FKK BOOKS IN GERMAN, 1893-1950

1893: Heinrich Pudor, „Nackende Menschen – Jauchzen der Zukunft“*
1906: Richard Ungewitter, „Die Nacktheit“, 89,000
1909: Richard Ungewitter, „Nackt“, 90,000
1910: Wilhelm Kästner, „Kampf“
1913: Richard Ungewitter, „Nacktheit und Kultur“, 50,000
1919: Richard Ungewitter, „Nacktheit und Aufstieg“, 20,000
1923: J. M.Seitz, „Die Nacktkulturbewegung“*
1924: Hans Surén, „Der Mensch und die Sonne“, 75,000*
1924: Adolf Koch, „Körperbildung – Nacktkultur“
1925: Richard Ungewitter, „Nacktheit und Moral“, 12,000
1926: Adolf Koch, „Nacktheit, Körperkultur und Erziehung“
1926: Magnus Weidemann, „„Deutsches Baden“
1927: Therese Mülhause-Vogeler, „Freie Lebensgestaltung“
1928: Behm, „Reigen der Keuschheit“
1936: Hans Surén, „Mensch und Sonne – Arisch-Olympischer Geist“, 165,000
1939: Hermann Wilke, „Dein Ja zum Leibe“, 120,000
1950: Adolf Koch, „Körperkultur und Erziehung“

The above list was compiled by the late Hermann Wilke (1905-70), the “House-Historian” of the German Naturist Movement, and published in FKK 8/1956. The number next to the title refers to copies sold.

Of course, there were more titles published by other writers in the first half of the 20th century not included in this list.

All titles mentioned are available at the International Naturist Library (IFB) in Germany. Titles marked with an asterisk are available in English editions, too.

NACKTKULTUR (NUDE CULTURE) PHILOSOPHY

1. In nudity there is class equality.

2. Total nudity destroys the mystery and secrecy of sex, doing away with unhealthy desires and perversions.

3. When people must show their bodies in public they cannot remain compacent about remediable defects and deformities that clothing can mask.

4. Sunbathing and exercise in the open air naturally strengthen the body and give it a beauty that can only come from health.

5. The human organism, expecially the glandular and nervous systems need direct contact with air and sun for proper functioning.

6. Clothing is by nature unhygienic, unaesthetic and undemocratic.

7. It is as important to remove foreign bodies, in the form of meat, alcohol and tobacco, from inside the body as it is to remove artificial coverings from the outside.

8. The improvement of the race in both health and beauty, as well as morality, is a goal toward which all nudists should aspire.

Heinrich Pudor (1865-1943)

(Source: Naked as a Jaybird by Dian Hanson, Taschen, 2003, page 18)

DANCES IN THE NUDE ON TRIAL IN BERLIN

Judges Watch Films Depicting Them and Order a Private Performance

Young Girls Defendants

Celly de Reydt, the Premiere, Her Husband and Photographers Also Accused

BERLIN, Jan. 10.- Naked dancing went on trial in the Criminal Court today. The principal in the case is Celly de Rheydt, the pioneer in dancing of this type, and the codefendants are Celly's husband, Sewelch, a former First Lieutenant, who was originally her impresario and still acts as manager for his wife in her undraped dancing; Celly's ballet of five young girls, the youngest 14; the motion picture photographers who filmed the nude ballet and the "still" photographers who made picture postals of it, none of which would be permitted to pass through the American mails.

The case, which is a cause celebre for Berlin, opened in a fitting setting today. Five learned Judges were on the bench, with a battery of eight lawyers for, the defense entrenched in front of Celly and her dancing girls. The State's Attorney is supported by one lone, shocked witness so far--a certain Pastor Hoppe--and a flock of professors as experts in the morality of the art, including Professor Max von Schillins, one of the most distinguished living German composers, best known for his opera "Mona Lisa" and Director General of the Opera House. The general public was excluded, but reporters and representatives of children's welfare organizations were admitted.

The Presiding Judge first ordered a motion picture of the nude dances thrown on the screen which had been stretched in the courtroom, frequently stopping the reel for a closer examination, as well as to identify the defendants shown on the screen and to quiz them regarding exactly what articles of clothing, including beads, gauze streamers, &c., they had worn at each stage.

The questioning of the Court elicited the information that at first the dancers were relatively clad above the waist, but as the ballet went on their bodies were compeletely exposed. In the case of the last dance shown the Court's queries as to costume were superfluous, for Celly was flashed on the screen in the altogether.

On account of the heated atmosphere in the overcrowded courtroom the Court called it a day's work and decided to order a view,"in camera", of the original live ballet production, with music, at a local theatre on Thursday.

What is alleged to be the most offensive dance is a pantomime in which Celly appears, first fully clad as a mediaeval nun, who suddenly goes mad before a crucifix, sheds her nun's clothing completely and proceeds to execute a dance symbolic of delirium. This dance was actually performed in public repeatedly in 1919, until the flood of protests, principally from Catholics, on the ground of profanation and sacrilege, caused Celly to withdraw it from her repertoire. American visitors who have since seen her modified "beauty dances" say they never saw anything like them before. Among these American art experts were pillars of the community, mostly with wives and families across the Atlantic.

(Cyril Brown in The New York Times, January 11, 1922)