A Brothel Drama in Late -Imperial Austria : The Rie hl Trial

Abstract

The celebrated trial of forty-six-year-old Regine Riehl, a brothel keeper of Jewish origin, who was charged with crimes associated with the operation of her establishment, opened in Vienna on 2 November 1906. Residents of the imperial capital, and other people throughout Austria followed the proceedings with great interest. The Riehl affair drew public attention to prostitution and produced pressure in the capital to reform abuse in the system of regulation. The trial remained a point of departure for subsequent debates about the utility of regulating prostitution for the duration of the Monarchy, influencing change in the rules governing regulation of prostitution throughout Austria. Despite its drawbacks, however, many police and other officials remained convinced that the alternatives to tolerated prostitution would be even less effective.