" THE YOUTH MOVEMENT IN. GERMANY " .
- - [To the Editor of the 'SPECTATOR.] Six,—The interesting account of the Gan-tail .1ruitth Moirenient in a recent issue must have " been' read with surprise by many 'whose knoWledge of life ih 'Germany 'dates- hack to years before : the . War, - when Herbergen were,,more in the
nature of casual wards kir the benefit of tramps and out-of- works than resting places for Wandervogel in. search of health and. enjoyment. This....is, indeed,. an entirely new departure from the days, long ago, when I was a youth in Leipzig.
Then we were more pent on heer and skittles, in the literal sense than on roaming the country round, though gymnastics Were, it is .true, practised fairly assiduously by Turnvereine and students found a vent for their energies in the Mensur, their bouts of fencing alternating with vast. intakes of Pilsen? and Bairisches.
. Your contributor, while praising wholeheartedly-the modern trend of German youth, makes no allusion, or perhaps forbears
to mention, another and still more startling movement which? already of some importance, appears to be gaining fresh adherents year by year. This is known as Naektkultur," of which " the cult of .the nude " would be a quite misleading translation, and it would appear to be practised on much the same lines and with the same objects in view as those of the more popular Wanderviigel. It may interest your readers to know that although in England the thing would not be tolerated, even under safeguards, it is a recognized feature in the life of some German and Austrian cities, including Vienna. I am indebted to an English friend of mine who lives in the latter capital for the particulars I am about to give. It is well to mention that my informant is a sane steady-going man of about fifty, of unimpeachable morals. I express nq opinion on the matter, I may say that when I first heard of it I entirely disbelieved in the possibility of men and women consorting together in a state of nature without any feeling of sex, even under the most favourable - conditions. It will be seen, however, that the contrary view is held by those who have best reason to know. It sounds strange to our ears but only the prude will take offence at _what I am now going to quote from a letter received not long agO "It is very difficult to put the basic idea in a feiv words, but these people hold that nakedness is not indecent or improper; but:purely . an arbitrary convention, and:that as a matter of fact the -right thing is not :to' be clothed but to be naked. The head man tells me that the great thing is to make. the basis sport, and to get young people. There are several societies here, the one I have joined consists of about Seventy ; they have a TUrnVereiri once a- week (with bathing hose.), meet in a swimming bath weekly, an nature], and every. Sunday have an . all-day excursion, to a secluded island, where they are also aunatnrel the whole time. They are all between. twenty 'and tlint3.7, and I ain refeired to as a nice old gentleman ' (ein fli tter niter fierr). There are at least two married couples among them;-and three engaged eotiples, including the leader and his Brant, They take the train to place on the Danube, and on the other side put on bathing clothes and walk along. the Nink 'for an hour; until they corm to their place; where the last remnants of clothes are disearded.:- The day is then passed in swimming, games of ball, and so on. They are _educated and, intelligent, though not perhaps gentlefolk, but much better than our people of the same class. AnyWay, they are absolutely the most decent lot of people I have ever met jolly together, no nasty talk, and a complete: absence of senSualitY."-
In a later letter he says (he is apt 'to be rather extreme_ in Some of his opinions)
• " Here in Vienna the people are Certainly modest and decerit to a degree not heard of in nn-riackt society. They hive a meeting at the swimming• bath once a week,. 8.30 till 10 .p.m. It no longer seems at all strange to me for a completely ..nude girl to come up to me and shake hands, chat -abelit • various things and go on her Way,- nor does one realize at all that one is naked or .that- everything is not -normal;. It is really. an. extraordinary contrast to one's preconceived ideas. The only things _that_ are not normal are the absence of flirting and the absence of nasty talk among the men, all young though they are." • - I understand that a pretty strict_ supervision is exercised as to the kind of young folk who are adniitted to the Vereins, and that occasionally there are expUlsi(MS of undesirablee. ri`ht4 one -would expect: There can be no 4uestion that Nacktkultur makes for health :and hardinesS, and Dr: Railer Of teysin would surely appr6ve the. itiov'&ibia.v.—I dm,
Sir, 'Ste.,
• ••• - - Rock, COrnwall.
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