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A yellow Labrador fetching a tennis ball in the Englischer Garden... with a glimpse of FKK.

Apart from the conventional,  “plain-vanilla” attractions that Munich has to offer (of which there is a slide show of pictures below), I had the opportunity to taste a couple more distinctly flavorful chestnuts of German culture this past weekend: Mitfahrgelegenheit and Freikörperkultur.

I’ll start with Mitfahrgelegenheit because it piggy-backs off my previous post on Germany’s ardent concern for the environment (at least as it manifests itself in the country’s waste management system). Mitfahrgelegenheit roughly translates to ‘giving someone a ride’, which is exactly the service that Nils Fahls provided me this past Saturday. Fourthy-eight years old, married with two daughters, and a complete-and-utter perfect stranger, Nils drove me back-and-forth from Bamberg to Munich in his tiny but cozy black Opel stationwagon.

Sound like hitchhiking? Well, the difference is that I paid him 24 Euros for the deal, and that the transaction was mediated through a very functional, Craig’sList-like, classifieds website (www.mitfahrgelegenheit.de).  Despite the obvious risks involved, filling your vacant backseat–or passenger seat, in my case–with strangers is a popular concept in Germany not only because it’s economical but also because it’s environmentally friendly.

FKK is Forbidden!

The other, Freikörperkultur, which translates to Free Body Culture, caught me off guard as I strolled through Munich’s sprawling Englischer Garten on Saturday afternoon. Sure, the first sighting of a nude sunbather struck my attention, but I quickly dismissed it as an outlier and certainly did not anticipate the throngs of nudists whom I would stumble upon only moments thereafter. Surprisingly, the nudists were not isolated in just one section but were scattered about the entire park, punctuated between groups of clothed Germans who were unphased by their bare-skin neighbors.  So, I took a seat on a grassy knoll and engaged with my new cultural surroundings without hesitation. Of course the thought of participating only crossed my mind for a brief millisecond.  After all, ‘ich bin Amerikaner’…and I am simply too shy to put on my birthday suit in public.

On a more serious note, FKK has a fascinating history that traces back to the late 1800’s. Despite these early origins, it is said by many that the movement proliferated in the 1960’s as a result of the conservative and oppressive cultural dictums of the Third Reich and the DDR. Below is a quote from Hermann Göring, the infamous Nazi leader who was designated as Hitler’s successor and was commander of the Luftwaffe (Air Force):

One of the greatest dangers for German culture and morality is the so-called nudity movement. Greatly as it is to be welcomed in the interest of the public health, that ever wider circles, especially of the metropolitan population, are striving to make the healing power of sun and air and water serviceable to their body, as greatly must the so-called nudity movement be disapproved of as a cultural error. Among women the nudity kills natural modesty; it takes from men their respect for women, and thereby destroys the prerequisite for any genuine culture. It is therefore expected of all police authorities that, in support of the spiritual powers developed through the national movement, they take all police measures to destroy the so-called nude culture.–1933 (Wikipedia, not the best source in the world)