IMMORALITY IN BERLIN.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 February 1920, Page 9

IMMORALITY IN BERLIN.

* POST WAR CONDITIONS; MURDERS AND ROBBERIES. Long before the war broke out, Berlin had established a reputation for being the most immoral city in the whole world; and, judging by the sights to be seen here to-day, the downfall of the Empire, instead' of being a warning to the evildoers, has had the opposite ell'cct, writes a correspondent. Drunkenness, immorality and obscenity are on the increase 'and once staid and respectable citizens are abandoning themselves to the basest forms of lustfulness. In theatres and music, halls, formctf'.y catering for the respectable public, "poses plastiques" are now the chief attractions, in which costumes are conspicuous by their absence. The dance halls are nightly crowded with men and women —the latter 'threeparts naked—while bathing costume balls and similar saturnalia are attended by people who were in pre-war days looked upon as above reproach. Crime is rampant and not a day passes without people being held up ami robbed in places where formerly one could traverse in safety at any hour of the night. Burglaries average about one thousand weekly, and murders are of frequent occurrence.