The Nazis invented the worst thing ever: the assembly-line death factory. But they also invented something else, perhaps the only legacy of theirs that endures to this very day. During World War II, Hitler's war machine created the world's first sex doll: Borghild.
The "field-hygienic project" was an initiative of Himmler, who regarded the doll as a "counterbalance" to the sexual drive of his storm troopers. In one of his letters, he mentions the "unnecessary losses" the Wehrmacht had suffered in France, inflicted by street prostitutes. "The greatest danger in Paris are the wide-spread and uncontrolled whores, picking up clients in bars, dance halls and other places. It is our duty to prevent soldiers from risking their health, just for the sake of a quick adventure". One assumes Himmler also wanted to stop any racial dilution of the great German army.
The project was considered "Geheime Reichssache", which meant "more secret than top secret". Himmler put Dr. Joachim Mrurgowsky in charge, the highest ranking officer of Berlin's notorious SS Institute.
The world’s first sex doll – or "gynoid" – was built in 1941 by a team of craftsmen from Germany's Hygiene Museum in Dresden. The project was supervised by a famous technician, Franz Tschakert. He was the "father of the woman of glass", which happened to be the sensation of the 1930s International Hygiene Exhibition.
Psychiatrist Dr. Rudolf Chargeheimer wrote the following note as the project went forward:
"The sure thing, purpose and goal of the dolls is to relieve our soldiers. They have to fight and not be on the prowl or mingle with 'foreign womenfolk'. However: no real men will prefer a doll to a real woman, until our technicians meet the following quality standards:
The synthetic flesh has to feel the same as real flesh;
The doll’s body should be as agile and moveable as the real body;
The doll’s organ should feel absolutely realistic.”
A stickler for verisimilitude.
Between June 1940 – 1941, IG Farben had already developed a number of ”skin-friendly polymers” for the SS. Their special characteristics: high-tensile strength and elasticity.
The cast of a suitable model proved to be more difficult. Borghild was meant to reflect the beauty-ideal of the Nazis: white skin, fair hair and blue eyes. Although the team considered a doll with brown hair, the SS Hygiene Institute insisted on manufacturing a "Nordish doll". Tschakert hoped to plaster-cast from a living model. A number of famous female athletes were invited to come to his studios.
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Nancy
Is there a non-porn website that talks about this thing or has a picture of it anywhere? This is bizarre enough to take a look.
2 - Phillip Winn
Based on the story, I'm guessing that there aren't really any pictures, with them being destroyed and all.
3 - Joyce Arthur
The nazis did not invent teh first sex doll, tehr eis no way that there was not one invenetd earlier by soem inventor, I mean come on if condoms were invented in Rome, and writing in Sumeria, teh idea they would not have been thought up in soem way earlier, is crazy, i am against teh nazis, but teh idea they invented soemthing which gives pleasure is wronmg, there isno way they invented it, i mean remember teh movie psycho, the peopel taht was based, on had used real people, so the idea nobody had thought of using a scarecrow tehy made themself, or a roaf, is rubbishm, they did not incebvngt teh first sex doll
4 - jarboy
joyce, you are the most dyslexic typist i have ever read! sure you're not a barbie doll?
5 - Phillip Winn
Poor typing doesn't even begin to cover it. Because the Nazis area bad, they can therefore logically not invent a sex doll? Um, yeah.
Make up your mind; was the idea so obvious it had already been invented, or so ingenious that the Nazis couldn't possibly have invented it?
6 - JR
Joyce Arthur:...I mean come on if condoms were invented in Rome, and writing in Sumeria, teh idea they would not have been thought up in soem way earlier, is crazy...
There's a valid point in there. On the other hand, keep in mind that before the rise of industrial cities, most people probably had lots of sheep nearby.
7 - jarboy
are sheep sexier than blow-up dolls?
8 - adam
Sheep are alive. Blow-up dolls are dead.
Take your pick.
9 - hardboy
baaah...
10 - jarboy
adam wrote Sheep are alive. Blow-up dolls are dead. Take your pick.
you mean, blow-up dolls once had life? so fucking them is necrophilia? oooh, i'm kinkier than i though -- er, would be, if i had ever fuct a blow-up doll.
hardboy, are you my long-lost brother?
11 - Eric Olsen
yes, more specifically blow-up dolls are inanimate objects imbued by some with anthropomorpic attributes. Check out Roxy Music's "In Every Dream Home a Heartache" for an ode to the "disposable dolly"
Where did this research come from Adam? Just curious.
12 - jarboy
you mean the research about sheep being alive and blow-up dolls dead?
actually, i consider blow-up dolls alive until they pop.
13 - Asmodeu$
Why is it so strange that the Nazis invented the blow-up doll? I mean seriously, think about it. Germans are the most sexually crazy people on the planet (not to mention open-minded!).
Also, haven't any of you thought about the way the world has evolved? Synthetic rubber or latex were not found/made until the 1800s-1900s, so what are you going to make a fake pussy out of? Wood? Metal? Dead flesh?(YOU might be a necrophile, but I am not.) Then you have to consider the conservativeness of society around that time -- in the first series of Bewitched (yes I know, that was a TV show made not so long ago), whats-her-face (the witch, dumbass) was not even allowed to show her belly button as this was considered "offensive" at the time!
/end rant
-Hailing from Melbourne
::Asmodeu$::
14 - jarboy
actually, it wasn't bewitched, but i dream of jeannie who couldn't show her naval. and what proof do you have that "germans are the most sexually crazy people on the planet." you obviously have never lived in puerto rico!
15 - jarboy
Vagina makeovers all the rage... interesting article
16 - Scott
Sex dolls like to be anthropomorphized!
17 - jarboy
Scott: Sex dolls like to be anthropomorphized!
i may be a sick fuck, scott, but i would neer do somethign like that, even to a doll!
18 - adam
Eric, Salon of all places, and then follow up to German link
Nancy, they got a pic there, apparently one of two photos were found in some garbage can
Joyce, what can I tell you? The Aryans on this site have already answered you
19 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Adam, this was excellent. an i followed the link through to the german site which does indeed have a picture of the doll, but also a very disturbing picture that i dare say i'll take an hour or two to get rid of
20 - Dr Hacky
Renee Descartes, who was French, of course, beat the Germans by 200 years- he was reputed to have had a doll made of leather and metal.
21 - paulie
Joyce wrote: i am against teh nazis, but teh idea they invented soemthing which gives pleasure is wronmg, there isno way they invented it... The Nazis couldn't invent anything that gives pleasure? Have you never rode in a VW convertible? The VW Beetle was concieved of by Porsche and Hitler. Kinda ironic that they then became the vehicle of choice for the hippy culture in America
22 - Peyton Hash
the nazis only lasting legacy? have you ever heard of volkswagen? now THATS a lasting nazi legacy.
23 - Jenna
I agree that the VW is a lasting legacy of the Nazis. I knew they invented the sex doll but I did not ever know why they invented it till now.I read America started brothels in Hawii in order for American soldiers to have some RNR because the same reason as the Nazis the soldiers were having sex with prostitutes who had diseases.
24 - Jessica
Wow thats how the first one got invented pretty wild fact.
25 - JCM
Not to forget the Autobahn.