53) Cruising

Happiness is a dark and warm piece of forest, where everybody is lingering, silent and vulnerable. On the south west side of Tiergarten, below the golden Victory Column there is a busy gay cruising area. Night and day men of every age and look are waiting here and often pounce. This cruising area has been existing for many decades; this is perhaps the largest and most active one in the city, and unlike the cool clubs or the domains of masters and servants, this place has always been about secrecy. It starts in the 1920s together with the booming of bars for homosexuals and their subsequent oppression in the ’30s, continuing to exist especially during the persecution in the Third Reich. Fascist relics of oppressive legislation are active throughout the ’70s, when police officers storm the bushes to chase away the habit. The ’80s and the early ’90s are a high liberating moment, while the beginning of the Third Millennium seems to bring an increase in prostitution. Meanwhile the meadow east of the Lion Bridge is established as a nudist area, where hundreds sunbathe, look and wait.

Happiness is a dark and warm piece of forest, where everybody is lingering, silent and vulnerable. On the south west side of Tiergarten, below the golden Victory Column there is a busy gay cruising area. Night and day men of every age and look are waiting here and often pounce. This cruising area has been existing for many decades; this is perhaps the largest and most active one in the city, and unlike the cool clubs or the domains of masters and servants, this place has always been about secrecy. It starts in the 1920s together with the booming of bars for homosexuals and their subsequent oppression in the ’30s, continuing to exist especially during the persecution in the Third Reich. Fascist relics of oppressive legislation are active throughout the ’70s, when police officers storm the bushes to chase away the habit. The ’80s and the early ’90s are a high liberating moment, while the beginning of the Third Millennium seems to bring an increase in prostitution. Meanwhile the meadow east of the Lion Bridge is established as a nudist area, where hundreds sunbathe, look and wait.