Domenica Niehoff

Nightscene in Hamburg St. Pauli – where Domenica was considered „Queen of the Reeperbahn“.

Domenica Anita Niehoff (3 August 1945 – 12 February 2009), also known as Domenica, was a German prostitute and activist. She appeared in television shows in the 1980s, where she campaigned for legalization of the profession.

Biography

Early life

Niehoff was born in Cologne. When her mother was arrested for minor fraud, Niehoff and her brother lived in a Catholic orphanage until she was 14. When she was 17 she met a brothel-owner whom she later married.

Her husband committed suicide in 1972. During that year she started working as a prostitute in red light district of Hamburg, St. Pauli and in the Herbertstraße. Later she opened a studio and became known as a Dominatrix.

Media attention

In the 1980s she appeared in TV Talkshows campaigning for prostitutes and legalisation of the profession.

Death

Domenica was buried in the Garden of Women at the Ohlsdorf Cemetery. She was the first prostitute buried in this area for distinguished women, according to the coordinator of the funeral service.

Literature

• Domenica Niehoff: Domenicas Kopfkissenbuch. Droemer Knaur, München 1989, ISBN 3-426-03994-X.
• Domenica Niehoff: Körper mit Seele. Mein Leben. Aufgezeichnet von Hans Eppendorfer, Droemer Knaur, München 1994, ISBN 3-426-75062-7.
• Fee Zschocke (Texte), Andrej Reiser (Fotogr.): Domenica und die Herbertstraße. Eichborn, Frankfurt am Main 1981, ISBN 3-8218-1701-1.
• Domenica Portfolio. Grafikmappe, Schreiber & Leser, München 1993.

Media

• Menschen bei Maischberger, talkshow on German television(German)

External links

• Domenica Niehoff in the German National Library catalogue (German)
• Domenica Niehoff at the Internet Movie Database
• Domenica Portfolio, Loustal international Art Site: Virtuel Museum
• Domenica Portfolio, Schreiber&Leser
• Sexarbeit Prostitution – Lebenswelten und Mythen, Exhibition in Museum der Arbeit, Hamburg (German)