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Once upon a time, legal prostitution, which flourished on Nemunas Street in Kaunas, left a strong impression on Kaunas history. The journalist Juozas Kazys Beleckas also talks a lot about it in his book entitled “Street of Sins”. It was released in the 1930s and reissued several times. Even now, it can be purchased simply by searching online.
So where did it all start? How did Sin Street meet in Lithuania and what dark stories did it hide?
Guide Laimutė Nakutienė For several years now, he has been leading excursions and telling about the nightlife of before the war, and later, the Kaunas of the interwar period, and quickly takes us to a past so recent but so complicated.
Prostitution was not just a social problem: it broke the lives of young women and enveloped them in a swamp from which there seemed to be no escape.
Photo by Erik Ovcharenko / 15min photo / Excursion through Kaunas “Sin Street”. Laimutė Nakutienė Guide
The guide says that Kaunas is not only a city of sins, but also a city of love. “The nobles and princes also had sinful stories, so it is no wonder that sins are reborn in the streets of the city.
19th century in the second half, by order of Tsar Alexander I, Kaunas became a fortress city. There are eight forts, batteries, barracks, up to 16 thousand are brought to the city. soldiers. As the saying goes, a soldier needs schnapps, bread and sex to be a good soldier, that is why the soldiers deployed in the place needed more and more love and passion; that’s how brothels started to come into being, ”says L. Nakutienė.
The first shelters – poor and “tired” cabins and landings – “wells”
Apparently, the large number of soldiers found in Lithuania had the biggest impact on the fact that in 1866 27 brothels appeared in Kaunas, where more than 400 women from the province came to work and earn money.
As the guide points out, most of the girls did not even suspect what awaited them, what work they would have to do, and that their body would become the main product.
“To photograph the surroundings as Nuodėmių street was before, you should probably go to Vilermpolė Panerių street, where you can see several ruined houses and abandoned courtyards that recall those times of sin,” says the interlocutor.
He adds that now Nuodėmių Street is far from remembering the spirit and breeze of the streets of that time, so he often travels with tourists to Kurpių Street, where more houses have been destroyed; At the time, hostels did not really reflect luxury, but rather reminiscent of landscapes.
Erik Ovcharenko / 15min photo / Excursion through “Nuodėmių street” of Kaunas
The first brothels did not meet any sanitary hygiene requirements and remained that way until the 20th century. between the wars. “In the press at that time, some journalists told President Antanas Smetona that he was not doing anything with the brothels. As a result, they have been around for a long time, ”says the guide, adding that it wasn’t until 1935 that brothels were banned.
The first brothels did not meet any sanitary hygiene requirements and remained that way until the 20th century. between the wars.
“By the way, Nemuno Street, where nightlife predominated, was initially called Klaipėdos Street, and the people of Klaipėda were very happy about it. But not long after it became clear what was going on, there was an immediate outcry. So, from Klaipėda, then it became Nemunas street, which was also not to the liking of customers in the region. Unofficially, the street was called Calle Nuodėmių ”, says the guide.
What were the hostels like? There were wooden houses in the Nemunas and other streets, old and in ruins. There wasn’t even a pavement, there were only boards laid out for the men to pass through. In one of the largest rooms, partitions of materials or curtains were made, beds, a stool, a bowl and a jug of water were built. It was in such conditions that the sale of love took place.
“The brothels themselves were also, figuratively speaking, classified, for example, the worst were called ‘wells’. Pit, when women worked without pimps, they usually came to Lithuania from Russia. They found abandoned houses, where they settled like a land and sold love in them.
These “moats” were used by soldiers, students, schoolchildren, workers, and it was undoubtedly cheaper. But of course there was not much money, where could ordinary workers have a lot of money? ”Says the guide.
The shelters themselves were also classified, figuratively, for example, the worst being called “wells.”
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