Berlin.
Berlin, the richest and most important city in Germany, possesses a population of 300,000 inhabitants.
In a city like this, containing a far-famed and numerously attended university, a very large manufacturing business, and a numerous garrison, we may very justly expect to find prostitution in a flourishing condition; for money engenders habits of luxury, and luxury is the forerunner and the parent of vice.
At Berlin, during the middle ages, prostitution laboured under many restrictions. Documents bearing upon this epoch show us that prostitutes were confined to certain houses, in specified streets, and compelled, by command of the authorities, to wear a particular costume.
The first “maison de joie” was erected about the end of the 15th century, privileged by the corporation, and taxed to some extent.
Those prostitutes who infringed the rules imposed upon them were flogged and expelled from the city. But they were nevertheless under the protection of the authorities, who, in point of fact, looked upon them as belonging to the city, and forming a species of public property. Whosoever assaulted a courtezan was punished as a disturber of the public peace.
There were certain bath-houses at this time, which were much frequented by the richer part of the people and women of station, who gave themselves up to clandestine debauchery, which, if it was discovered by the police, subjected the participators in it to the severest punishment, of which banishment from the city formed the chief part. It is recounted in an old chronicle that, in 1322, an ambassador of the Archbishop of Mayence was killed by the common people for proposing to a bourgeoise to accompany him to one of these bathing establishments.
Concubinage was regarded as common prostitution, and absolutely forbidden. A law was passed, that people living together without having been united by the laws of the church, should be banished from Berlin.
Besides those prostitutes put under the protection of the authorities, and called “demoiselles de la ville,” there were others called nomad or wandering women. They were equally notorious, and were also under control. They went from market to market, and from fair to fair, to give themselves up to fornication.
The Reformation changed all this. Severe moral principles made way among the people. A religious fervour commenced a war against that which had always been regarded with toleration, or at least a certain degree of forbearance, up to this time. They went so far as to look upon celibacy as a vice, and did all they could to compel bachelors to marry, by banishing all accessories of, and temptations to, debauchery. A sort of proscription was organized against loose women, and, in a short time, the city was nearly cleared of them. This was very laudable, no doubt, and highly praiseworthy from a strictly puritanical point of view, but its professors soon discovered that such an artificial state of things could not long hold together. Adultery increased enormously, clandestine prostitution was the order of the day, and infants were exposed continually in the public streets. This caused the most austere to come round to more moderate views: not only was the ancient state of things re-established, but, as the number of prostitutes did not suffice to satisfy the wants of the population, it was considered necessary to augment it, and this was accordingly done.
Calvinistic ideas, that is, rigid Protestantism, and common sense, have always struggled together in Germany, and the authorities have had the greatest trouble to regulate a necessary evil—the one of which we are treating. The practical views of the administration were fought against up to 1855, when a fixed system was established.
During the whole of this time the public health was entirely neglected, which one can partially understand, for syphilis did not make many ravages during the 16th century. It was not until the 17th that the necessity for checking its progress made itself felt. The first regulation bearing upon this scourge appeared in 1700. A medical visit was ordered every fifteen days; women found to be tainted were at once sent to the hospital, and, when cured, sent to a prison or workhouse, where they laboured until they had paid off the cost of curing their illness.
The moral condition of Berlin in 1717 was sad in the extreme. The houses of correction were not sufficient to hold the prisoners committed to them, clandestine debauchery had reached its height, and, to remedy this deplorable state of things, it was found necessary to increase the number of tolerated houses, the number of which, in a very little time, increased to an alarming extent. At the end of the seven years’ war, more than a thousand houses of this nature might have been counted in the city, each containing on an average nine women. These houses were divided into three distinct classes, the lowest of which accommodated ruffians and blackguards of every description. The prostitutes were there dressed commonly, and like working people. The houses of the second category were devoted to the artizans and the middle classes. Those of the third class, were, of course, devoted to the rich, and contained women well dressed, and in every way qualified to seduce from the paths of virtue.
In 1796 another attempt was made to reduce the number of prostitutes, but like all former attempts of the same nature, it proved ineffectual on account of the augmentation of secret vice. This was at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century; and caused syphilis to increase very much, and the old regulations were put in force from 1815 to 1829.
In 1844 the respectable inhabitants of Berlin clamoured loudly for the suppression of houses of ill fame; and the government, in spite of the remonstrances of the police, listened to the petitioners, and, in 1845, all houses of this nature were closed, and the girls sent back to their homes, or some other place that they indicated outside the Prussian territory. This accomplished, the consequences very soon made themselves felt, and the Puritans, who were at the bottom of the measure, were compelled to confess that their precipitancy and ill-advised legislation were productive only of the worst effects. Clandestine prostitution developed enormously, syphilis extended its ramifications, and, after ten years, it was found necessary to re-establish tolerated houses.
The garrison suffered dreadfully from disease; so much so, indeed, that General Wrangel solicited the Minister of the Interior to put things on their old footing.
Illegitimate births terrified statisticians by their frequency.
Let us consider the number of natural births during three different periods. The first period shall indicate the births during the time that prostitution was tolerated and spread equally over the city. The second when it was confined to certain streets, and the third during the suppression.
| Years. | Illegitimate Births. | Legitimate Births. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st period, | 1838-9, 1840-1 | 5,652 | 34,450 |
| 2nd „ | 1842-3, 4, 5 | 10,175 | 54,696 |
| 3rd „ | 1847-8, 9 | 5,053 | 26,782 |
The proportion of illegitimate births to legitimate, in the first period, is one to seven; in the second, one to five; in the third, one to six.
When prostitution was tolerated, the number of prostitutes did not vary very much; for instance:
| In | 1792 | there were | in Berlin | 269; |
| „ | 1796 | „ | „ | 257; |
of which 190 lived in 54 tolerated houses, and 67 in lodgings.
In 1808 there were 433 in lodgings; of which 230 were spread over 50 houses, and 203 lived in lodgings. Besides this there were about 467, who gave themselves up to clandestine prostitution. The population was at this time 150,000: it was during the occupation of the French.
In 1810 there were 165 prostitutes spread over 44 houses.
In 1819 there were 311 prostitutes, 198 in houses, and 113 in lodgings.
In 1837 there were 258 prostitutes spread over 34 houses.
In 1844 there were 287 prostitutes spread over 26 houses, and 18 in lodgings.
In 1849 the number of prostitutes of all classes in Berlin was estimated at 10,000.
There is a provision common to Berlin and some other towns, that the keeper of a licensed house must defray the cost of curing any person whose contraction of venereal disease in his house can be established.
Dr. Behrend is of opinion that besides the 10,000 prostitutes known to the authorities that we have before alluded to, there are 8000 clandestine ones.
It may be interesting to English readers to know that the price of admission to a certain class of tolerated houses in Berlin is 6d. for which a cup of coffee is given, the use of a private room for fifteen minutes 3s., for thirty minutes 5s., and those prices include the company of one of the women, who receives one-third for herself.