Beate Uhse

On Sunday evening, we saw a film about Beate Uhse.  This name is probably one of the first things I learnt when I first visited Bremen six years ago.  You can hardly miss it - it's the name of a sex shop as soon as you walk out of the main station.  I've always considered it a little bit seedy - on the same plaza as the erotic cinema and a number of other places I wouldn't like to hang around on an evening but on Sunday I had my eyes opened and my prejudices removed when I learnt the story of this quite amazing woman.

She spent a year abroad in England to learn the language at the age of sixteen.  She earned her pilot's license at 18 and worked as a pilot during World War Two.  Her husband was killed in action in 1945, leaving her a widow with a four year old son.  After the war, she became aware of how little women were educated in matters of sexual health.  Her mother had been a doctor and so she knew more than other women of the time.  She worked hard to make women aware of the facts of life.  She responded to letters asking for information.  At first she did this personally but when she was receiving too many letters to reply to by hand, she bought a printing press and started producing information leaflets and later products.  She was arrested several times and even taken to court.  Many men did not want her advising their wives and later vice versa.  She persevered however, jeopardizing her second marriage along the way and her shops stem from this educational mission.  Quite an amazing woman.