SAccording to Jacques Arnal (1912-1995), former boss of the Socialite Brigade, the section of the Parisian police in charge of the fight against pimping, the capital attributed nearly 200 brothels, at the time of the adoption of the Richard law which imposed their closure on November 6, 1946. These so-called “tolerance” houses then employed nearly 7,000 people. To which would be added, according to the same divisional commissioner, more than 6,000 “submissive” girls (understand: under the control of a pimp) in the thousand of “garnished” hotels in the capital.
These figures are taken from the central file that the “third office” of the first division of the Paris police headquarters kept continuously for nearly a century and a half from 1802. It included all the work…