Knowledge of AIDS in West Germany in 1985

[red2blue]

Hello

Comments

[marquesate]

Yes, back then there was a lot of talk about AIDS/HIV and definitely a lot in the news about people like Rock Hudson. It wasn't as much all over the news and in peoples' minds as a few years later (the AIDS Hilfe operated some time from the late 80s on, at least I was a volunteer for them from about 1989 or so to 1993) and that was when we would go into schools and show the use of condoms.

However, as early as 1985 as a teenager I was certainly very aware of AIDS and HIV and equally aware of that one should use condoms.

I don't think people would talk about it in a red light district bar, but then I can't help you with this, because I was a teenager at the time with a first BF and lived in mid-Western Germany not Bavaria, and have absolutely NO knowledge of what a red light district bar at that time would have been like. :-D

[red2blue]

thank you so much, this is very helpful! It's exactly what I'm looking for. Really appreciate it.
m

[majolika]

[majolika]

Awesome! Thank you so much. This info is definitely going into my story.

Can I ask an unrelated question please: do you think mid-range, boutique stile hotels (English Garden for example) had TV in the rooms back in '80s? I know (hehe!) that you were 18 at the time, but maybe you've heard something about it?

Thanks again, I really appreciate it.
M

[majolika]

[red2blue]

That was me - I got too excited and forgot to log in :)

If you don't mind another follow up question: where exactly the gay sauna was in those days?

Thanks a ton!

[twilight2000]

Some of this is an age thing as well - at least in the US, until Rock died, no one over 40 had a clue - and even then, it was still argued as a "gay" disease by a HUGE portion of the population. It would be to your advantage to speak with some older Germans (or those older in the '80's ;>) if that perspective is useful to you.

[red2blue]

No, my character is young (relatively of course ;) - only 26-27 and I suspect he would be interacting with young people at a gay bar or something similar. But your angle is very interesting. I will try to identify 'older' Germans to ask - not that there are many in the place I live. LOL

Many thanks for the advice!
M

[germankitty]

If it helps, I turned 30 in 1986; dunno if that qualifies me as "older" then or not

[red2blue]

Thank you very much, this is really helpful!
m

[dorianegray]

Certainly for younger people, the basic facts about AIDS would have been fairly well known at that time. I was a teenager in the 1980s and all the pop and teen magazines ran stories and information about AIDS then, so all of my generation were pretty well-informed.

Though I'm Irish, I spent three months in Germany in 1986 on a school exchange, living with a family, going to school with their daughter, watching TV and reading the local magazines, so I can attest that the German magazines and TV shows for teens were much like the UK/Irish ones in this respect.

[red2blue]

Thanks a lot, really appreciate it!

may I dig a little into your memory? :) Do you remember the 'turning point' so to say for the awareness of AIDS - was is '81-82 or '85-86, i.e. after Rock Hudson's revelation and death?

Thank you!

[dorianegray]

Closer to the latter than the former, anyway, though I couldn't put a certain date on it.

[red2blue]

ok, thanks a mil!

[zoomama]

I was in a German gymnasium for the 1986-1987 school year (Bavaria, but not Munich), and AIDS education was mandatory for my grade (9). The bureaucracy was still not really in place--all that was required was that "one of the teachers had to do it"--so I ended up getting "the talk" from three different teachers. It was basically one class session devoted to AIDS and how to prevent it.

In any case, I'm pretty sure that such education was mandatory in Bavaria for a certain age and above--most of what we learned was standardized by the state, not the local school district.

[red2blue]

Thanks a ton for the details!

Base on my research, it seems to me that AIDS surfaced as an problem of catastrophic proportions and became 'internation' only after Rock Hudson's press release about his sickness in July 1985. Before that, research had been carried out and some reports floated around, but not so much in the press. But after July 1985, it became an international issue overnight and the AIDS education was introduced as the result. Is this correct? I didn't live in America nor W.Europe back in those days, so have to rely on what's written and your guys' recollections.

Thanks a lot for helping out!! Really appreciate it!

[inamac]

Beware of attaching too much importance to Rock Hudson's death in a European context - certainly in Britain I recall that it was reported, but by then UK awareness of AIDS, and the fact that it was not only a 'gay disease' was relatively high profile and Hudson was largely - not 'dismissed' exactly, but regarded as just another example of how prevalent the disease was (and of the celebrity-centric perception of US culture). My German and French correspondents at the time had much the same attitude (we were in our 30s).

[red2blue]

Thanks a lot, that's a very interesting bit of info. I'm taking it that you are/were a correspondent or in a related field. May I ask then , if you remember, how English or German newspapers (Times and Suddeutsche Zeitung for example) reported or would have reported Rock Hudson's press release about his illness from the hospital in Paris? what would they have mentioned/said and what they wouldnt?

My character is an American closeted gay who happens to be in Munich on that day and reads the news in Times - I think. So, I guess his perception of AIDS and celebrities would be ... American :) He could be surprised if Times would have reported the news from a different perspective than, the New York Times , for example.

Thanks a lot for leaving a comment for me! Really appreciate it.

m

Many thanks