Pascha (brothel)

The Pascha is a 12 story 9,000 square meter brothel in Cologne, Germany. With about 120 prostitutes, 80 employees and up to 1000 customers per day, it is the largest brothel in Europe. [http://www.faz.net/s/RubCD175863466D41BB9A6A93D460B81174/Doc~E5CC9DBCF62BF40E4AE97BB61D42A9FA8~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html „Die Welt zu Gast bei Freundinnen“] , "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung", 8 June 2006. de icon]

History

The brothel was opened in January 1972 in the Hornstraße, under the name "Eros Center". It was Europe's first high rise brothel. The city of Cologne wanted to eliminate the red light district "Kleine Brinkgasse" in the city center and issued a license to build the new brothel on land owned by the city in the outskirts of town. The prostitutes sued against closure of the Kleine Brinkgasse area and ultimately lost. In 1995 the owner of the Eros Center changed after foreclosure, and the new name "Pascha" was introduced. [ [http://www.wdr.de/themen/kultur/stichtag/2007/01/11.jhtml Lustsilo am "Goldenen Horn"] , WDR Stichtag, 11 January 2007. de icon] They later added houses under the same name in Salzburg and Munich.

Operation

The house rents 126 rooms on 7 floors to prostitutes for a fee of 180 Euros per day, which includes meals, medical care, and the 20 Euros of "pleasure tax" that Cologne authorities collect per prostitute per day. ["Welcome to the World Cup 2000... and sex", "Daily Star Sunday", 16 October 2005] The house is open 24 hours a day; customers of the prostitutes pay an entrance fee of 5 Euros and then negotiate directly with the women, who work independently and keep all of the money. One floor is reserved for low-cost service, and another one for transsexual prostitutes. The house also contains a regular hotel, a table dance nightclub with separate entrance, several bars, and a separate club-style brothel on the top floor. [http://www.pascha-hotel.de/allghotel.jpg"All inclusive" für Mieter und Gäste] , "Allgemeine Hotel-und-Gaststättenzeitung", 8 October 2005. de icon]

The women, who come from many countries, typically sit outside of their rooms and negotiate with customers who wander the hallways. In 2003, oral sex and intercourse cost about 50 Euros. The brothel advertises a money-back guarantee in case of unsatisfactory service by a woman.Steffen Kopetzky (2003). " [http://www.pascha.de/bilder/presse/suedd1.jpgIm Baumarkt der Lust. Deutschland extrem (13): Ein Besuch im Kölner "Pascha", dem größten Bordell der Republik] ", "Süddeutsche Zeitung", 3 April 2003. de icon]

Incidents

In June 2003 a Thai prostitute was killed with a knife by a customer in the Pascha; she managed to press the alarm button in her room and security personnel caught the perpetrator. [ [http://www.ksta.de/servlet/OriginalContentServer?pagename=ksta/page&atype=ksArtikel&aid=1055433089147 Prostituierte im Pascha erstochen] , Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, 14 June 2003. de icon] In January 2006, another prostitute was attacked with a knife by a customer. The woman working next-door alerted security and the perpetrator was caught; the victim survived. [ [http://www.ksta.de/html/artikel/1157542150347.shtml Hilfe für blutendes Opfer] , Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, 14 September 2006. de icon]

After a police raid of the brothel in April 2005, it was reported that a gun and some cocaine was found and 23 prostitutes were arrested, most of them because of suspected violation of immigration laws. Further it was reported that four of the prostitutes were between 14 and 15 years old. [ [http://www.koeln.de/cms/artikel.php/1/22394/artikel.html Pascha-Razzia: Jüngstes Mädchen gerade 14 Jahre alt] , koeln.de, 28 April 2005. de icon] The brothel was not fined however, since the girls, who were from Africa, looked older and carried fake documents showing an older age. [ [http://www.rundschau-online.de/servlet/OriginalContentServer?pagename=ksta/page&atype=ksArtikel&aid=1113230085758 Keine Strafe für „Pascha“] , "Kölnische Rundschau", 23 May 2005. de icon]

A bizarre story was reported in August 2005: two women, 19 and 29 years old, had rented two rooms in the Pascha and announced over the internet that they would pay any man 50 Euros for sex; the goal was to find out who could have more partners in one day. In the end they had sex for 11 hours with a total of 115 men, and about 1,700 others had to be turned away. The German tabloid "Bild" turned the story into a headline the next day. The women insisted that they had paid the men from their own vacation money and had not received any compensation from "Bild" or Pascha. [ [http://wissen.spiegel.de/wissen/dokument/dokument.html?id=41583113&top=SPIEGEL Der Bettkampf] , "Der Spiegel", 29 August 2005. de icon] The 19 year old woman later worked in the club brothel of Pascha.

Before the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, Muslims protested that the brothel insulted Islam when it advertised using a 24-meter-high by 8-meter-wide poster, mounted on the side of its building, containing a half-naked woman and the flags from all of the countries which qualified for the world cup, including those of Muslim nations. The slogan on the poster read "Die Welt zu Gast bei Freundinnen" ("The world as guest with girlfriends"), a pun on the slogan for that year's World Cup, "Die Welt zu Gast bei Freunden" ("The world as guest with friends"). The protestors compared the poster to the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons. In response to the protests, and threats of violence, which began on 2006-04-21, the owners blacked out the flags of Saudi Arabia and Iran (both of which include words from the Quran), though the flag of Tunisia (which does not show any scriptural text) was left alone.cite news|date=2006-04-25|title=German brothel ad angers Muslims|publisher=BBC News|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4941788.stm] [cite news|title=Pascha von Vermummten bedroht|author=Christian Parth|date=2006-04-24|work=Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger|language=German|url=http://www.ksta.de/html/artikel/1145856870823.shtml]

In March 2007 the Pascha announced that senior citizens above the age of 66 would receive a discount during afternoons; half of the price of 50 Euros for a "normal session" would be covered by the house. [ [http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,471907,00.html German Brothel Offers 50-Percent Discount to Senior Citizens] , "Spiegel Online", 15 March 2007]

ee also

*Prostitution in Germany

References

External links

* [http://www.pascha.de/pascha-home.htm Official web site]
* [http://www.pascha.de/presse1.htm Press and tv reports]
* [http://www.ksta.de/html/artikel/1144673428747.shtml Interview with Pascha's hair dresser]