disciplinarian, offers _English instruction_ to boys and girls of fair
age." No shadow of doubt is possible as to the perverse nature of this
last advertisement. The same is true of the one that follows:
"_Gentleman_ offers strict instruction to older boys. Replies to
'English,' c/o Office of this paper."
An advertisement which appeared about four years ago in a Hamburg paper
had a tragi-comic sequel. It ran as follows: "Difficult educational
opportunity. Advertiser, residing in Hanover, with pretty daughter of
twelve years, wishes to place her under strict discipline in the care of
a widow with a daughter of similar age. Arrangements must be made to
enable the advertiser herself to stay with the lady in Hamburg when
visiting that town from time to time. In replying to the office of this
paper, give a detailed account of the methods of punishment." A
gentleman who suspected that this advertisement was issued by a sexual
pervert, and was anxious about the future of the child, sent a reply in
the simulated handwriting of a woman. The answer he received showed that
the child was, in fact, being subjected to perverse maltreatment, and in
order to rescue the girl, after consultation with some friends, he
communicated the facts to the Public Prosecutor. However, that official
refused to interfere at this time. Then the advertisement appeared once
more, and this time the offender was arrested. The gentleman thereupon
wrote to the Public Prosecutor, blaming him for not having taken action
on the first occasion. The Public Prosecutor regarded this as libellous,
and actually brought an action for libel against the philanthropic
gentleman. Happily the Public Prosecutor lost his case; but none the
less, in view of what happened, a good citizen may well hesitate in
future to take similar action in the public interest, if, for some
trifling excess of zeal, he is to render himself liable to an action for
libel.
As I said above, of late years, in Berlin at any rate, such
advertisements appear less often; or those that do appear belong chiefly
to the second group. Doubtless we owe this to the action of the
authorities, and more especially to a paragraph of the _Lex
Heinze_,[126] of whose existence but few persons are aware, and of
which, as my own note-books show, certain sexual perverts have only
become aware to their sorrow through a legal prosecution. I refer to the
paragraph by which the issue of advertisements for an immoral purpose is
declared to be a punishable offence. The newspapers have now become
cautious about the insertion of advertisements whose immoral purpose is
plainly perceptible. Moreover, the perverts themselves who used to issue
such advertisements, having through the activity of the authorities
learned the significance of the paragraph in question, no longer
advertise in unmistakable terms.
CHAPTER IX
SEXUAL EDUCATION
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