102883 | GERMANY & FRANCE. Bordello Nation silver Medal.

102883  |  GERMANY & FRANCE. Bordello Nation silver Medal. Dated 1923, and issued 1987 as a restrike. On the French brothel regulations on the Ruhr (62mm, 71.81 g, 12h). After Karl Goetz.

 

DIE BORDELL NATION! French cock with phallic neck wearing soldier's helmet and advancing left; radiate sun with ЯF (for the French Republic) to left // 16 JANUAR 1923, French soldier standing right, with back facing, forcing himself upon a German woman; in background to left, numerous factory smokestacks; to right, brick wall with eight line inscription reading BORDELL / VERORD / NUNG / DER 728 / FRANZÖS / DIVISIO / A. D. / RUHR, along with dog urinating upon wall. Edge: «castle» 999   1396.

 

Cf. Kienast 295 (for original issue). Gem Mint State. Matte surfaces, with some deeper toning in areas. A great example of an official reissue of a classic Goetz satirical type.

 

Similar to the "Black Shame" (Kienast 262-264), "Palatinate's Gessler Hat" (Kienast 265), and "Code Napoléon" (Kienast 274) medals, Goetz overtly alludes to the defiling of German women at the hands of their French occupiers. In the aforementioned three types, Goetz leans into racialized stereotyping when charging France's colonial African soldiers with sexual crimes. Here, however, he is referencing France's native troops and the decree of the 128th French division to open the German brothels for said troops in the Ruhr Valley. In what may be Goetz's attempt to add further scorn upon this event is the presence of a dog seen urinating upon the wall bearing the decree, possibly serving as a small form of protest against it.

 

Upload: 1 July 2025.