Damenbad

Did you know that there is segregation in Freiburg? For example, the Lorettobad in the Wiehre neighborhood has a separate ladies-only pool.

Sommer, Sonne, Damenbad published by Lavori Verlag

As far back as 1980, a student challenged this gender segregation in court, possibly because he felt deprived of seeing girls in bikinis. He eventually lost the court case. According to the Municipal Code, installations may be dedicated and used as such. Furthermore, no gender is excluded from swimming, for the Lorettobad has other, larger pools accessible to everyone. Therefore, a Damenbad does not violate the principle of equality enshrined in the Grundgesetz (the German constitution).

In addition to his lost case, the student was mistaken about Damenbad's clients. As the name says, the users are ladies, while girls prefer the open area of the Lorettobad, for they like to be seen in their bikinis, particularly by students.

Today, there was an exception. The Badische Zeitung had arranged a visit to the Damenbad for its readers only, from 6 (!) to 9 a.m., before the official opening. So Red Baron, living nearby, walked to the Lorettobad and arrived at 6:02.

I arrived at the Damenbad at dawn.

Many ladies were present and greeted the male guests, but the promised coffee and the croissants were still missing.

First contacts under the moon at 6:06 a.m. (©BZ)

Two other gentlemen were there and started undressing, but they were told to change in the public area of the swimming pool. When they returned in their swimming trunks, Red Baron was tempted to swim, too, despite a water temperature of only 21 degrees centigrade.

Red Baron hesitating

The swimming pools are not heated. In 1990, the Lorettobad was refurbished; the old concrete basins were replaced with stainless-steel pools. The advantage of the latter is better hygiene and a heating effect. The sun is not only reflected off the metallic surfaces of the walls and the ground, but the red and infrared parts of the spectrum, going back and forth, are partly absorbed by the water. This is why the pools look bluish.

So in our Green City, only the sun warms the pools, with their water continuously circulating and passing through cleaning filters. Since stainless steel is a bad heat conductor, the water keeps its temperature over extended periods.

After the swim: Red Baron climbs out of the Damenbad (©BZ)

Technical details about water circulation and cleaning.
Red Baron listens skeptically to the explanations of the pool supervisor (©BZ)

When I left at 7:30, the sun had taken over.

For Freiburg, the Lorettobad, particularly the Damenbad, is a cultural heritage site. It is sponsored by the Freunde des Lorettobades.

  

Fundraising concert arranged by the Friends of the Lorettobad (©Freunde des Lorettobades)

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