Felix Salten - The Memoirs of Josephine Mutzenbacher

The saying is that young whores eventually become old religious crones, but that was not my case. I became a whore at an early age and experienced everything a woman can-in bed, on chairs, across tables, over benches, standing against walls, lying on the grass, in dark hall-ways, in private bedchambers, on railroad trains, in lodging houses, in jail; in fact in every conceivable place where it was possible-but I have no regrets. I am along in years now. The enjoyment which Sex afforded me is fast disappearing. I am rich, but faded, and often very lonesome. Yet it never enters my mind to do penance. My escape from squalor and drudgery I owe entirely to my healthful body. Without my youthful experience and the early awakenings of sexual passion, I undoubtedly would have succumbed like many of my playmates to the poorhouse, or would have died as a drudge in some household. I did not succumb to any of these. Instead, I obtained a good education, for which I can thank only my life as a prostitute, which brought me into touch with educated men, broadened my mind and enlightened me. I escaped the life which is led by ignorant, lowborn peasants-for which they are not to blame, but of which they are so often accused. It is not their fault; they know no better. But I have seen the world in a different light, for all of which I have to thank my Me as a prostitute, so often condemned by the Public. I am writing my experiences only to shorten my time of loneliness and to give to the public the truth about the experiences which led up to the life I finally adopted. I deem this far better than to run with long confessions to the priest-confessions which might please him personally but which would only make me absolutely weary. I also find that a biography such as I am writing never before has been printed. The books which I have read tell none of the absolute facts as they really happen. I feel that I am doing a good act in exposing the doings of our so-called refined, rich men, who lure us poor girls into all kinds of the most shameful and sinful acts, and to describe the impressions a girl who has had the actual experience which I have had, and to narrate the real facts as they so often do happen. And now to begin…

My father was a very poor man who worked as a saddler in Josef City. We lived in a tenement house away out in Ottakring-at that time a new house- which was filled from top to bottom with the poorer class of tenants. All of the tenants had many children, who were forced to play in the back yards, which were much too small for so many. I had two older brothers. My father and my mother and we three children lived in two rooms- a living-room and kitchen. We also had a roomer. The other tenants, probably fifty in all, came and went, sometimes in a friendly way, more often in anger. Most of them disappeared and we never heard from them again.

I distinctly remember two of our roomers. One was a locksmith-apprentice. He had dark eyes and was a sad-looking lad. His black eyes and lark face always were covered with grime and soot. We children were very much afraid of him. He was a very silent man, never saying a word. I remember one afternoon, when I was alone in the house, he came home. I was then only five years old. My mother and my two brothers had gone to Furstenfeld and my father had not yet returned from work. The locksmith took me up from the floor, where I was playing, and held me on his lap. I wanted to cry, but he quietly told me: “Be quiet, I won't hurt you.” He then laid me back, lifted up my little skirt and “examined” me. I was badly frightened as he viewed me naked upon his lap, but I remained perfectly quiet. Then he heard my mother coming, putting me down on the floor, he retreated hastily into the kitchen. A few days later, he again came home early. Mother was about to go out, so she asked him to look after me until she returned. This was a commission which he accepted gladly. As soon as Mother was gone, the knave again held me on his knees and began examining my naked underparts. He did not utter a word; he just stared at the tender organ constantly. I did not dare say anything. He repeated this performance on many occasions as long as he roomed with us. As a child, of course, I had no idea of its import, and did not give the matter a second thought. Today I know different, and often I call this fellow my first lover.

My two brothers, Franz and Lorenz, differed greatly in temperament. My oldest brother, Lorenz, four years older than me, was quiet, industrious and religious. Franz, the younger one, who was a year and a half older than me, was just the opposite-happy, carefree, and much more affectionate to me than was my other brother. I had reached the age of seven when, one day, Franz and I went to visit some neighbor's children. These children were always alone. Their mother was dead and their father was away at work. Anna, the younger, then a girl of nine years, was pale, thin and light blonde, with a split lip. Her brother, Ferdl, was thirteen years old, robust and also blond, but red-cheeked and broad-shouldered. We were innocently playing, when Anna remarked: “Now, let's play 'father and mother.'“

Her brother laughed and said: “She always wants to play 'father and mother.'“ But Anna insisted. Going to my brother, she said: “You be the man and I will be your wife.” Ferdl came and took hold of my arm and declared: “Well, then, I'll be your man and you be my wife.” Anna immediately got two pillow slips and made two rag dolls, handed me one, saying: “Here is your child!” I began to fondle and caress the doll, but Anna and Ferdl began to laugh at me, saying: “That is not the way; first you must make the baby, then you must be pregnant and then you must give birth to the baby. Only then you can fondle it.” I naturally had often heard people say that a woman was in the “family way” and soon would have a baby. The story about the stork I had long doubted, and, when I saw a woman with a big stomach, I imagined what that meant. But, of course, I was ignorant of the actual facts, as was also my brother Franz. Consequently, Franz and I stood bewildered and helpless and at a loss whether to proceed with this new game or not. But Anna stepped up to Franz and, reaching for the opening in his trousers, said: “Come on, take your 'pipe' out!” At that she unbuttoned his trousers and removed his little stem, while Ferdl and I looked on, Ferdl with amusement and I with astonishment, wonder and anger (yet with a strange, exultant feeling which I never had experienced before). Franz stood like a statue, not seeming to realize what was happening. At Anna's touch, his little device stood up stiff. “Now, come,” I heard Anna whisper. Then she threw herself on the floor on her back, and, lifting her skirts, spread her legs far apart. At this moment Ferdl grabbed me and said: “Lie down.” Immediately I felt his hand between my legs. I willingly lay down and lifted my skirts as Anna had done. Ferdl rubbed his rugged little plow against my untilled furrows.

I had to laugh, for his ministrations tickled not a little as he rubbed against my belly and thighs and all over me. He was breathing hard and he laid heavily upon my breast. The whole proceeding seemed foolish and laughable. Yet a strange feeling which came over me-one which I cannot describe, and which induced me to lie still. Now I became quite serious. Suddenly Ferdl jumped up. I also got up. He showed me his instrument, which I took in my hand. A small drop of liquid was visible on the end. Ferdl drew back the tiny spear's soft flesh covering and a little, red head appeared. I pushed the covering back and forth several times and thought it great sport to see the head, like the head of some small animal, appear and disappear.