Exhibition on Adult Stores as a Reflection of the Years of Reunification

Exemplary of the Post-GDR Era

The topic is so interesting because, according to Bretschneider, the adult stores serve as a lens through which to examine developments after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The end of the GDR marked a major upheaval for many people—particularly with regard to their professional lives. “And this industry represented, so to speak, an opportunity to continue one’s professional life as a self-employed person.” But the influence of globalization and digitalization is also evident in this example. 

The heyday of these small, owner-operated shops was in the early 1990s. “It was a huge market,” she says. In the GDR, pornography and the sale of pornographic material had been banned. After reunification, there was therefore a great deal of pent-up demand. “This so-called ‘catch-up consumption’ existed in many areas, where people from the GDR simply thought, ‘Great, now we can buy whatever we want,’” she says.

Sometimes several stores in one town

It is not known exactly how many of these stores there were, according to Bretschneider. The figure of 2,000 is often cited, but it is not substantiated. The only certainty is that even in small towns there were several stores—for example, three in Aschersleben and two on a single street in Oschatz, Saxony.

Starting in the mid-1990s, many of the small stores came under pressure from adult retail chains. With the advent of the internet and online retail in the 2000s, many were ultimately unable to keep up.

How long will this “provincial lust” last?

“So there are really just a handful of stores left,” says Bretschneider. These may still exist because they’re located in their own buildings and the owners themselves are largely the ones working behind the counter. Anyone who doesn’t want to buy adult products online will likely have to travel into town more often in the future. “Provincial lust in the provinces” probably won’t last forever, says the cultural anthropologist.

Copyright 2026, dpa (www.dpa.de). All rights reserved