My husband was engaged to a German girl who lived in a suburb of Frankfurt in the early seventies. While sorting through some of his old photos I came across over a hundred photos of Inge. I was astounded at how beautiful she was and how much they seemed in love in many of the photos. When I asked Tom about why they never got married he told me the following story:
I was a teacher for The Department of Defense Dependent Schools in Frankfurt during 1971 to 1973. During that time it was nearly impossible for anyone associated with the American military to meet a nice German girl. It seemed like there were "Gast Haus Girls", who wanted to smoke as many cheap PX cigarettes and drink as much beer as they could get the GI's to buy them, and then there were "nice German girls"; who would never dream of going out with an American.
The fact that I was a civilian and had long hair, as well as being a schoolteacher is the only reason that Inge gave me a second look. Inge was twenty-two years old and well educated. She had a good job at a pharmacy and helped support her mother and sister and brother. I made decent money during the school year and we weren't poor, but we had to budget our money closely.
Inge was a virgin when we started going out and we did not sleep together until we had been seeing each other for more than two months. After about six months we more or less moved in together. Inge would stay at my apartment about four days a week and at her mother's about three days a week.
We had decided to go to Norway and Sweden together when the school year came to an end. I had nearly three months off work with no checks until September, but had saved enough money to get me through that period. Inge could get a month's holiday in late June so she could come with me.
We drove up through northern Germany and Denmark to the top of Norway and came back south via Stockholm, Sweden. In Stockholm we realized that money was getting a little tight but figured we had enough to get us back to Frankfurt. I knew that I would not be able to do any traveling for the remainder of the summer, but figured that I could survive until my first paycheck in September.
On the way down to Copenhagen our Volkswagen Campmobile started to behave badly. When we reached Copenhagen we took it into a Volkswagen Dealer and we were told that the engine had to be replaced and that the van was out of warranty. The cost would eat up the remainder of my summer savings and leave us just enough money for gas to get home according to the estimate. However, repairs took longer than the VW garage figured and we could not sleep in the van while it was being repaired, so we had to find the cheapest hotel we possibly could. By the time the car was repaired and we paid off our hotel bill we would not have enough money for gas back to Frankfurt or even meals.
We wandered the streets of Copenhagen looking for some sort of employment with no success. In the area of our hotel there were very many "live shows' '. Inge had asked me exactly what a live show was and I had explained to her (I had been in Copenhagen before) that they were live sex acts on stage.
When we saw a sign that said, "Tonight's performance cancelled: Female performer wanted", Inge asked, ``What did I think they would pay us to make love on stage?" I was horrified! She laughed and asked me if I thought I would ever see any members of the audience again.
Finally she talked me into going with her to speak to the manager. The manager was very interested in Inge, but made it very plain that he did not want me. Inge told him that the only way she would have sex on stage was if it was with me. I was more or less speechless throughout the whole interview as much of it was in rapid fire German. The manager told Inge that the pay was 700 Kronor a performance (nearly $150 at that time) for women and 200 Kronor a performance for men, but that he would not pay me anything as I was not a 'professional' and that he could not be certain of my 'abilities'.
Before I could say anything Inge agreed that we would be at the next evening's performance. We figured that after we paid off the hotel bill we might have enough money for gas to get home.
The next evening backstage I could not believe how packed the theatre was. Our 'act' was to come out dance around the stage to one song and then strip off each other's outfits and get up on a revolving platform where Inge would first perform oral sex on me before intercourse.
Well you know what they say about, "The best laid plans of mice and men..." When we got up onto the platform and Inge took me in her mouth I could not get an erection. She tried and tried and the audience began to grumble and catcall and that made the situation worse. Finally chants for a refund started and Lars the manager pulled the curtain shut on our act.
Lars came storming onto the stage and said, "This is why I did not want your boyfriend. I was afraid that this would happen and that is why I had Bruno come in."
"You get off the stage!" he said to me.
"And you," he said to Inge, "stay right where you are if you want to be paid."
Inge gave me a frightened look, and before she could make up her mind what to do,
Lars stepped out onto the stage from behind the curtain and told the crowd that the show would go on and that they would not be disappointed.