Christiane and Albert Lecocq

Before I write or quote articles about other German naturist personalities, I would like to mention the most important personalities from France if not in Europe: Christiane and Albert Lecocq, the founders of naturism as we know it today in Europe. After WWII German FKK was not very busy, only some old FKK colonies survived. In the 1950s was no FKK creativity in Western Germany. So France took over.

But lets start from the beginning:
Christiane founded with her husband Albert Lecocq the French Naturist Federation on 19th February 1950 and the International Naturist Federation in 1953. In addition to the establishment of these two entities, highly important to the naturists around the world, Christiane Lecocq and her husband have worked for the development and promotion of the naturist values, namely through the creation of the Club du Soleil de Carrieres-sur-Seine, the first Heliomarin Naturist Centre worldwide in Montalivet, or also the first large naturist centre of the Ile de France at Saint-CheronIt were also Albert and Christiane who in 1949 created the first specialized magazine, the La Vie au Soleil, still being published today. After taking over the management in 1969 Christiane Lecocq never had stopped working since the 40ties. I very precisely remember Christiane, who was my boss at the Vie au Soleil. She was a woman with a very sharp tongue, proud of her beliefs, recalls Yves Leclerc, the vice-president of the French Naturist Federation. Every year Christiane Lecocq went with high pride to the General Assembly of the French Naturist Federation, of which she was Honorary President and where she recently had celebrated her 100th anniversary. If France today is the first naturist destination worldwide, with 3,5 million practitioners, whereof more than 1,5 French, she cannot deny that this is thanks to her! specifies the president of the French Naturist Federation. Christiane Lecocq, the founder of the national and world naturist movement.

THE CREATION OF THE NATURIST MOVEMENT, THANKS TO THE LECOCQS, WITH THE KEY DATES:
6th April 1911: birth of Christiane Lecocq at Tourcoing
1932: Christiane discovers naturism through sports at the Club Gymnique du Nord at Fort de Seclin, near Lille. Meets Albert Lecocq.
28th October 1933: Albert and Christiane Lecocq get married.
1944: Albert and Christiane Lecocq found, in hiding, the first Club du Soleil. In 1945 they move to Carrieres-sur-Seine and create the Club de Soleil de Carrieres-sur-Seine, which becomes the unavoidable place of national and international meetings.
1949: In order to endow the naturist movement with a broadcasting device, the Lecocqs found the magazine La Vie au Soleil. For 60 years this medium is the emblematic organisation of the naturist movement.
19th February 1950: Albert and Christiane Lecocq found the French Naturist Federation and set the concepts of naturism.
23th July 1950: They create the first Centre Heliomarin Naturiste worldwide in Montalivet.
1953: Albert and Christiane Lecocq create the International Naturist Federation so to group under one same banner all the federations that have developed in several European countries.
1969: Death of Albert Lecocq.
NATURISM: FROM ORIGIN TO TODAY The role of Albert and Christiane Lecocq in the development of naturism in France, in Europe and worldwide.
1770: Dr. Jean Baptiste Luc Planchon (1734-1781), member of the Societe Royale de Medecine de Paris writes in a memorandum, prize-winning by the Academy of Dijon in 1776: Naturism is the doctrine of allowing nature to act rather than intervening artificially.
1775: The oldest modern day trial comes from Georges C. Lichtenberg (German author and physicist) who, in his study The aerial Bath, noted that the Lord Monboddo, one of the most respected judges at the Edinburgh Court, bathed naked as well as his daughters.
1888: The painter Karl Diefenbach (1851-1913) started alone to preach nudity in a forest area of Bavaria. In 1897 he founds the community Humanitas with 25 supporters for a common alternative life with a passion for nature, nudity, spiritualism and vegetarian food.
1893: Creation of the Association of natural wellbeing in Germany. Registered in 1905 it is the oldest naturist association in the world. The hygienist sociologist Heinrich Pudor writes a book with the title Nacktkultur (nude culture), one of the first publications promoting the benefits of social nudity.
1903: In France S. Gay creates a Naturist Colony at the Bois-Fourgon near Etampes. Paul Zimmermann created the first gymnastics centre Freilichtpark (Open Air Park) at Lubeck (Germany), it operates till 1981.
13th August 1905: Birth of Albert Lecocq at Arras.
1907: In France Georges Hebert and Dr. Paul Carton will establish the principles of a naturist physical education by the creation of the Natural Method.
Father Legre, with agreement of his superiors, takes his students to bathe without swimsuit in the creeks of Marseille.
The naturist activity starts in Spain by the creation of an association.
6th April 1911: Birth of Christiane Esterman at Tourcoing, future spouse of Albert Lecocq.
1920: Marcel Kienne de Mongeot and Yvan de Laval found the Sparta Club, the first naturist club in France and the Centre of Garambouville (near Evreux) the year after. In the Netherlands a first naturist association is founded.
1922: Jacques Demarquette founds the Naturist Camping Ground at Chevreuse.
1924: Christiane Esterman starts her working life at age 13, when she becomes a factory worker.
1925: The municipality of Berlin opens the doors of its public baths for naturists.
1926: The naturist movement made its real appearance in France with the publication of the magazine Vivre integralement, published by Kienne de Mongeot.
1927: In Switzerland the citizen of Biel Edouard Fankhauser founds the Organisation Naturiste Suisse (ONS).
1929: Some people gather around Albert Lecocq at his office in Lille, where he works as journalist, and establish the close relationships with Marcel Kienne de Mongeot.
1930: Two doctors, Andre and Gaston Durville open a Naturist Centre, Physiopolis, on the island of Platais, situated at the Seine between Medan and Triel-sur-Seine in Yvelines, where the 1st Naturist Congress takes place. At those days naturist clubs practice therapies based on the healing properties of the sun, the sea and the wind, nudity being the best way to have contact with these elements.
1931: Dr Fougerat de Lastours highlights the spectacular results achieved by solar hygiene.
Constitution of the Austrian Federation Creation of CGF: Club Gymnique de France at Villecresnes, which still continues today. Albert Lecocq founds the CGN (Club Gymnique du Nord) at the Fort de Seclin, near Lille. Albert Lecocq joins Marcel Kienne de Mongeot and his ideas. Keen of the social naturism he directs the practice of naturism towards the wild sites and the camping grounds.
1932: Foundation of the village Heliopolis on the Ile du Levant (Var) by Andre and Gaston Durville.
1933: By a decree dated 3rd March 1933 Goering banned all swimming and other outdoor activities in nudity on the German territory. The majority of naturist publications and magazines were destroyed.
Albert Lecocq creates the CNGN (Club Naturiste et Gymnique de Normandie) on 28th October. Albert Lecocq marries Christiane Esterman.
1934: Opening of the first naturist beach in Croatia.
1935: In Germany certain sites were returned to the naturists, authorizing them to practice sports and sunbathing in the most natural apparel.
1936: With its social reforms and the enthusiasm for the outdoors the Front Populaire inspires Albert Lecocq with popular nudism. He sees the foundations of a social naturism, taking up the principles of regeneration of man of Kienne de Mongeot, according to the natural laws of the doctors Andre and Gaston Durville (founders of the city of Heliopolis on the Ile du Levant), thanks to the heliotherapy recommended by Dr. Fougerat de Lastours. Leo Lagrange (1st Assistant Secretary for Sports and Leisure) officially recognizes the utility of the naturist movement.
1939: The first Naturist Olympic Games take place on the site of the ONS (Switzerland).
1942: The Nazi regime decides to legalize naturism in Germany. Nude swimming is permitted again: a new decree is published authorizing the naturists to take off clothes on the beaches and at the borders of the lakes, to the extent that they are certain not to be seen by other people.
1944: Albert and Christiane Lecocq create, in hiding, the Club du Soleil a Carrieres-sur-Seine, thanks to the contribution of Vivre of Kienne de Mongeot, with the idea one club for each city, one site for each club. The national vocation of the Club du Soleil does not take long to manifest itself. Carrieres-sur-Seine hosts numerous French and international events.
1949: Albert and Christiane Lecocq create the magazine for naturist information intended for the general public, La Vie au Soleil. 60 years after its creation this magazine still is the emblematic organisation of the naturist milieu.
1950: On 19th February Albert and Christiane Lecocq found the French Naturist Federation (FFN). It sets the concepts of naturism, its normal objectives, its rules of conduct and its statutes. The entity was established with the fundamental principle that all the clubs would group together under one single federation. The basic idea expressed by Albert and Christiane Lecocq was: By naturism we mean the set of rules that bring the individual person closer to a natural life. Within 5 years the number of affiliated associations grew from 9 to 86. On 23rd July Albert and Christiane Lecocq, with the help of the Club du Soleil de Bordeaux, found the Centre Helio-Marin (CHM) of Montalivet, a naturist leisure complex north of Bordeaux, on 100 ha of moors and dunes, (soon expanded to 170 ha).
France and Croatia become the first countries in Europe to develop the concept of naturist commercial resorts.
1953: Albert and Christiane Lecocq create at Montalivet the International Naturist Federation (INF-FNI), which brings together the Federations of all the countries, recognized for their practice of family and organized naturism. The DFK (German Federation) officially becomes a legally registered association.
In August the 3rd Naturist Congress takes place at Montalivet, Gironde.
1954: Albert et Christiane Lecocq found Socnat (Societe de Financement des Centres de Nature), a professional and financial entity, intended to ensure the economic development of the naturist holiday resorts.
1956: Rene OLTRA meets Albert and Christiane Lecocq at Montalivet and creates together with his
brother Paul the naturist camping ground of Cap dAgde, similar to the Centre Helio Marin of Montalivet et names it Centre Helio Marin Rene Oltra
1957: Albert Lecocq creates the association Arena (Art and Nature).
1959: Foundation of the Belgian Naturist Federation (FBN).
1961: Albert and Christiane Lecocq open the centre Heliomonde at Saint-Cheron (Essonne), the largest naturist site in the Ile de France (47 ha) on the former sandstone quarry from where the pavements of Paris were extracted. Members of the French Volleyball team train there, under the leadership of Christiane Lecocq, who practices competitive volleyball. Sports in nudity hold a big place then. The Cortey-Cup sends the best clubs to tournaments for meetings in France and abroad (swimming, archery, table tennis, volleyball).
1964: Albert and Christiane Lecocq create Nautna (Boating and naturism) and the Naturist Sports Union.
1967: Albert and Christiane Lecocq establish a Social Naturist Development Plan that aims to transform a closed society into a dynamic movement, integrated and socially accepted.
1969: The Interministerial Mission for Tourism Development of the Littoral du Languedoc-Roussillon, named Mission Racine, assigns a district of the new resort of Cap dAgde to naturism.
On 31st October Albert Lecocq dies at Carrieres-sur-Seine.
1974: On 29th January the Mission Racine decides the creation of a naturist complex at Port Leucate.
At the XIVth Congress of the International Naturist Federation of Montpellier, which takes place in the centers of Agde and Serignan, the adoption of the international definition of naturism: Naturism is a way of life in harmony with nature, characterised by the practice of communal nudity, with the intention of encouraging self-respect, respect for others and for the environment.
1983: On 28th October the French Naturist Federation receives the approval Association de Jeunesse et dEducation Populaire from the Ministry of Leisure, Youth and Sports.Municipal pools open slots for practitioners nearly everywhere. In Paris the city administration opens a slot for naturists at the city pool Roger le Gall.
1986: The French Naturist Federation signed a convention of objectives with the Ministry of Tourism and joins the Maison de la France.
1993: The Maison du Naturisme opens at Paris.
1989: At the initiative of the French Naturist Federation creation of the Club Franais du Naturisme dAtout France, the agency for development of the tourism in France, dependent on the Ministry of Tourism.
1999: Christiane Lecocq stops with the table tennis competitions at age 88, By reason, she will say later!
2008: On 11th September the Conseil Municipal de Leucate (Aude) decides unanimously to give the name Albert Lecocq for a new road of rue de Port Leucate; connecting the naturist villages of Ulysse, Eden and Les Mas de la Plage. The sign will be placed in October, almost day to day on the date of the 40th commemoration of the decease of Albert Lecocq. With high emotion Christiane Lecocq herself will unveil the street plate bearing the name of her husband, with the presence of the representatives of the city of Leucate, the French Naturist Federation and the inhabitants of the Naturist Village of Leucate.
2014: On 24th December Christiane Lecocq passes away at the old peoples home Mapi at Chatou, at the dawn of her 104th year. Her funeral takes place at the church Notre Dame of Chatou and she is buried at the side of her husband Albert Lecocq, who died an 31st October 1969.

Source: FOCUS April 2019, INF Newsletter