Conference moira::naturism

378.0. "Eastern, western Germans divided over nude sunbathing" by MOIRA::FAIMAN (light upon the figured leaf) Mon Jun 15 1992 11:54

From: clarinews@clarinet.com (LEON MANGASARIAN)
Newsgroups: clari.news.issues.civil_rights,clari.news.europe,
	clari.news.interest,clari.news.lifestyle,clari.news.trends
Subject: Eastern, western Germans divided over nude sunbathing
Keywords: international, civil rights, social issues, human adventure,
	human interest, leisure, lifestyle, lifestyle trends, trends

	AHLBECK, Germany (UPI) -- A battle over nude sunbathing on Germany's
Baltic Coast beaches is pitting naked eastern German sun worshipers
against prudish western Germans.
	The east-west swimsuit war is over a Germanic tradition of nude
sunbathing and swimming that first gained popularity in the early 1900s.
	``Swimsuit War on the Baltic as Bew Beach Regulations Reduce Freedom
of Nude Bathers! Naked Bathers Build a Front Against Western Prudery,''
screamed a headline in the Super Illu tabloid weekly, a champion of all
eastern German causes.
	The controversy stems from the introduction of western German-style
regulations on eastern German beaches.
	Former Communist East Germany allowed widespread nude sunbathing,
which Germans literally call ``free body culture.''
	The practice was far more restricted in former West Germany, whose
laws came to apply throughout the land after unification Oct. 3, 1990.
Eastern German communities now are required to divide beaches into nude
and ``textile'' sectors.
	``They can forbid what they want. I'm going to keep on swimming
naked,'' said Grit Roesslin, an eastern German, or Ossi, in her early
20s.
	But many western Germans, or Wessis, find the practice offensive. 
``It's simply disgusting when naked men with beer bellies play
volleyball,'' said Marlies Langen from Cologne.
	On eastern Germany's Baltic vacation island of Usedom, the white sand
beaches are still not segregated. Blonde, naked teen-aged couples mingle
with families wearing swimsuits and elderly couples in their 70s who
also are naked.
	Even swimsuit wearers take advantage of Ahlbeck's relaxed atmosphere,
simply striping naked on the open beach to change into their swimsuits.
	``We East Germans don't want to build up any new border fences after
we've just got rid of divided Germany,'' said Angelika Berger, director
of tourism for the villages of Ahlbeck and neighboring Heringsdorf. ``We
are tolerant here and we don't intend to change a thing.''
	But officials in other eastern German Baltic towns such as Goehren
and Warnemuende have approved the more restrictive laws on nude
sunbathing and swimming after being swamped by complaints, mainly from
elderly western Germans.
	Last week hundreds of Ossis on Warnemuende's beaches refused to obey
new laws requiring swimsuits.
	``Ossi Victory in Swimsuit War,'' said the banner headline in the
daily Super newspaper.
	While demanding that the tradition of naked sun worship be
maintained, the newspaper Super acknowledged that since about 60 percent
of all tourists on the eastern German Baltic coast are Wessis, the Ossi
locals should at least remember where the money is coming from.
	But many tourists appear to enjoy precisely the atmosphere created by
nude sunbathing and swimming.
	``It's all so relaxed,'' said Russell Shultis, an American lawyer
from Washington, D.C.
	``On my first afternoon in Ahlbeck, I walked down to the beach and
this incredibly beautiful woman emerged from the sea in front of me,
completely naked.
	``It's an amazing country,'' he said.