German camp brothels in World War II
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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In World War II, Nazi Germany established brothels in the concentration camps (Lagerbordell) to create an incentive for prisoners to collaborate, although these institutions were used mostly by Kapos, "prisoner functionaries" and the criminal element, because regular inmates, penniless and emaciated, were usually too debilitated and wary of exposure to Schutzstaffel (SS) schemes. In the end, the camp brothels did not produce any noticeable increase in the prisoners' work productivity levels, but instead, created a market for coupons among the camp VIPs.
Cultural references
The French documentary Night and Fog mentioned the existence of concentration camp brothels as early as 1955. This film, by director Alain Resnais, included extensive original footage of the camps and was based on interviews with survivors. German concentration camp brothels were also re-enacted in fictional Nazi exploitation films made in the 1970s such as Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS, Last Orgy of the Third Reich, Love Camp 7, SS Experiment Camp and Nazi Love Camp 27. Examples of Israeli literature on the subject include writer's Yehiel De-Nur alias K. Tzetnik's book The House of Dolls and the Stalag fiction genre.
Czech author Arnošt Lustig wrote a novel Lovely Green Eyes, which tells the story of a 15-year-old Jewish girl deported to a camp and forced to serve in a brothel during World War II.
See also
- Comfort women (Japan)
- German military brothels in World War II
- German war crimes
- Recreation and Amusement Association (Japan)
- Sexual slavery by Germany during World War II
- War rape by German forces during World War II
