Editing Weimar culture (section)

==Berlin's reputation for decadence==
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 102-07740, Berlin, "Schnaps-Ede" der Likör-Verkäufer.jpg|thumb|A liquor-seller after closing time on the road. His activity was illegal and the liquor, which cost one mark per glass, was often of quite dubious origin. The seller constantly changed his location.]]

Prostitution rose in Berlin and elsewhere in the areas of Europe left ravaged by World War I. This means of survival for desperate women, and sometimes men, became normalized to a degree in the 1920s. During the war, venereal diseases such as [[syphilis]] and [[gonorrhea]] spread at a rate that warranted government attention.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gordon|first=Mel|title=Voluptuous Panic: The Erotic World of Weimar Berlin|url=https://archive.org/details/voluptuouspanice00gord|url-access=limited|year=2006|publisher=Feral House|location=Los Angeles|isbn=978-1-932595-11-6|pages=[https://archive.org/details/voluptuouspanice00gord/page/n28 16]}}</ref> Soldiers at the front contracted these diseases from prostitutes, so the German army responded by granting approval to certain brothels that were inspected by their own medical doctors, and soldiers were rationed coupon books for sexual services at these establishments.<ref name="Gordon17">{{cite book|last=Gordon|first=Mel|title=Voluptuous Panic: The Erotic World of Weimar Berlin|url=https://archive.org/details/voluptuouspanice00gord|url-access=limited|year=2006|publisher=Feral House|location=Los Angeles|isbn=978-1-932595-11-6|pages=[https://archive.org/details/voluptuouspanice00gord/page/n29 17]}}</ref> Homosexual behaviour was also documented among soldiers at the front. Soldiers returning to Berlin at the end of the War had a different attitude towards their own sexual behaviour than they had a few years previously.<ref name="Gordon17"/> Prostitution was frowned on by respectable Berliners, but it continued to the point of becoming entrenched in the city's underground economy and culture. First women with no other means of support turned to the trade, then youths of both genders.

Crime in general developed in parallel with prostitution in the city, beginning as petty thefts and other crimes linked to the need to survive in the war's aftermath. Berlin eventually acquired a reputation as a hub of drug dealing (cocaine, heroin, tranquilizers) and the black market. The police identified 62 organized criminal gangs in Berlin, called ''[[Ringvereine]]''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gordon|first=Mel|title=Voluptuous Panic: The Erotic World of Weimar Berlin|url=https://archive.org/details/voluptuouspanice00gord|url-access=limited|year=2006|publisher=Feral House|location=Los Angeles|isbn=978-1-932595-11-6|pages=[https://archive.org/details/voluptuouspanice00gord/page/n254 242]}}</ref> The German public also became fascinated with reports of homicides, especially "[[lust murder]]s" or ''Lustmord''. Publishers met this demand with inexpensive criminal novels called ''Krimi'', which like the [[film noir]] of the era (such as the classic ''[[M (1931 film)|M]]''), explored methods of scientific detection and psychosexual analysis.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gordon|first=Mel|title=Voluptuous Panic: The Erotic World of Weimar Berlin|url=https://archive.org/details/voluptuouspanice00gord|url-access=limited|year=2006|publisher=Feral House|location=Los Angeles|isbn=978-1-932595-11-6|pages=[https://archive.org/details/voluptuouspanice00gord/page/n241 229]}}</ref>

Apart from the new tolerance for behaviour that was technically still illegal, and viewed by a large part of society as immoral, there were other developments in Berlin culture that shocked many visitors to the city. Thrill-seekers came to the city in search of adventure, and booksellers sold many editions of guide books to Berlin's erotic night entertainment venues. There were an estimated 500 such establishments, that included a large number of homosexual venues for men and for women; sometimes transvestites of one or both genders were admitted, otherwise there were at least 5 known establishments that were exclusively for a transvestite clientele.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gordon|first=Mel|title=Voluptuous Panic: The Erotic World of Weimar Berlin|url=https://archive.org/details/voluptuouspanice00gord|url-access=limited|year=2006|publisher=Feral House|location=Los Angeles|isbn=978-1-932595-11-6|pages=[https://archive.org/details/voluptuouspanice00gord/page/n268 256]}}</ref> There were also several nudist venues. Berlin also had a museum of sexuality during the Weimar period, at Dr. [[Magnus Hirschfeld]]'s [[Institut für Sexualwissenschaft|Institute of Sexology]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Gordon|first=Mel|title=Voluptuous Panic: The Erotic World of Weimar Berlin|url=https://archive.org/details/voluptuouspanice00gord|url-access=limited|year=2006|publisher=Feral House|location=Los Angeles|isbn=978-1-932595-11-6|pages=[https://archive.org/details/voluptuouspanice00gord/page/n268 256]–7}}</ref> These were nearly all closed when the Nazi regime was established in 1933.

Artists in Berlin became fused with the city's [[underground culture]] as the borders between cabaret and legitimate theatre blurred. [[Anita Berber]], a dancer and actress, became notorious throughout the city and beyond for her erotic performances (as well as her cocaine addiction and erratic behaviour). She was painted by [[Otto Dix]], and socialized in the same circles as [[Klaus Mann]].