’s the same life, but only in a different, heightened form of feelings.

Almost all PPZh performed military service in full accordance with their position, and bed services were an additional burden. This applied to both the girlfriends of battalion commanders and the comrades-in-arms of marshals. The daily behavior of the PPJ also varied and depended on the character of the woman herself: some behaved quietly and modestly, others were urged on by their commander’s entourage. Some PPJ were respected by both officers and soldiers, while others were ignored. However, in general, the attitude towards the PPZh at the front, especially among ordinary soldiers, was extremely negative and contemptuous. Soromnitsa poems were written about them, obscene ditties and vulgar jokes were made, gossip was spread at home when they returned from the front on commission or were wounded.

For their additional workload, the PPZh, naturally, received payment depending on the rank of their commander. Some have extra rations, some have a cut for a dress made of parachute silk, some have a medal, some have a gold ring from trophies. There were also extremes: some received bruises instead of gratitude, and others received truckloads of paintings and fur coats. Thanks to the soldiers’ hostility to the PPZh, there is still a story that they were all awarded one of the most common military awards, the “Medal for Military Merit,” which the soldiers called “for sexual services.” At the same time, during the war years, more than 3.3 million people received this award. Some PPZh had it too. The share of this award among undeserved ones is no more than other awards. Regarding the PWL of high-ranking army officials, the picture with awards emerges somewhat different. For example, PPZH Marshal Zhukov Zakharov L.V. not only received the officer rank of Art. lieutenant, which was not required by her position, but she was also awarded ten military orders, including the Order of the Red Banner and the Order of the Red Star. And there are about 5 thousand similar examples with generals, albeit with a much smaller award iconostasis.

The further fate of the PPZh developed according to very simple scenarios. More than half, in the language of military offices, received a business trip under “order 009” - pregnancy and sending to the rear. The unit changed its commander, either due to his death, or transfer to another place, or loss in competition with his successor. Some, under the highest command, trailed along the fronts behind their general. The lucky ones got married.

After the war, the PPZh, having received the main gain - to stay alive - for the most part shared the ordinary life of the country. Some, having managed to force their commanders to divorce their former wives, took their place. Some, upon returning home, were forced to change their place of residence, hiding even their participation in the war, because the bad image of the PPZh, which had developed among soldiers, often haunted all front-line soldiers in the post-war years. The majority, alone, raised the children of the war, who at first were called slaves, and then the difficult life equalized the rights and ranks of both military and military children.

The post-war fate of the PPZh of generals and marshals was not particularly happy, but almost all prominent commanders had them: Zhukov, Konev, Rokossovsky, Eremenko, Malinovsky and even the traitor Vlasov. There was its own PPZh and the future leader of the USSR L.I. Brezhnev. Many, having brought home young girlfriends, were faced with an organized protest from their legal wives. In 1947, 60 general's wives wrote an angry letter to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Their husbands brought their girlfriends from the front from the war and left their legal wives without their former solid status and all the benefits they were entitled to. It seems that educational work at the highest level has yielded results. Of all the general’s “Romeos,” only Marshal Malinovsky officially divorced his wife and married a young PPZh.

There is nothing to tell about the sex life of ordinary soldiers of the Red Army. Officially, no one dealt with this issue or the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. The officers were provided for, but the well-fed do not understand the hungry. At the front, which of the soldiers was quicker and very sexually preoccupied always found somewhere to “jump into the buckwheat”. There remained even after the officers, there were also “multi-station women” in the convoys, and the local female population, who had been left without men for years, especially widows, who no longer hoped to find their own, unique one, were inferior to the soldiers. And so, they could at least have a child, but not vegetate forever alone.

Another reason for the relative sexual calm in the army was that the previous, regular army and the first mobilization reserve, consisting of the older generation of men, either died or were captured at the beginning of the war. In further calls, those who were older, who were 25-30 years old, who already had a family and some kind of profession, ended up as tank crews or got jobs as drivers, in the kitchen, as orderlies, as shoemakers and could remain in the rear. And seventeen and eighteen year olds were given guns and sent into the infantry. And there were young men in the infantry, yesterday’s schoolchildren, who had not yet reached the age when a person wants and can live an active sex life. Millions of them died without ever knowing a woman, and some without even experiencing the joy of their first kiss.

In addition, people on the front line had no time for this. Many never thought further than until the evening, until darkness, when the battle died down. After that, you could take a breath and relax. At such hours I just wanted to sleep, I didn’t even feel hungry, just to forget... The stressful state of the majority of the soldiers was so great that even in a calmer environment they did not think about women.

At the same time, the situation has changed dramatically since 1943, when the Red Army began to advance and liberate the occupied territories. Red Army soldiers with brainwashed political commissars were cruel to the population that had been under occupation. And there were almost 70 million of them, 50 of whom were women. They were considered “the bedding of the Germans”, accomplices of the Nazis, walkers..., although many never even saw the Germans. Often, based on denunciations or slander, they were shot in the first days of liberation, not forgetting to rape them. They stood at a stand, came in to drink some water, and robbed and raped. Moreover, sexually transmitted diseases began to mow down the ranks of fighters no worse than enemy machine guns. The situation went so far that Stalin was forced to issue a special order, establishing real responsibility and control by political departments and SMERSH. At the same time, not all women opposed the “liberators.”

The Red Army was approaching the borders of Europe, and propagandists and political instructors raised morale by pumping up the soldiers with hatred and calls for revenge. And the soldiers themselves, having passed through Ukraine and Belarus, saw with their own eyes what the invaders had done. The fierce resilience of the German civilians who took up arms also caused anger. And the huge losses in battles did not add mercy to the Soviet soldier. Therefore, the Red Army’s march to Europe was sinful. There were rapes, there were atrocities, there was robbery. Refugees who flooded Germany's roads were especially hard hit. Troops from other Allied armies and former foreign workers forcibly taken to Germany during the occupation were also involved in the violence. Front commanders and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief had to issue special orders to restore order among the troops and stop robberies and violence. As a rule, with the formation of local commandant's offices in occupied settlements, discipline was restored. Military tribunals began to work actively, and rapists and robbers were shot in front of the line. After the summer of 1945, with the mass phenomenon, looting and violence became incidents, although quite frequent. Subsequently, the sexual life of the Red Army soldiers switched to barter relations - food in exchange for bed services. In addition, Soviet soldiers, as a rule, also received a bonus, which was generously shared at home. More than 3.5 million Soviet citizens suffered from various venereal diseases brought from civilized Europe. This was 50 times higher than the usual level of these diseases in the union.

ALLIES

Both the Americans and the British had to fight in those territories where prostitution was legalized and they successfully enjoyed the “benefits of civilization.” The American army simply forbade its soldiers from visiting brothels: “They preferred to control their soldiers in the following way: every man who had sexual contact had to arrive at a prevention center within 3 hours, where he would receive assistance. If the patients did not comply with the instructions, half of their salary was deducted.” But these measures were not enough. In Saint-Nazaire, where the Americans landed in France from ships, they spread syphilis throughout the city using unregistered prostitutes.

As for the British authorities, they did not implement anything because of the integrity of the person, English laws guaranteed personal freedom: “Any control was impossible. The only measures they took were to join the actions of the Americans to ban visiting brothels.”

At the same time, field brothels followed the Allied front under the guise of small private trading firms, to which the command did not pay attention.

Based on materials from: http://maxpark.com; http://fakty.ua; http://rama909.livejournal.com; http://voprosik.net; evoradikal.ru; http://levoradikal.ru; http://scisne.net; http://foto-history.livejournal.com; http://zagadki-istorii.ru; http://russian7.ru; http://h.ua/story; http://dok-film.net; smolbattle.ru; http://fishki.net; http://win-bit.ru; http://repin.info; http://nvo.ng.ru; https://vitrenko.io.ua.

Although it would seem that the time of brothels is long gone, there are quite a few of them in liberal Europe; we will tell you about the largest of them below. The largest brothel in Europe, called Pascha, is located in Cologne, Germany. The Pasha brothel is a 12-story building, inside of which there are 120 rooms and 120 girls, one for each room. About 1,000 people use the services of this establishment every day. We invite you to go on a tour of this hot spot with us.

This is what the Pascha brothel looks like from the outside, quite impressive

The brothel is very popular

The brothel offers clients a tattoo with the name of the establishment. Men with such a tattoo can use the services of the girls of the Pasha brothel for free for life, and there are already at least 40 such people

In fact, all rooms are rental spaces. The girls pay 160-180 euros per day for a room, and they choose the price of their services, when and with whom they work. By the way, entrance to the brothel costs 5 euros

German brothels are famous for their quality, professionalism and hygiene, including Pasha. Many fathers bring their virgin sons so that they can learn and be more confident in their sex lives in the future.

Pasha is a decent and high-class brothel, so any prostitute dreams of working there. But among the brothel workers there are both housewives seeking to supplement the family budget, and students earning their own housing and a sweet life.

An hour of love will cost about 150 euros, but the service can be used for half an hour

For those who do not have enough money, “group sessions” are organized every week. These promotions are held from eleven in the morning until seven in the evening, there are 4 girls working, whose services can be used by any man at the same time for only 100 euros

Walking down the corridor, the client chooses a “girlfriend” for the evening:

The brothel has a wide variety of rooms, some of which provide specific services.

For example, there is a sado-maso room where men’s wildest dreams can come true

There are also budget booths in which a girl will serve the client through a hole in the wall for only 20 euros

Clients come to the brothel are completely different: old people, teenagers, rich and not so rich, but the girls must treat everyone with respect

The busiest working hours are from 20.00 to 5 am

This establishment has a kitchen, so you can pop in for lunch and at the same time use the service

In fact, not everything is as rosy and good as it might seem at first glance

The government of the Social Democrats and the Greens wanted to do the best - 16 years ago the SPD, as well as the Greens, together with the FDP and PDS parties - only representatives of the CDU / CSU voted against - unanimously passed a law that made prostitution the same common profession as and all the rest. Prostitution became an integral part of the service sector, and women employed in this sector were able to qualify for appropriate wages, as well as access to health and social insurance. Thus prostitution ceased to be illegal. This innovation caused a real boom in the field of “horizontal professions”, which received additional impetus after the expansion of the European Union to the East. It continues today. No one knows the turnover of this industry, but it is believed to amount to many billions.

But what happens to a country that has legalized prostitution? The TV channel ZDF Info devoted a large documentary to this issue. The answer is already given in its very name - “Bordell Germany” (Bordell Deutschland).

And that's probably putting it mildly. As this television film shows, there is much evidence that the Federal Republic has become a brothel for the whole of Europe, and that the law passed in 2002 contributed greatly to this.

Gangs, criminals, mafia

Prostitution is under the control of violent criminals, criminals, various gangs and other criminal organizations, mainly from Eastern Europe. Human trafficking is rampant. Women are offered for just a couple of euros.

This documentary tells, among other things, about Cleo, a prostitute from Berlin. She talks about women from Eastern Europe who offer group sex (Gangbang) for 30 euros.

Manfred Paulus, who spent three decades with the Baden-Württemberg police and has been working as a security guard in Romania since his retirement, says: “This 2002 law was passed with the best intentions.” However: “It is aimed at an environment where completely different values ​​exist.” Therefore, according to him, it does not work.

In this area, the dominant position is occupied by Albanian clans, Bulgarian and Romanian gangs, as well as “Balkan syndicates”. Where prostitution is legal, serious crime always occurs. They are like “brother and sister,” says this retired police officer.

Fraudsters, human traffickers, gangsters

In fact, this is what Axel Dreher, a professor at the Alfred Weber Department of Economics at Heidelberg University, came to in a 2013 paper based on an analysis of information from around the world: “In countries where prostitution is not prohibited by law, human trafficking on a larger scale than in countries where prostitution is prohibited.”

Fraudsters earn about 25 billion euros from human trafficking in the European Union, according to the creators of the documentary “Brothel Germany.” In 2015, the Federal Criminal Police Office became aware of 416 cases of women being forced into prostitution.

One aspect that is almost unknown in society seems interesting. The number of German women forced into prostitution has increased significantly. In 2015, their share was 23%, second only to Romanians (24%), the largest group. The proportion of minor victims of forced prostitution has increased by approximately 40% in just one year. Almost one in five victims was under 18 years of age.

More dangerous than war

The research done by the makers of this documentary is impressive. Every aspect of this problem is analyzed. A big picture is emerging of prostitution in Germany. The emphasis is on its criminal component. The documentary film “Brothel Germany” also shows the varieties of this craft, clients and prostitutes, both current and former, express their opinions. Psychological aspects are also touched upon. Says psychotherapist Ingeborg Kraus, who treats psychological trauma: “This profession is more dangerous than participating in war.”

Context

L"Espresso 07/26/2017

Prostitution is not a job

Aeon Magazine 09/07/2016

Sveriges Radio 07/03/2015 The shortcomings of the film shown on ZDF Info appear at the moment when its authors begin to indulge and cater to the voyeurism of the audience. The women lie in bed half-naked and present themselves in precisely those poses that are typical of prostitution, against which this film is directed.

In addition, the creators of the documentary “Brothel Germany” often resort to speculation. Here is a quote from the film: “Nine out of ten women are forced into prostitution,” say police experts.” And one more thing: “Most women are silent out of fear.” There is also speculation about the grim numbers. All this may be true, but it is possible that we are talking about the opinion of interest groups that inflate the facts in order to emphasize the drama of the situation. It is most likely impossible to verify data from this area.

140 clients per month

Also, the methods for calculating the income of these women are not entirely clear. According to the authors of the documentary “Brothel Germany,” one prostitute “using a condom” serves 140 clients a month, and her income is 4,200 euros, of which she has “no more than” 600 euros left. From this amount you must also deduct housing costs. “Many prostitutes live in a brothel and pay 60 euros a day. It’s 600 euros a month.”

But this amount is obtained in just ten days. Where do these women live on other days? Do they pay money to stay there? Daily expenses “for food, clothing and condoms” are also taken into account - prostitutes are forced to spend 420 euros on this. But the same can be said about the wages of cashiers, teachers and female managers, even without condoms. Elsewhere, we are talking about a Romanian woman who allegedly receives less than four euros per client.

This kind of precision confuses more than it informs. It may be considered appropriate, but ultimately the film itself does not benefit from it. The women's statements speak for themselves. They testify to the two sides of this market, which consists not only of repression and coercion, but also of good will and pleasure.

For Berlin resident Cleo, her work, by her own admission, brings pleasure because she gets the opportunity to earn a lot of money. This contrasts with the words of German Sandra Norak, who quit her profession, who worked as a prostitute for six years, and Romanian Denisa, who was forced to sell her body.

Norak, in her own words, received severe psychological trauma while engaging in prostitution. “My time as a prostitute almost destroyed me,” she says. “It’s not a job, it’s the violence you have to face.” In every club she worked in, she witnessed “human trafficking.” Clients, she said, were not embarrassed when they saw her professional colleagues with a black eye. Two clients in the film talk about how they can see when women are forced into this profession.

Voluntary and forced

This is contradicted by the words of Denise, who worked as a prostitute in the Federal Republic for ten years in harsh conditions and was then able to return to Romania. In her homeland, she is afraid that one day her former pimp will come out of prison and declare “his rights” to her. That's how it works in this disgusting business. She served 15 clients a day. “I worked from 11 p.m. to five in the morning,” she says. And so every day. According to her, it would have been impossible to endure this without alcohol. She doesn't know a single woman who doesn't drink alcohol or take drugs in order to somehow cope with all this.

Former police officer Paulus explains how difficult it was for him and his colleagues to expose the criminals. At the beginning of their telephone conversations, the suspects greeted the eavesdropping police officers in a “friendly” manner, since, apparently, they were already aware of the police operation. During one raid on a brothel, “the passports of 17 Ukrainian women who worked there were already laid out on the bar counter.” The police simply did not have enough resources to conduct a large-scale investigation, Paulus believes.

This film also addresses the differences in prostitution in Europe. It talks in particular detail about the Swedish model. In Sweden, prostitution is illegal - but it is prohibited on the part of the clients. Teenagers there already understand that paid sex with women is prohibited.

Swedish example

Over the years, support for this law has increased in Sweden. According to local police, fears that the result could increase the number of rapes were not realized.

Any action in this direction would be as controversial as the 2017 law to protect prostitutes. “We are talking, of course, about the significant tax revenues that the state receives,” notes psychiatrist Kraus. And Andreas Marquardt, a convicted sex trafficker and repentant criminal from Berlin, adds: “The state, in my opinion, is our biggest pimp.”