Domenica Niehoff

HAMBURG, Germany - Domenica Niehoff, a former prostitute known across Germany for campaigning to have the profession legalized and regulated, has died at age 63. German media reported Friday that Niehoff, a severe diabetic, had died Thursday of complications from a lung condition. Hamburg's Asklepios clinic, where she had been hospitalized since last week, confirmed her death. Niehoff was a familiar figure on TV talk shows in the 1970s and '80s. She was instantly recognizable for her 48-inch bust and revealing outfits. Niehoff left prostitution in the 1990s to open her own bar in Hamburg's red light district, St. Pauli, and turned her attention to a number of social causes. "What I have accomplished is that more about prostitution is discussed," Niehoff said in an interview last summer with Die Welt newspaper. "That it won't be whispered about as much. That girls can honestly say, 'I was in the milieu, but now I want out.' Those who landed here earlier didn't come out again." Prostitution, long tolerated in Germany, was legalized in 2002 and there are an estimated 400,000 registered prostitutes in the country.