Ten Life Histories
Berlin Prostitutes and the Sexual Question, by Wilhelm Hammer
Summary
(Deirdre McGowan, Head of Law, School of Social Sciences, Law, and Education, Technological University Dublin)
«For anyone interested in the history of prostitution, retrieving the lives and voices of sex workers poses the greatest challenge. This makes Ten Life Histories of Berlin Prostitutes a particularly precious source. Jill Suzanne Smith’s and Stephen Carruthers’s engagingly written introductions adeptly situate Hammer’s study in the contexts of Imperial Germany around 1900 and Berlin’s role as a major center of sexual reform. The translation from the German is eminently readable. Thanks to the editors, English-speaking audiences finally have access to this major document on battles over prostitution at the height of the industrial age.»
(Julia Roos, Associate Professor of History, Indiana University, Bloomington)
This book is an annotated translation into English of Zehn Lebensläufe Berliner Kontollmädchen und zehn Beiträge zur Behandlung der geschlechtlichen Frage (1905) (Ten Life Histories of Berlin Prostitutes under Police Control and Ten Contributions to the Management of the Sexual Question) by Dr. Wilhelm Hammer (1879–1940(?)). The author worked as an assistant physician at the women’s ward at the Berlin municipal homeless shelter in the Fröbelstrasse, where he recorded Ten Life Histories. Dr. Hammer wrote Ten Life Histories as a contribution to the Großstadt-Dokumente [Metropolis Documents], a sociological work in fifty volumes edited by Hans Ostwald (1873–1940) published between 1904 and 1908. In addition to its interest for prostitution research, Ten Life Histories sheds valuable light on aspects of cultural and social life in the German Empire of this period, particularly on the school and welfare systems and, more generally, on women’s role in society at the time.
Excerpt
Table Of Contents
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- About the authors
- About the book
- This eBook can be cited
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- Translator’s Note
- Ten Life Histories
- Introduction
- Glossary
- Notes on Contributors
Acknowledgements
Translator’s Acknowledgements
Firstly, I would like to thank Jill Suzanne Smith for kindly agreeing to write a preface to Dr. Hammer’s text. The translator would also like to acknowledge the contribution of Dietmar Jazbinsek in his ground-breaking article, “Lebensgeschichte und Eigensinn: Über die Biographie und die Biographieforschung des Dirnenarztes Wilhelm Hammer,” about the life and work of Dr. Hammer in the journal Mitteilung der Magnus-Hirschfeld-Gesellschaft published by the Magnus-Hirschfeld-Gesellschaft. I would also like to thank Dr. Deirdre McGowan for her review of the translation and helpful suggestions. I would also like to acknowledge the valuable comments of three anonymous reviewers of this translation and my translator’s note. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the unstinting encouragement and invaluable assistance of Laurel Plapp, commissioning editor at Peter Lang, in making this publication possible.
Co-editor’s Acknowledgements
Details
- Pages
- XXVI, 96
- Publication Year
- 2023
- ISBN (PDF)
- 9781800796980
- ISBN (ePUB)
- 9781800796997
- ISBN (Softcover)
- 9781800796973
- DOI
- 10.3726/b19155
- Language
- English
- Publication date
- 2023 (May)
- Keywords
- decriminalization of prostitution sexual deviance regulation of prostitution women
- Published
- Oxford, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, New York, Wien, 2023. XXVI, 96 pp.
- Product Safety
- Peter Lang Group AG