To Satisfy the Demands of Foreigners

Abstract

This chapter investigates events after November 1918. Demobilization, revolution and military occupation all brought new challenges in the fight against public immorality, and further shifted the state–soldier–civilian power triad. The fear of venereal disease continued to dictate treatment options for men and women. The erection of Allied military brothels signalled that German wartime policies would now be turned against them. ‘Black Shame on the Rhine’ propaganda accused north African soldiers of violent attacks against German women. In this climate of military defeat and foreign occupation, moral reformers merely recalibrated their rhetoric to renew their lobbying efforts against the scourges of immorality. Throughout war, peace and occupation, discourses of ‘sexual treason’ continued to provide a platform for the hopes and worries of the German people.