drawing by L.Gedö from 'Sittengeschichte des Weltkrieges'
Soldiers are notoriously foul-mouthed and dirty-minded. Very much like men in everyday life but a bit more so perhaps. And far from taking one's mind off of the pursuit of the small daily pleasures of life such as wine, woman and song, going to war with the high risk of leaving behind forever this earthly vale of tears, seems to have goaded many soldiers into partaking of whatever pleasures and distractions came their way.
'Drink' was not that difficult to come by. French soldiers received their daily allotement of vin ordinaire and even the British army doled out rhum rations on fixed occasions.
'Song' was of course quite an innocent amusement and the formation of orchestras and bands was looked upon favorably by the military authorities. Another section of this website will give some interesting examples of photographs on this subject.
'Women' was a different kettle of tea. Military authorities usually frowned upon the indulgence of this vice but at the same time acknowledged that allowing access to women of easy virtue was something that had to be allowed within reason, if one wanted to keep up the troops' morale.
Depending upon nationality, army authorities dealth with the matter of women in different ways. Female personnel such as nurses and secretaries were kept segregated as much as possible. That this was not always succesful or even possible goes without saying. Nurses for instance, by nature of their work alone, often had contacts of a very intimate nature with wounded soldiers. This could quite often give rise to tender feelings of passion and attraction. This subject will also be handled in a seperate section.
Because the war on the Western Front was fought on Belgian and French territory, this meant that existing national laws applied to such activities as prostitution and the keeping of brothels. Quite often considered by other nations to be notoriously liberal and permissive, both France and Belgium officially recognized, regulated and allowed the operation of 'maisons de tolérance' or brothels. Prostitution was an officially recognized occupation. Women plying the trade were inscribed at the local police station and issued with official documents and subjected to various regulations pertaining to their trade; weekly mandated medical examinations being among the more important requirements.
Soldiers of all nationalities enjoyed the charms of these 'ladies of pleasure' and in doing so no doubt provided them with an income they could not have earned otherwise. German and Austrian soldiers enjoyed the added attraction of being able to comport themselves as conquerors and occupiers. Indeed, except for negligable exceptions, the Great War was conducted solely on foreign territory when viewed from the Central Powers point of view.
Even so, discussions at high levels of the German military command were held in which it was debated whether enforcing a policy of total abstenance would be feasible. In the end, though prefering soldiers to live in a spirit of willing sacrifice for the common good and ultmate victory, it was concluded that enforcement of such a policy would be unrealistic and impractical. So both Allied and Central Power troops were allowed their naughty little pleasures, even though such activities were frowned upon.
Understandably photographic material on this subject is scarce and hard to find. After all, since during the Great War both sides claimed the high moral ground and that 'God Was With Us', one can't expect to find photos of smiling soldiers visiting the local bawdy houses. This was material that was hardly suited for publication in any type of normal publication. Just imagine the moral outrage that would have been displayed by the home public. In New Orleans, to take an example, the Storyville brothels were shut down ostensibly to protect young (and innocent) American soldiers from being debauched and corrupted before being sent overseas to wage war (and be killed).
It is possible however to find photos from private collections and photo albums. They were not published in mainstream history books. In Germany, many 'Sexual Research Institutes' were engaged in publishing books of an adult nature. They had been active since the turn of the century at least and continued printing erudite tomes on 'morals', 'sexuality', 'eroticism' and various fetishisms and the like until they were closed in Germany in 1933 and later in 1938 in Austria. (In an interesting little historical aside, from testimony of personal acquaintances, it has been established that A. Hitler owned a number of such books).
These books were presented as scholarly works investigating all manner of sexual, moral, cultural and erotic matters. They were written or edited by authors with impressive academic credentials and generally contained a wealth of illustrative material, both photos and drawings. Indeed, one can be forgiven in thinking that the illustrations were the main reason these works were printed at all. They were what one could consider to be high class erotica, intended for doctors, lawyers, academics and such.
One of these scholarly pseudo-erotic books was called 'Sittengeschichte des Weltkrieges' (A History of Morals of the World War by Magnus Hirschfeld). It was published in 1930 (Verlag fur Sexualwissenscahft Schneider & Co. Leizig und Wien) and dealt entirely with matters of an adult nature pertaining to the Great War, Several photographs of soldier's brothels and soldiers in brothels were printed in this work as well as a number of drawings. Two interesting chapters on the subject of German soldiers brothels and prostitution are also available in the links section.
'In a Public House'
Brothels and Prostitution
- 2 Photos of an Austrian and German Brothel
- 2 Photos of Soldiers in Brothels
- 3 Photos from 'Kriege dem Krieg'
- Photo of a Mobile Field Brothel for Officers
- Price List of a Soldiers Brothel in Lodz
- Drawings by L.Gedö
- Drawings by Heinrich Zille
- Drawings
- Token for a French Brothel
- Photo of a 'Coffee and Tea House' on the Eastern Front
- Various
- Short Arm Inspection
- Grafitti & Trench Drawings
- Boys Will Be Boys : Dressing Up in Dress Uniform
- Boys Will Be Boys : Dressing Up for the Troops
- Boys Will Be Boys : Giving the Enemy the Slip (Literally and Figuratively)
- Books for the Troops : Naughty French Novels
- On Leave in Paris
- Romantic Kitsch in Postcards
Links to Texts
- Rules and Regulations of a German Brothel (German text with English translation)
- Zipfile of : Chapter 10 'KriegsBordelle' from the book 'Sittengeschichte des Weltkrieges' (German text)
- Zipfile of : Chapter 11 'Etappenprostitution' from the book 'Sittengeschichte des Weltkrieges' (German text)
- 'Regulation of Army Brothels' from the book : 'Sexual History of the World War' (by Magnus Hirschfeld)
- 'Prostitution Behind the Lines' from the book : 'Sexual History of the World War' (by Magnus Hirschfeld)
- 'The Eroticism of Nurses' from the book : 'Sexual History of the World War' (by Magnus Hirschfeld)