Women in Berlin will soon be allowed to go topless at the city’s public swimming pools, like men, as per a recent announcement from the Berlin state government.
The move has been hailed as a step forward for gender equality in the German capital. It is also due to Germany's old love of 'Freikoerperkultur' culture (FKK) which can be literally translated as 'free body culture' and which has its roots in the late 19th century.
Berlin is not the only German city that allows topless swimming. In May 2022, Göttingen in Lower Saxony, central Germany, became the first German city to permit female topless swimming in its indoor and outdoor pools.
Why the change?
After two women complained about being excluded from or denied access to the city's pools for refusing to cover up and requesting the same rights as their male counterparts when bathing "oben-ohne" (topless) at the city's public pools last December, the decision was made to change the dress code for swimming in the capital of Germany.
Berlin resident Lotte Mies, 33, filed a discrimination complaint against a Kaulsdorf indoor pool with the city's ombudsman's office at the Senate Department for Justice, Diversity and Anti-Discrimination. According to a Guardian report, Mies emailed in advance and was given permission to bathe topless. However, when she went topless at the pool, staff asked her to leave.
Authorities agreed that the woman had been a victim of discrimination, and this week said that all visitors to Berlin's pools, including women and those who identify as non-binary, are permitted to go topless.
Germany's love for Freikoerperkultur
Freikoerperkultur (FKK) culture has its origins in the German Empire. Instead of sexualizing the nude human body, the movement focuses on the health advantages of group outdoor nudity while exercising or being in nature.
The late 19th-century health movements are where Germany's obsession with nudity began. According to Deutsche Welle, the nation's first FKK organisation was founded in 1898, and the idea swiftly took hold across the nation.
In 1920, Germany established its first nudist beach on the island of Sylt. Barely a decade later, the Berlin School of Nudism, founded to encourage mixed-sex open-air exercises, hosted the first international nudity congress.
As the movement was outlawed by the Nazis as part of a moral crackdown, it came to a standstill in Nazi Germany. But it persisted in gaining support from the SS paramilitaries and popularity.
New Era of FKK
After World War II, nudism persisted as a significant issue in both East and West Germany, but it was most pervasive in East Germany, where it served as a means of escaping the uniforms, marches, and conformity of the communist regime.
The cultural movement remains popular in modern Germany. Today, there are about 600,000 Germans registered in more than 300 private nudist or FKK clubs and a further 14 affiliated clubs in Austria.
