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When West Germans started to holiday all over Europe, they brought their penchant for letting it all hang out with them. Nude resorts began opening in France in the 1950s, followed by increasingly popular FKK ventures in Yugoslavia and on the Baltic Sea.
Germans have been shedding their clothes for a century. The first nude beach in Germany was established in 1920 on the island of Sylt.
For the third consecutive year, Germans were the most likely to sunbathe fully nude, with 28% saying they have spent a day at the beach in the buff. But for the first time this year, Austrians tied them. Worldwide, more men than women prefer to sunbathe nude.
“Free-body culture” promotes harmony with nature, and today some Germans sunbathe nude, strip down to play sports and even hike in the buff.
Hochmuth, who visited nude beaches with his parents as a child growing up in East Berlin agrees. “There was some sense of escapism,” he said. “[East Germans] were always exposed to all these demands of the Communist Party and what they had to do, like going to party rallies or being asked to perform communal tasks on weekends without pay.”
