Beate Uhse-Rotermund
Encyclopedia
Beate Uhse-Rotermund
was a German pilot and entrepreneur. The only female stunt pilot in Germany in the 1930s, after World War II
she started the first sex shop
in the world. The company she started, Beate Uhse AG
, is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange
, and is the world leader in sales of sexual aids. The company also started a television channel on the Premiere network of television channels.
, East Prussia
. She was the youngest of three children of the farmer Otto Köstlin and the doctor Magarete Köstlin (one of the first five female doctors in Germany).
When she was eight years old, her older brother told her the myth of Icarus
. Beate was fascinated by the story–and by the idea of flying. So much so that she gathered chicken feathers and glued together some wings and jumped from the roof of her parents' veranda. Beate was a wild child. Her parents did not try to control her, instead they encouraged their daughter in her interests and desires. They assisted her in getting a good education. They informed their children on sexual matters early, and spoke with them openly about sexuality and contraception. At fifteen Beate became the Hessian javelin champion.
. Afterwards, she returned to her parents' home, where she, to satisfy her parents, obtained a "proper" education (in Home Economics
). During a trip to Berlin, her father met a Mr. Sachsenberg, a lecturer on motor sports from the German Aero-Club (a nonprofit organization dedicated to flying), and complained to him of his "fly crazy" daughter and the "nonsensical" concept of a female pilot. Sachsenberg was, instead, excited by the idea, and sent the seventeen-year-old Beate information about obtaining a pilot license.
Finally her parents gave in to her demands, and in 1937 Beate joined the Rangsdorf pilot school near Berlin. In October, on her 18th birthday, she received her pilot's license. In 1938 she passed the stunt pilot exam, and shortly thereafter competed in a race in Belgium. She won in her category, and also won 2nd place overall in target landing and 3rd in "punctual flight."
She then worked for the Bücker
aircraft company as a test pilot, then, at age nineteen, as a delivery pilot for the Friedrich aircraft factory. Soon after, she was asked by the UFA
film company to work as a double in films. She worked with Hans Albers
, a film star she particularly admired, and with numerous others. In the German Propaganda Movie "Achtung - Feind hört mit" she performed a stunt as a double for German Actor René Deltgen in which she flew through a balloon barrier and simulated an uncontrolled dive.
Beate fell in love with her stunt piloting instructor, Hans-Jürgen Uhse, but repeatedly rejected his proposals of marriage. She swore she would "never ever give up flying for a man." Since Hans-Jürgen strongly supported her ambitions, however, she finally accepted, but her father resisted. For one whole year, her father refused to bless their union. Finally, a festive wedding was scheduled for October 10, 1939. However, it had to be canceled because of the beginning of the war. On September 28, Hans-Jürgen Uhse was to be deployed; the couple married quietly four hours before his departure.
Because of the war, stunt piloting became impossible, and Beate Uhse was forced to remain grounded. In her small home in Rangsdorf she felt claustrophobic, and so she accepted an offer by the Luftwaffe
(German air force) to fly in an aircraft transport squadron. Thus, she was occasionally also able to fly aircraft that she "otherwise would not be able to get to": the Junkers Ju 87 Stuka, the Messerschmitt Bf 109
and 110
, the Focke-Wulf Fw 190
and at the end of the war even the Messerschmitt Me 262
. Although being attacked several times by allied aircraft she continued as she felt that after the war, with this experience, she would be able to have a career as a pilot.
In 1943 her son Klaus was born. Because she was in a role vital to the war effort, she was permitted to continue working, and received permission to hire a nanny.
In October 1944 she was promoted to the rank of captain and was assigned to the Überführungsgeschwader 1 (transfer squadron 1) based in Berlin-Staaken
.
In 1945, her husband Hans-Jürgen had a fatal crash, and left Beate a twenty-four-year-old widow with a year-old son.
In April 1945, Berlin was surrounded by Allied forces
. The commander of Beate Uhse's battalion wanted to move the battalion further west. Beate made her way through the destroyed city to her house in Rangsdorf and picked up her son and his nanny. She brought both to the airport, but her battalion had already left, along with her airplane. She found a small Siebel Fh 104
plane that did not have a pilot. While it was being fueled she studied the plane's manual, as she had never before flown this model. Together with two injured, her two-year-old son and the nanny, she left Berlin to the west, finally landing in Leck
in North Friesland. She was captured there by British troops.
After her release, she settled in Flensburg
with her son.
), and put together a brochure which explained to the women how to identify their fertile and infertile days.
By 1947 she had sold "Pamphlet X" 32,000 times through her "Betu" mail order company, and began to expand to larger cities such as Hamburg and Bremen. Many people wrote her letters, to ask for advice on sexuality and eroticism. "These people were unaware of the facts of life," she wrote in her autobiography. Soon she was also selling condoms and "marriage guides."
In 1951, with four employees, she started the "Beate Uhse Mail Order" company, offering condoms and books on "marital hygiene." Just two years later, the company had fourteen employees. Beate Uhse married retailer Ernst-Walter Rotermund and had a second child, Ulrich.
In 1962, in Flensburg, she opened her "speciality store for marital hygiene," the first sex store in the world. She offered, both in her store and her catalog, more and more "articles for marital hygiene." Soon the police began acting against the items in her store which supposedly served to "inflame and satisfy lustful desires in a manner contrary to decency and morality." By the year 1992, her store had been indicted more than 2,000 times. She was also discriminated against by other organizations: the "Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels" (a financial organization of the German book industry) refused to admit her Stephensen publishing house due to "moral concerns." The Flensburger tennis club refused to admit her due to "general concerns."
In 1979 she divorced her second husband. In 1983, she was diagnosed with stomach cancer
, but survived. At age seventy-five she obtained a diving license. In 1996, she fulfilled a long-held dream, and opened the Beate Uhse Erotic Museum
in Berlin
. Three years later, in 1999, her company, Beate Uhse AG
, was listed on the German stock exchange and was met with great interest in the financial community. The stock went up to sixty-four times its initial offering price. The stock certificates are greatly desired because of the depiction of two scantily dressed women.
Uhse died of pneumonia in a clinic in St. Gallen
, Switzerland
in 2001.
Like Oswalt Kolle
, Uhse was one of the most important people for sexual liberation in the German-speaking world. In 1989 she received the "Bundesverdienstkreuz
" (German Cross of Merit), and in 1999 she was declared an honorary citizen of the city of Flensburg
.
was a German pilot and entrepreneur. The only female stunt pilot in Germany in the 1930s, after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
she started the first sex shop
Sex shop
A sex shop, erotic shop is a shop that sells products related to adult sexual or erotic entertainment, such as sex toys, lingerie, clothing, pornography, and other related products...
in the world. The company she started, Beate Uhse AG
Beate Uhse AG
Beate Uhse AG is a German industry group with focus on selling adult entertainment in the form of sex toys, lingerie, clothing and pornography. It is the most successful company in the German sex industry, and the country's leading pornography retailer...
, is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange
Frankfurt Stock Exchange
The Frankfurt Stock Exchange is the world's 12th largest stock exchange by market capitalization. Located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange is owned and operated by Deutsche Börse, which also owns the European futures exchange Eurex and the clearing company...
, and is the world leader in sales of sexual aids. The company also started a television channel on the Premiere network of television channels.
Life
Uhse was born in Wargenau near CranzZelenogradsk
Zelenogradsk, is a town and the administrative center of Zelenogradsky District of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, Located on the Sambian coastline near the Curonian Spit on the Baltic Sea...
, East Prussia
East Prussia
East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...
. She was the youngest of three children of the farmer Otto Köstlin and the doctor Magarete Köstlin (one of the first five female doctors in Germany).
When she was eight years old, her older brother told her the myth of Icarus
Icarus (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Icarus is the son of the master craftsman Daedalus. The main story told about Icarus is his attempt to escape from Crete by means of wings that his father constructed from feathers and wax...
. Beate was fascinated by the story–and by the idea of flying. So much so that she gathered chicken feathers and glued together some wings and jumped from the roof of her parents' veranda. Beate was a wild child. Her parents did not try to control her, instead they encouraged their daughter in her interests and desires. They assisted her in getting a good education. They informed their children on sexual matters early, and spoke with them openly about sexuality and contraception. At fifteen Beate became the Hessian javelin champion.
War-time pilot
At age sixteen Beate Köstlin went to England for one year, to learn English as an au pairAu pair
An au pair is a domestic assistant from a foreign country working for, and living as part of, a host family. Typically, au pairs take on a share of the family's responsibility for childcare as well as some housework, and receive a small monetary allowance for personal use...
. Afterwards, she returned to her parents' home, where she, to satisfy her parents, obtained a "proper" education (in Home Economics
Home Economics
Home economics is the profession and field of study that deals with the economics and management of the home and community...
). During a trip to Berlin, her father met a Mr. Sachsenberg, a lecturer on motor sports from the German Aero-Club (a nonprofit organization dedicated to flying), and complained to him of his "fly crazy" daughter and the "nonsensical" concept of a female pilot. Sachsenberg was, instead, excited by the idea, and sent the seventeen-year-old Beate information about obtaining a pilot license.
Finally her parents gave in to her demands, and in 1937 Beate joined the Rangsdorf pilot school near Berlin. In October, on her 18th birthday, she received her pilot's license. In 1938 she passed the stunt pilot exam, and shortly thereafter competed in a race in Belgium. She won in her category, and also won 2nd place overall in target landing and 3rd in "punctual flight."
She then worked for the Bücker
Bucker
Bucker may refer to:* Bücker Flugzeugbau*George Bucker, also known as Adam Damlip, Protestant martyr...
aircraft company as a test pilot, then, at age nineteen, as a delivery pilot for the Friedrich aircraft factory. Soon after, she was asked by the UFA
Universum Film AG
Universum Film AG, better known as UFA or Ufa, is a film company that was the principal film studio in Germany, home of the German film industry during the Weimar Republic and through World War II, and a major force in world cinema from 1917 to 1945...
film company to work as a double in films. She worked with Hans Albers
Hans Albers
Hans Philipp August Albers was a German actor and singer. He was the single biggest male movie star in Germany between 1930 and 1945 and one of the most popular German actors of the twentieth century.- Life and work :...
, a film star she particularly admired, and with numerous others. In the German Propaganda Movie "Achtung - Feind hört mit" she performed a stunt as a double for German Actor René Deltgen in which she flew through a balloon barrier and simulated an uncontrolled dive.
Beate fell in love with her stunt piloting instructor, Hans-Jürgen Uhse, but repeatedly rejected his proposals of marriage. She swore she would "never ever give up flying for a man." Since Hans-Jürgen strongly supported her ambitions, however, she finally accepted, but her father resisted. For one whole year, her father refused to bless their union. Finally, a festive wedding was scheduled for October 10, 1939. However, it had to be canceled because of the beginning of the war. On September 28, Hans-Jürgen Uhse was to be deployed; the couple married quietly four hours before his departure.
Because of the war, stunt piloting became impossible, and Beate Uhse was forced to remain grounded. In her small home in Rangsdorf she felt claustrophobic, and so she accepted an offer by the Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
(German air force) to fly in an aircraft transport squadron. Thus, she was occasionally also able to fly aircraft that she "otherwise would not be able to get to": the Junkers Ju 87 Stuka, the Messerschmitt Bf 109
Messerschmitt Bf 109
The Messerschmitt Bf 109, often called Me 109, was a German World War II fighter aircraft designed by Willy Messerschmitt and Robert Lusser during the early to mid 1930s...
and 110
Messerschmitt Bf 110
The Messerschmitt Bf 110, often called Me 110, was a twin-engine heavy fighter in the service of the Luftwaffe during World War II. Hermann Göring was a proponent of the Bf 110, and nicknamed it his Eisenseiten...
, the Focke-Wulf Fw 190
Focke-Wulf Fw 190
The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Würger was a German Second World War single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed by Kurt Tank in the late 1930s. Powered by a radial engine, the 190 had ample power and was able to lift larger loads than its well-known counterpart, the Messerschmitt Bf 109...
and at the end of the war even the Messerschmitt Me 262
Messerschmitt Me 262
The Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe was the world's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft. Design work started before World War II began, but engine problems prevented the aircraft from attaining operational status with the Luftwaffe until mid-1944...
. Although being attacked several times by allied aircraft she continued as she felt that after the war, with this experience, she would be able to have a career as a pilot.
In 1943 her son Klaus was born. Because she was in a role vital to the war effort, she was permitted to continue working, and received permission to hire a nanny.
In October 1944 she was promoted to the rank of captain and was assigned to the Überführungsgeschwader 1 (transfer squadron 1) based in Berlin-Staaken
Staaken
Staaken is a locality at the western rim of Berlin within the borough of Spandau. In the west it shares border with the Brandenburg municipalities of Falkensee and Dallgow-Döberitz in the Havelland district. Buildings range from small detached houses in the west to larger 1960s and 1970s housing...
.
In 1945, her husband Hans-Jürgen had a fatal crash, and left Beate a twenty-four-year-old widow with a year-old son.
In April 1945, Berlin was surrounded by Allied forces
Battle of Berlin
The Battle of Berlin, designated the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, was the final major offensive of the European Theatre of World War II....
. The commander of Beate Uhse's battalion wanted to move the battalion further west. Beate made her way through the destroyed city to her house in Rangsdorf and picked up her son and his nanny. She brought both to the airport, but her battalion had already left, along with her airplane. She found a small Siebel Fh 104
Siebel Fh 104
-Bibliography:*Smith, J.R. and Kay, Antony J. German Aircraft of the Second World War. London:Putnam, 1990. ISBN 85177 836 4....
plane that did not have a pilot. While it was being fueled she studied the plane's manual, as she had never before flown this model. Together with two injured, her two-year-old son and the nanny, she left Berlin to the west, finally landing in Leck
Leck
Leck |Mooring North Frisian]]: Leek) is a municipality in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated approx. 30 km north of Husum, and 30 km west of Flensburg.It is also home to the former Leck Air Base....
in North Friesland. She was captured there by British troops.
After her release, she settled in Flensburg
Flensburg
Flensburg is an independent town in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the region of Southern Schleswig...
with her son.
Second career: businesswoman
Beate Uhse's career as a pilot ended after the war: former members of the Luftwaffe were not permitted to fly. The young widow therefore had to find some other way to earn money to feed her son. First, she made a living on the black market. She was selling products door-to-door and met many housewives and learned of their problems: the men returning from the front were impregnating their wives, not caring that there was "no apartment, no income and no future" for the kids. Many of the women went to untrained abortionists. Beate Uhse remembered lectures her mother (who had died during the war) had given her on sexuality, sexual hygiene and contraception. She searched for information on the Knaus-Ogino method of contraception (rhythm methodFertility awareness
Fertility awareness refers to a set of practices used to determine the fertile and infertile phases of a woman's menstrual cycle. Fertility awareness methods may be used to avoid pregnancy, to achieve pregnancy, or as a way to monitor gynecological health....
), and put together a brochure which explained to the women how to identify their fertile and infertile days.
By 1947 she had sold "Pamphlet X" 32,000 times through her "Betu" mail order company, and began to expand to larger cities such as Hamburg and Bremen. Many people wrote her letters, to ask for advice on sexuality and eroticism. "These people were unaware of the facts of life," she wrote in her autobiography. Soon she was also selling condoms and "marriage guides."
In 1951, with four employees, she started the "Beate Uhse Mail Order" company, offering condoms and books on "marital hygiene." Just two years later, the company had fourteen employees. Beate Uhse married retailer Ernst-Walter Rotermund and had a second child, Ulrich.
In 1962, in Flensburg, she opened her "speciality store for marital hygiene," the first sex store in the world. She offered, both in her store and her catalog, more and more "articles for marital hygiene." Soon the police began acting against the items in her store which supposedly served to "inflame and satisfy lustful desires in a manner contrary to decency and morality." By the year 1992, her store had been indicted more than 2,000 times. She was also discriminated against by other organizations: the "Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels" (a financial organization of the German book industry) refused to admit her Stephensen publishing house due to "moral concerns." The Flensburger tennis club refused to admit her due to "general concerns."
In 1979 she divorced her second husband. In 1983, she was diagnosed with stomach cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
, but survived. At age seventy-five she obtained a diving license. In 1996, she fulfilled a long-held dream, and opened the Beate Uhse Erotic Museum
Beate Uhse Erotic Museum
The Beate Uhse Erotic Museum is a sex museum in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin, Germany.It was opened in 1996 near Berlin Zoologischer Garten railway station by Beate Uhse, the early stunt pilot and entrepreneur, who in 1962 started the world's first sex shop...
in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. Three years later, in 1999, her company, Beate Uhse AG
Beate Uhse AG
Beate Uhse AG is a German industry group with focus on selling adult entertainment in the form of sex toys, lingerie, clothing and pornography. It is the most successful company in the German sex industry, and the country's leading pornography retailer...
, was listed on the German stock exchange and was met with great interest in the financial community. The stock went up to sixty-four times its initial offering price. The stock certificates are greatly desired because of the depiction of two scantily dressed women.
Uhse died of pneumonia in a clinic in St. Gallen
St. Gallen
St. Gallen is the capital of the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. It evolved from the hermitage of Saint Gall, founded in the 7th century. Today, it is a large urban agglomeration and represents the center of eastern Switzerland. The town mainly relies on the service sector for its economic...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
in 2001.
Like Oswalt Kolle
Oswalt Kolle
Oswalt Kolle was a German sex educator, who became famous during the late 1960s and early 1970s for his numerous pioneering books and films on human sexuality. His work was translated into all major languages, while his films found an audience of 140 million worldwide. In his 1997 book Open to...
, Uhse was one of the most important people for sexual liberation in the German-speaking world. In 1989 she received the "Bundesverdienstkreuz
Bundesverdienstkreuz
The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany is the only general state decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has existed since 7 September 1951, and between 3,000 and 5,200 awards are given every year across all classes...
" (German Cross of Merit), and in 1999 she was declared an honorary citizen of the city of Flensburg
Flensburg
Flensburg is an independent town in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the region of Southern Schleswig...
.