Thread: A different tale of the Fall of the Berlin Wall

Due its 20th anniversary the fall of the Berlin Wall is getting much attention, but I for my part would like to talk about a story of the reunion that is much less know, especially outside Germany.

In the GDR many things were forbidden that were taken for granted in the West. Free Speech and Free Travel are just the most basics of them. One much less discussed that was banned in the east was of a bit more trivial matter: Pornography.

Considered to be a rotten decant fruit of Capitalism pornography was banned in the GDR and could cause you to end up in prison. This of course did not stop people to have or be interested in sex at all, but any kind of erotic material was hard to get by. What was the reaction? The same people that were in the risky business of smuggling western papers or uncensored letters of the border started to bring porn movies and magazines into the east while others simply tried to film movies in secret.

Despite these efforts the GDR was mostly an pornographic wasteland when the Wall was unable to contain the people any longer and they were able to freely travel to West-Berlin for the first time since 1961. One of the most popular destinations for the first trips into the West were the local Sex Shops. Something that was simply unknown in the east.

Where in West-Germany most people would handle any visit to such a location with as most discretion as possible the East-Germans had often a far more open approach. Whole families would storm the Adult stores together and gaze at the varsity of lingerie , porn and sex toys. The bought articles were shown to friends at home like game trophies and the catalogs were most likely the most read piece of paper at the moment.

Many Shops in West-Berlin had to close several times temporally simply due running out of stock.
This development did not go by unnoticed and the Queen of the biggest German Erotic-Empire, Beate Uhse (Age 70 back then, was a stunt pilot in the 30ths and served in Luftwaffe during the war, even flew the Me 262. After the war she founded what would become one of the biggest sex companies of the world.) decided to conquer the GDR.

A giant marketing operation was launched with stands in every major East-German city giving out thousands of catalogs and fliers. People were so keen after them that it even got rough when it came to who would get the last ones. This included all Ages and some Reports claimed that some elderly women did not hesitate to use their cranes to make sure they get their copy.

But this was only the first step. It would take time to open up complete new stores in the east and get them running. Time Beate Uhse did not want to waste. Her Solution: Several Trucks were converted in Mobile Sex Shops. Touring through East Germany those stores on wheels often offered East Germans there first experience with such Adult Material. While only being a temporay solution the trucks were a huge success and attracted masses.

Later Beate Uhse would tell that the people were just not corious for everything sex-related but even so grateful that the company received many Thank-letters from the east, including free offers for location for new Sex Shops.


Many important thins happened on the 9. November in Germany throughout the years. Some good like in 1989 some horrible like in 1938, and while this was mist certainly not the most important things that happened on the 9. November, nor the most interesting, I hope it was at least a new story that you did not know yet.