Geschlecht – gender

Badende Damen – Bathing ladies

The sight of women bathing was considered unseemly until the 20th century. According to a regulation from 1851, women in Tübingen were only allowed to enter the Neckar within bathhouses. Even in the sightproof wooden sheds, they had to wear long dresses and swimming was impossible. It was not until 1908 that they were able to swim in a larger wooden structure, strictly separated from the men. It was probably similar to a photo of the Loretto ladies‘ baths in Freiburg from 1912. Such wooden bathing facilities, protected from view, were built in many places by the water.

The Haller baths on the Österberg in Tübingen, 1868
Tübingen city archives

Neckar in Tübingen below Burse with Eberhardt’s bathing establishment, around 1900
Tübingen city archives

Swimming lessons in the Loretto ladies‘ pool, 1912
Verlag Karl Schillinger, Freiburg/Breisgau

Badende Herren in Tübingen –  gentlemen bathing in Tübingen

The first outdoor swimming pool for men was established in Tübingen as early as 1851, the ‘Akademische Bade- und Schwimmanstalt’. The small lake fed by the Mühlbach stream south of today’s Wildermuth Gymnasium was popularly known as the ‘bathing bowl’ due to its oval shape. In the 1870s, the writer Isolde Kurz demanded unsuccessfully that women be granted temporary access. At the beginning of the 20th century, the ‘Badschüssel’ had to make way for a railway line.

View of the Neckarbad in Tübingen, 1917
Haus der Geschichte Baden-Württemberg

Bathhouse on the Neckar in Heidelberg, 1910
Haus der Geschichte Baden-Württemberg

The Büdingen bathing establishment in Lake Constance near Constance, early 20th century
Constance city archives

Bathhouses on the Danube in Ulm 1906
Haus der Geschichte Baden-Württemberg

View of Ulm with bathhouses
Haus der Geschichte Baden-Württemberg

Women swimming in the bathhouse on the Danube near the municipal baths in Ulm, before 1914
Haus der Stadtgeschichte – Ulm City Archive

Women on the bathing steps in the bathhouse on the Danube, 1920
Haus der Stadtgeschichte – Ulm City Archive

Men swimming in the bathhouse on the Danube at the Ulm municipal baths, 1920
Haus der Stadtgeschichte – Ulm City Archive

The ‘Badschüssel’ outdoor pool in Tübingen, around 1900
Tübingen city archives