There Goes This Art of Manliness: Naturism and Racial Hygiene in ...

Naturism and Racial Hygiene in Germany
Figure 6. Photo by Magnus Weidemann. From M. Weidemann,
Sonnenleben. Aus der Not zum Lebensglück (Keitem, n.d. [1924]).
The legal situation did not prevent nudism in Germany provided it was not
done in public, i.e., a club or a private home was the best setting. In a number of
court cases this was clearly defined: If you looked through a hole in a fence or
used binoculars to spot nudes, you were not committing an offense. A policeman
was not permitted to take offense, but only to witness. If you wanted to take
offense, you had to do so immediately. If you looked at the nudes for a certain
while, you could no longer be offended, unless the situation changed. 108 A city
was also permitted to reserve a certain area for nudists even without a fence. The
island of Sylt did so and has had the reputation of being the island of the nudists
ever since.
The nudists discussed sexuality in their publications quite frequently. As
nudity in the mind of the public is associated with sexuality they were trying to
differentiate between their nudity and that to be seen in cabarets. It is, however,
108. Robert Laurer and Walter Brauns, eds., Nacktheir als Verbrechen (Egestorf: Laurer, 1927); Bernhard
Schulze, Die Strafbarkeit des gemeinsamen Nacktbadens nach geltendem Recht und in der Rechtsprechung.
(Rudolfstadt: Gesundes Leben, 1927).
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