A bronze statue of Hans Albers stands just off Hamburg’s Reeperbahn, the city’s historic red-light and entertainment strip near the port. Albers, a film star of the 1930s and 1940s, became synonymous with the surrounding St Pauli district through movies and songs that romanticised sailors, bars, and nightlife, especially *Auf der Reeperbahn nachts um halb eins* (“On the Reeperbahn at Half Past Midnight”). At first glance, the monument reads as a straightforward tribute to a local icon in his natural habitat.

What most visitors miss, however, is what unfolds below the statue. A series of low reliefs carved into the base depict scenes often read as everyday life from the surrounding district rather than its neon-lit image. One relief shows a naked woman riding a crawling man while whipping him, an explicit reference to domination, sex work, and power.…