MODERN ADAM AND EVE

Greymouth Evening Star, 27 April 1931, Page 9

MODERN ADAM AND EVE

GERMAN NAKED CULT CLUB What would the world be like if we all went about without clothes? You, like everyone else, have probably had such a conjecture many times. This condition may come about —it lias more than started and is developing rapidly. But don’t get excited — living in such a state of things isn’t very exciting—as I shall try to show you. Just thank your stars that the law decrees we cover our bodies. At least, it does in America—but not in Germany, writes William B. Powell, in the New York “Outlook.” Shortly after the war, when Germany was in the throes of throwing off old repressions and experimenting with new theories, some of the restless souls decided that something should be done about the human body, that it was - high time the Teuton girth should be moulded on lines approaching the Grecian, that it should become lithe instead of large. The movement started about 1920, and has more than started and is drevelopplished. The visitor to Germany who has not been there since the pre-war days will see a great change in the German physique, especially that of ■the younger generation. Gymnasiums, outdoor classes in' setting up exercises, and a great interest in sports have all contributed to this new state of physical well-being in Germany. Many claim that the Nackt Clubs have been an important factor in Germany’s physiological renaissance. What is a Nackt Club? Well, “mein freund,”/ it is not —as my catch-as-catch-can German led me to believe — a night club. It means “Naked

Club”? arid Germany is full of them now. Some are very, simple, others , are elaborate, but at all ct them, men, women, and children, go about in the state they were born. When the iirst one started and the news spread about, there was- an uproar from most of Germany, especially from the conservative provincial “hausfrauen”. and Lutheran elders, who bewailed the state to which Germany had sunk, fearing that, having lost the war, they were now losing their souls. Naturally the Government investigated. When the inquiry was' finished, it was decided that the Nackt Clubs were so highly respectable that there was nothing to do but sanction them.' • ■ To-day you find in the .news .stands - any number of magazines published to further the interests of the various cults who believe in giving the body air baths, and who patronize the Nackt Clubs. These magazines bear such titles as “Das ‘Freibad,’ describing itself, “A‘Monthly Joiirnai for Furthering Naked Clubs”: ‘Sohneland.’ “A Journal for Air Body Culture”; ‘Licht Land,’ .“An Official Organ for the. League of Life Improvement”; ‘Lachendes Leben,’. “Smiling Life, ’ and many others. You find these magazines displayed next to such dignified old German publications as the ‘Berliner Tdgeblatt,' and the ‘Frankfurter Zeitung.’ I have also seen thein side by side with (shades of Benjamin Franklin) the ‘Saturday Evening Post!’ These magazines are full of photographs showing the Activities at the Nackt Clubs. They are read openly and seriously by the Germans, not. on (The ..sly ori secretly .pocketed, except by the tourists! The photographs of nude men, women, and children shown in the magazines are simply taken 1 as a matter pf Course now.

, A few days before I sailed for' Germany, I me£ an editor friend, who gave me. a note to his Berlin' representativer—a man who knew the town inside out, he assured me. In the. note he said: “Be sure to take Powell to one of the Nackt Clubs”-— but I thought it merely meant to show me the Eldorado, the Eden, or the latest night haunt on the Kiirfurstendam, Berlin’s Broadway. I learned differently, when my future guide and mentor said. "So you want to go to the Naked Clubs, I understand?” “That’s the first I knew of it. What is it all about?” I asked. IN THE “COTS.” - ' ' " / ' Then he informed me of the Naked Clubs of Gerinany, the seriousness of the people who patronise them, and the red tapb involved if you visit them? I decided to go, but my wise Berliner saw to it that I was prepared gradually for the visit. He took me first to two bathing places where the people do wear clothing of a sort. “As little as the law allows” on German beaches, makes our most exposed bathers look actually overdressed. We first went out to Wansee, a large and beautiful lake in a picturesque setting, about a half flour’s train ride from Berlin. Here the men wear only trunks, and of themost abbreviated variety I ever saw. The women wore the safne sort of suits you see on our beaches, but tlfjy are allowed to sun their bodies by slippipg off the shoulder strap and one half of the upper part of the suit. Apparently. you are considered quite properly clothed /Just so one half of your torso is covered. In fact, they enforce this same rule for the men, too, at some German places as as Baden-Baden and Munich. But in nearly every place for bathing in Germany, they, set aside a section for men; and another for women, where one can swim or sun in the altogether. z ■ Ahother day I was taken to the Wellenbad, which, in case your German fails you, means “Wave Bath.” It ,is a huge and rather ugly building. I the waves in the pool are so realistic you can be knocked down

just as prettily as on our Jersey coast. While, actually swimming in the Wellenbad, both men and women must wear suits, but when they go up on the root's set aside for sun-bathing, that is different. There are several large .roofs, • and most of them are filled with row after row of canvas cots.- Here the sun worshippers strip off their uppers—the men entirely, the women chastely slipping off one side at a time. You rent a cot by the hour, and many spend the whole day there. A waiter brings you a menu, and you may have your lunch or tea sent up to your “cot-side.”. I was surprised to see how many ordered milk, especiallv of the Bulgarian Lactic variety, instead of beer. It showed a very definite reaction to German propaganda, for that country, like, ours, is a prey to' the food organisations which advertise “Hat more of This,” or, “Drink more of That.” One of the most aggressive campaigns seems to be that of the milk companies, • whose posters, telling how strong .and healthy milk will make you, , gleam at you fronil every kiosk. ’ Having trained me for my first visit to one of the Nackt Clubs, my Berlin companion announced that he had completed the necessary arrange-

ments, and that we would go out the following Sunday. He himself- had a membership card, a sort of passport affair, including his photograph, and the usual passport information, which allowed him to visit any Nackt Club in Germany.' They are all over the country now, from Hamburg to Munich. For me, he had acquired a special guest card, and it required several days to obtain it. T had to give about the same information asked by all passport authorities. I felt as if I were starting off on an adventure as we boarded a trolley that bright morning. Gn the way out to the country, my friend said to me calmly: “I hope you won’t feel the cold to-day—it is quite cloudy.”

“Oh, no.”I assured him, “these clothes arc warm enough.” “But you can’t wear clothes out where we are going—they don’t like that at all. They don’t want any tourists or onlookers. You must be one of them or not at all.” It had never occurred to me that I would, have to become an air bather in the flesh if I went to a,Nackt Club. After the first shock, and after several. times deciding that I would take the trolley back to town, I finally remembered that I always considered “I’ll try anything once” a good motto, so I resigned myself to whatever the day would bring forth, and remained on the trolley. When we reached the end of the line, most of the people who got off made for a nearby woods, and started down a path. “I think they are all going to the club,” said my friend, and it turned out that they were. There were mid-dle-aged women who looked like teachers; men who appeared to be scientists or scholars, and some who looked like clerks or minor business men; also old men and women, grandmothers and grandfathers with their children tagging along. Included in the group were .a few younger people, apparently students at universities, and girls who looked,like stenographers or bookkeepers. The. crowd impressed me on the whble, as being what- might be termed “respect ’ middle class.” The girls were not made up, nor did the youths look like the sheik variety.

'Looking the crowd over as we walked through the woods, my friend said that perhaps he had made a mistake in selecting this club of tlie bourgois type, and, I would probably have preferred one of the smarter sort. Oh yes, there was .one, he said, which was very chic, where even members of the British Embassy staff were often seen. .1 am sure Queen Victoria and her entire diplomatic corps must have ttirned over in their graves several times../ Our path finally lead us to a sign on a tree with the übiquitous “Verboten.” The sign announced that you were not allowed further unless you were a member of the Nackt Club, A few yards more and I received my first jolt, for there in a little wooden booth, sat a man selling tickets to the i men and women in line, and he wore not a, stitch. From this point, one had a glimpse through the crude fence of what the club was like. I saw- a couple walking among the trees who looked for all the world like pictures you see of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, only the illusion was somewhat destroyed when you noticed that the man carried a thermos bottle under one arm, and the woman was swinging a basket. NOT EMBARRASSED Once inside the club grounds, we made straight for a shed where everyone undressed. It had no walls, mere-, ly a roof and a floor, with benches and pegs for clothes. I probably sound hard-boiled when, I say I was not at all embarrassed at the. procedure. The whole atmosphere and conduct of the people is so casual, that in a few minutes you feel it is perfectly natural. It* is hard to adequately express how highly respectable this Nackt Club seemed —in fact, it was almost dull! It seemed, literally, more respectable than most gatherings which society attends nowadays. It was anything but glamorous or intriguing, and my friends, who have heard me tell of my visit, and whom I suspect of being a bit nervous at their formal dinners lest I start peeling off my clothes, need have no fear. I believe that clothing manufacturers looking for ways and means of boosting their business, could do no better .than to have people visit a Nackt Club. The result would be immediately felt by an increase in the purchase of clothes’ Wandering around the grounds, here are some of the things I saw. A set of mixed doubles being played on the tennis court; girls and boys playing at handball; old men pitching horse shoes: mothers sitting on the ground doing their mending while surrounded by children at play. One man. evidently a writer, had brought out his portable typewriter, and was pounding ’ away, at it on a hillside. Several women had kept on their earrings or necklaces, a few their hats. Some wore slippers as a protection from the pebbles. These looked like the ladies in La Vie Parisienne — much more undressed just because of the one accessory they wore. Some of the huskier men were at work building a shed where a shower bath was to be installed. Others were digging in a garden. At a far corner, there was a radio around which people were sitting on the ground listening to a church service. ' Not much lewdity or levity in that! No smoking was allowed, and no liquor, not even beer, which Lor Germany is the height of restriction. There was a little refreshment stand where sandwiches, fruit, and milk were sold. The main theory of these people seem to be to let your body breathe more air. They don’t confine their belief in exposure to sunshine alone, for many of them wear* no clothes when they are at home. Some' of the most' enthusiastic and hardy of the cult continue visiting tlie club even in winter. A few hours was long enough for rpe on that mild Sabbath. As clouds gathered and I had no protection except goose flesh. 1 was quite ready to put on some clothes and visit the nearest “steube” for a hot wienie and a warming glass of port. I am glad I went to the Nackt Club, but never want to visit one 1 again. The sight was mainly un- * pleasant, not shocking. If every one there had been selected from the youth and beauty of the land (which you seem to find at the German beaches of the natural variety), that would be one thing. But with half the people fat and forty (or over). T must admit that as T loft the grounds 1 was grateful that Nackt Clubs have not reached America yet, and J said. “Thank God for clothes.”