Atlantis was one of the largest German brothels, located in an industrial area of Altenstadt, some 30 km east of Frankfurt am Main. It was opened in the fall of 2000 and was closed by authorities in March 2004 because of (as yet unproven) charges of large-scale tax evasion, pimping and trafficking in women. It was reopened in October 2004, but closed again a few days later. Prostitution is the sale of sexual services (typically manual stimulation, oral sex, sexual intercourse, or anal sex) for cash or other kind of return, generally indiscriminately with many persons. ... Altenstadt is a municipality in Hessen, Germany, located some 27km north_east of Frankfurt am Main in the Nidder valley. ... Frankfurt am Main [ˈfraŋkfʊrt] is the largest city in the German state of Hessen and the fifth largest city of Germany. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article contrasts tax evasion, tax avoidance, tax resistance and tax mitigation. ... A pimp is an informal term for a man who runs a brothel or otherwise oversees prostitution. ... Trafficking in human beings includes recruiting, harbouring, obtaining, and transporting persons by use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjecting them to involuntary acts, such as commercial sexual exploitation (including prostitution) or involuntary labour, i. ...

The brothel is a converted Spa, with indoor and outdoor pools, jacuzzi, three saunas, professional massage parlors, and a free bar (serving only non-alcoholic beverages). Pornographic movies are shown on several TV screens. Men walk around wrapped in towels, women are nude. Pool can have several meanings: Look up Pool in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Any of several games related to billiards, distinguished by using a table that has one pocket at each corner and one in the middle of each of the two longer sides. ... Jacuzzi is a brand of bathtubs and saunas. ... Sauna on the lake Vättern, in Karlsborg Municipality. ... For sexual massage, see erotic massage. ... A bar is the counter where drinks are mixed by a bartender, mainly in hotels, taverns and pubs. ... Pornography (from Greek πορνογραφια pornographia — literally writing about or drawings of harlots) (also informally referred to as porn or porno) is the representation of the human body or human sexual behaviour with the goal of sexual arousal, similar to, but (according to some) distinct from, erotica. ... See also: Nudity (disambiguation). ...

The working women and men both paid the same daily entrance fee of 65€, and then whatever transactions took place between consenting male and females guests were their own business. This is the legal framework on which this brothel as well as the others in Germany working on the same premise base their business model. They present a facility where consenting men and women can meet each other, what takes place between them is all their business and the club supposedly has nothing to do with it. A girl can expect to average 200€ a day after the cost of the entrance fee. The Club earns its money exclusively from the entrance fees of the men and the women, all the rest is the girls to keep. The club also sets up and generally enforces a set price strategy, with disputes settled by club management.

There are early and late shifts, and girls generally work 3-6 days a week. They are free to come and go as they please, within the shift structure. If girls want to sleep at the club, they can in a nearby hostel for 15€ a night. There are no pimps on the premises, but some of the girls have pimps or boyfriends, who take a cut of their money, who pick them up after their shift ends. Some of these pimps use other girls in the club to spy on their girl to give them a good estimate of what they earn.

About 30-60 women sell sexual services. The majority of the women working in Atlantis are foreigners, mainly from Eastern Europe, the Caribbean, South America, Thailand, and Africa. Some of them lack legal work permits, and this is why the police occasionally carried out raids in Atlantis. Prostitution itself is legal in Germany, so the legally resident prostitutes and the customers face no consequences during these raids (except embarrassment), unless they carry illegal drugs. Pre-1989 division between the West (grey) and Eastern Bloc (orange) superimposed on current national boundaries: Russia (dark orange), other countries of the former USSR (medium orange) and other former communist regimes (light orange) Current division of Europe into five (or more) regions: Eastern Europe is marked in orange Eastern... ... South America South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area in the Southern Hemisphere. ... Africa is the worlds second-largest continent and 3rd most populous. ... Prostitution is the sale of sexual services, such as oral sex or sexual intercourse, for money. ... A drug is any substance that can be used to modify a chemical process or processes in the body, for example to treat an illness, relieve a symptom, enhance a performance or ability, or to alter states of mind. ...

Mandatory health checks for registered prostitutes have been abandoned by the German government since January 1, 2001, but Atlantis requires regular STD and HIV tests from the working women. January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey 2001 2001 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Sexually-transmitted infections (STIs), also known as sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs), are diseases that are commonly transmitted between partners through some form of sexual activity, most commonly vaginal intercourse, oral sex, or anal sex. ... HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is a retrovirus that infects cells of the human immune system. ...

In March 2004, police raided Atlantis and closed the club. Some 17 women were arrested for immigration violations. Two operators of the club were arrested under charges of tax evasion, pimping and trafficking in women; a third operator who was not present at the club during the raid fled to Spain and was arrested there soon after. A policeman was also arrested: he is accused of having informed the Atlantis management of police raids ahead of time. In October 2004, the club was reopened. This article contrasts tax evasion, tax avoidance, tax resistance and tax mitigation. ... A pimp is an informal term for a man who runs a brothel or otherwise oversees prostitution. ... Trafficking in human beings includes recruiting, harbouring, obtaining, and transporting persons by use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjecting them to involuntary acts, such as commercial sexual exploitation (including prostitution) or involuntary labour, i. ...

As of mid 2004, there are two other clubs in the area north of Frankfurt that operate like Atlantis and have a similar size: FKK Oase and FKK World. A few similar clubs operate in North Rhine-Westphalia, while there exist several dozen comparable but smaller clubs all over Germany. They are typically advertised as "Sauna clubs" or "FKK clubs" ("FKK" abbreviates the German Freikörperkultur which means nudism). Most German brothels operate quite differently, however; see prostitution in Germany. Frankfurt am Main [ˈfraŋkfʊrt] is the largest city in the German state of Hessen and the fifth largest city of Germany. ... North Rhine-Westphalia (German: Nordrhein-Westfalen) is the largest in population (though only fourth in area) among Germanys 16 federal states. ... A nudist man Nudism, or naturism, is the practice of going nude or unclothed in social and usually mixed gender groups, specifically in cultures where this is not the norm. ... Prostitution in Germany is legal and rather widespread. ...

External links

• Atlantis home page
• List of German sauna clubs