BERLIN—Goliath Books, one of the largest European sellers of historical porn (among many other things), has just released a follow-up to its History of German Porn, this time with a volume concentrating on the sexual proclivities of actual Nazis.
Private Pornography in the Third Reich answers the question, "What happened behind the closed doors of a nation whose regime broke all moral taboos?" And that answer wasn't easy to find. After all, in public, Nazis were all about repression of anything sexual, describing normal human lust as something to be conquered lest it distract the German people from their mission of cleansing the world of lesser beings. But behind the curtains of seemingly ordinary homes and other buildings, one could find, as the book's introduction reveals, "Orgies in Obersalzberg. Excesses in the SA [Brownshirt legions] and NSDAP [Nazi Party] offices. Porn productions for foreign currencies. Twilight bars serving the Gestapo. Diplomats and generals whispering state secrets into silk cushions between the thighs of loyal prostitutes."
And we're not talking about just the rank-and-file soldiers here.
"Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, who on the outside played the role of a caring father of six and the loving husband of his wife Magda Goebbels, was a notorious womanizer," the book's introduction reveals. "He was unceremoniously nicknamed the 'Babelsberg buck.' ... But due to his almost unlimited power he was able to force many famous actresses into bed. When he fell in love with Czech movie star Lída Baarová and wanted to leave his Aryan prototype family, Hitler intervened personally and put an end to the affair."
And Goebbels wasn't the only one.
"The Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler was not much of an example for the traditional role of family man; he even supported bigamy in favor of higher birth rates, and gave out an SS internal order to father illegitimate children to fulfill the highest Aryan standards," the introduction maintains.
But that order didn't sit well with the German people, and Himmler found it hard to get them to cooperate with the order: "The fear of offending the overwhelming sexual morality of the German population was too great." In the end, "Sexual liberty remained a privilege of the SS elite, while ordinary people had to stick to law and order."
But despite claims that Germans were exceptionally sexually "moral," there was no shortage of prostitutes in the years leading up to World War II—120,000 female and 35,000 male sex workers worked the streets and brothels of the era, and there was virtually no form of sexual activity that couldn't be bought somewhere in Berlin. However, when the Nazis took over, they "put an end to this colourful and decadent variety. Tolerance in some modern German cities was superseded by strict and merciless prosecution."
Which isn't to say the Nazis didn't have their own brothels: "They forced women who, in their racist ideas, were considered 'non-German' to work for them as whores. Brothels were run in several concentration camps. Furthermore, women were coerced to 'serve' the German Wehrmacht in order to 'fortify morale.' If they were infected with a venereal disease, they were threatened with immediate execution."
And as one might expect, "The possession of pornographic books, pictures and films was strictly prohibited. Of course, this did not keep the deceitful representatives of the new regime from dealing in confiscated erotica on the international markets in order to accrue foreign currencies." Hey, even a Nazi's got to make a Reichsmark, right?
But the point is, a lot of German wartime porn did survive in private collections, and Private Pornography in the Third Reich has collected more than 300 of those photos, largely from the collection of Hans von Bockhain, for modern-day porn fans to check out—and as those who have a chance to look inside the book will attest, virtually nothing is left to the imagination (except, of course, color; the photos are all black-and-white).
Those interested in purchasing Private Pornography in the Third Reich can do so at this link—and don't be put off by the censored images on Goliath's website. There are no big white dots within the book itself.
