Nude culture" and life reforms – up to World War I[edit]
In 1898 the first Freikörperkultur club was founded in Essen. In 1900 more and more Swedish baths[a] arose in rooms in Berlin and on the North and Baltic seas and a naturist movement began in France.
The FKK movement was based on an attitude towards life where the naked body is not a source of shame. Freikörperkultur does not involve sexuality. Nakedness in the shower or sauna is not Freikörperkultur, since it is practically necessary. Nudity has to have prior group consent, and therefore requires no reserved zones, such as separate beaches or club areas.
With political liberalization, conservative circles challenged the nude baths which had become popular among urban intellectuals, seeing them as a corruption of morality.