Figure 1.-- |
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The U.S. soldiers who entered the Continent on D-Day (June 1944) and afterwards through VE Day (May 1945), according to one source, had on average sex with 25 women. Of course the precise number is unknowable but while most sources might tinker with the number, the basic point is not challenged. The peak of sexual activity seems to occurred in Germany after the surrender. This is probably because the Germans were devestated, men were in POW camps (Mosdt of those in Soviet camps never returned), and food abd fuel was difficult to obtain. Also soon after VE-Day, the Army becam sending men back to America. Army sources report that Condoms had to be rationed at four per man per month. Medical personnel complained that this was “entirely inadequate.” The U.S. Army conducted a survey which “revealed that the level of promiscuity among the troops was far higher than officially admitted, and rates rose in direct proportion to the amount of time the men had spent overseas.” Army sources report that over 80 percent of the men who had been away over 2 years reported that they had regular sexual intercourse. The Army found that in Italy, three-quarters of U.S. soldiers had intercourse with Italian women, anout once or twice a month. About three-quarters of these men paid in cash. The others used rationed food, or nothing. The Army survey found that less than half the GIs used condoms. [Goldstein] It is likely that the situation in Germany was similar. General Eisenhowered ordered the U.S. Army in Germany to adopt a no-fraternization policy. The Army's experience in Italy seems to have been a major influence. The Army policy, however, was widely flouted if not ignored. Many German women were desperate and the GIs far from home. There were punishments for fraternization, but they were minor matters suh as small fines. We suspect that many of the children fathered by Ameican soldiers occurred during the early yeats of the occupation. This is because of the very difficult conditions in Germany after the War. There were almost no jobs and food was very hard to get. Thus American GI's with money and PX privilgers were very attractive. As the Germany econnomy began to recover after 1948 this appeal gradually declined. A German source estimates that by 1955, American soldiers had fathered 67,700 children in Germany.
The U.S. soldiers who entered the Continent on D-Day (June 1944) and afterwards through VE Day (May 1945), according to one source, had on average sex with 25 women. Of course the precise number is unknowable but while most sources might tinker with the number, the basic point is not challenged. The peak of sexual activity seems to occurred in Germany after the surrender. This is probably because the Germans were devestated, men were in POW camps (Mosdt of those in Soviet camps never returned), and food abd fuel was difficult to obtain. Also soon after VE-Day, the Army becam sending men back to America. Army sources report that Condoms had to be rationed at four per man per month. Medical personnel complained that this was “entirely inadequate.” The U.S. Army conducted a survey which “revealed that the level of promiscuity among the troops was far higher than officially admitted, and rates rose in direct proportion to the amount of time the men had spent overseas.” Army sources report that over 80 percent of the men who had been away over 2 years reported that they had regular sexual intercourse. The Army found that in Italy, three-quarters of U.S. soldiers had intercourse with Italian women, anout once or twice a month. About three-quarters of these men paid in cash. The others used rationed food, or nothing. The Army survey found that less than half the GIs used condoms. [Goldstein] It is likely that the situation in Germany was similar.
General Eisenhowered ordered the U.S. Army as it approached the norders of the Reich to adopt a no-fraternization policy with German civilians. The Army's experience in Italy seems to have been a major influence. The Army explained that the policy was to maintain military authority in occupied Germany. There was still a strong feeling that the Germans should be punished, although actual occuption policies had not yet been worked out. An even more important reason may have been the impact on troop strength as a result of the impsact of venereal disease in Italy.
Germany was in ruins at the end of World War II. Photograpgs of major cities shows enless piles or rubble. The American bombing campaign was based on daylight "precession" bombing based on the Norden bombsight. There was, however, no such thing as percession bombing in World War II. The weaponery that now allows pression targeting did not exist at the time. Most of the bombs dropped in the War did not hit the intended target. As German factoiries were located in cities. The cities with important factories were devetated. A German reader tells us, for example, "The photograp you show here is of course not the Messerschmitt plant but the area around the Augsburgian Abbey located at some distance from the plant." The British made little pretense ar precision bombing. RAF Bomber Command bombing at night could not even begin to target specific plants. The British adopted a strategy of area bombing, essentially disrupting the German economy by destroying German cities. It was the German Luftwaffe which began the targetting of civilian populations and the use of terror bombing. Once America entered the war, the Allies were able to amass air armadas that wreaked destruction on Germany beyound what the Luftwaffe was ever cabable. The Allied strategic bombing campaign after the War has been questioned. Few Europeans sympathized with the Germans in 1945 after what thy had done. What ever the readers assessment of this debate, it is clear that the German civilian popuaion, including women and children, suffred horibly in the bombig and German cities and industry was in ruins.
Many German women were desperate. Their men were dead or in POW camps. Many of those who survived were psycholically traumitized or terribly wounded. This meant that there was no family breadwinners. German mothers generally did not work outside the home. Young women had been drafted into war industries, but German factories had been reduced to rubble. Other women were refugees from eastern Germany here they had endured terrible ordeals. Many German women were thus desperate.
Eisenhower could give orders. Changing human nature was a very different matter. The Army policy from the beginning was widely flouted if not ignored. The GIs were far from home. They had money and little to do. At first very little money was needed. A pack of cigarettes or a chocolate bar would do. Nylon stockings and cammed meat were also in great demand. The results were inevitable. The Army tried to enforce the non-fraternization rule. There were punishments for fraternization, but they were minor matters such as small fines. Most commnders from an early point realized it was fruitless. An American reader writes, "Very interesting and important topic. I was part of the American occupation forces in Germany at the end of World War II, and I recall the issuing of condoms to soldiers who were going on leave or out into German cities and towns. There were constant lectures to American soldiers stationed in Germany about the dangers of venereal disease, and there were also security concerns because of some ugly incidents in which German girls whom American soldiers picked up for sexual liasons murdered them clandestinely--apparently in vengeance for German soldiers who had been killed by Americans in the war. Most German girls were friendly to the American soldiers who could give them precious things such as soap, chocolate, and cigarettes (cheaply available in American Army PXs), and many Germans too were relieved to be rid of the Nazi repression and therefore regarded American troops as liberators. [HBC note: Our assessment is that even more Germans given wht was happening in eastern Germany, were glad that someone was standing between them and the Red Army.] But I recall one incident late in 1945 (as I think) when
the headless corpse of an American G.I. was found floating in the Danube. The dead soldier was apparently the victim of revenge, carried out (it was believed) by a German girl who had slept with the soldier and whose brother had been shot by the Americans."
We suspect that many of the children fathered by Ameican soldiers occurred during the early years of the occupation. This is because of the very difficult conditions in Germany immediately after the War. This continued until the economic revival that began about 1948, in part because of the Marshal Plan. There were almost no jobs and food was very hard to get. Thus American GI's with money and PX privilges were very attractive. As the Germany econnomy began to recover after 1948 this appeal gradually declined. A German source estimates that by 1955, American soldiers had fathered 67,700 children in Germany. [Paulick]
The Allies began releasing POWs in large numbers (1946). Few German soldiers returned from Soviet camps and those that did usually did not make it back to Germany until the 1950s. Many were boken men. German soldiers returning from Allied POW camps were irate with what they saw.
They were shocked to see German women with Allied soldiers. They saw it as treason. Much like the French attitide toward French women that took German lovers. There were attacks on the women involved. Some of the children were the result of passing encounters. Others had resulted from more long ter affairs. Many romises were broken. Many GIs returned home without marrying their German lovers. Some were even already married. And the local community commonly looked down on these women and their children.
The children were called "occupation babies". This was a more polite term than the "Rhineland bastards" following World Wat I, but the meaning was basically the same. The children of American fathers were called "little Amis," a not-quite-affectionate term for Americans occupying Germany. I'm not sure if there were terms for the British and French. Nor do I know about the Soviets in eastern Germany. Here references would have to more vailed because negative comments about the Soviets could mean arrest and a concentration camp. Some of the American-fathered children were raised in orphanages. Others were raised by their monthers and or their mothers families. at the time birth out of wedlock was scandalous. This was magnified here because some saw it as sleeping with the enemy. And some mothers even had to face husbands bveing released from Allied POW camps.
Most children asked questions. Usually when little they were told not to ask, but most eventully were told that there fathers were Americans. Some times their mothers knew rhe GI's name, often they only knew a first name. One occupation baby tells how at the outset of every school year, each student was required to rise in class and give the name of his mother and father. "How I dreaded the start of school. How I dreaded saying, 'I have no father.' And hearing the laughter." [Nickerson] I'm not sure how cimmon this was in the 1950s. A German reader writes, "I don't know how common this was. At least not in my school time but that was the 1980s."
The number of unwed German mothers increased sharply during the first year of occupation.
The German Goverment had to assume the financial burden for the care of the children. And in the early years of the occupation resources were very limited. I an not sure whow many of the foreign fathered children were cared for by the mothers and how many were given over to orphanages. A prticulsarly toughy issue for the Germans was that avout 5,000 of the 67,700 children father by GIs were mixced-race children fathered by black GIs. These children were almost impossible to adopt in Germany. Many were eventually sent to the United States for adoption.
Eisenhower's no-franterization policy actually did not last very long. The U.S. Congress after the War amended the immigratin laws to assisst refugees. GIs and their relatives wrote their Congressmen in droves complsining about the Army. The Congress thus passed the War Brides Act (December 1945). The GIs in Germany were free to marry their German lovers. Thousands of marriages took place. sweethearts. And they did so in droves. After the law passed, about 20,000 German war brides emigrated to the the United States (1946-49). The Army outfitted the "Argentina" with nurseries to care for the war brides and their children. Like other immigrants many of the war brides quickly adapted to America. Othere were home sick and eventually returned. I'm not sure if any studies exist assessing the overall experience of these couples.
German public opinion is another important question, in large measure because the Cold War and the democratic future of Europe was waged an won in Germany. The correct behavior of Allied soldiers in Germany, in sharp contrast to how the Germans behaved in other countries and how the Red Army behaved in eastern Germany, must have impressed many Germans. The Allies institututed a free press in Germany, but there were restictions. One of those was criticism of the Allies war-time ally, the Soviet Union. Thus new of Red Army attrocities which had been a major focus of the NAZI press, disappeared from German newspapers. Informtion did spread by world of mouth. I am not sure just when the Allies removed the restrictions on reporting fully aboutSoviet behavior. The orgy of violence in eastern Germany was a public relations nightmare from which the Soviets and German Communists could never really recover.
Goldstein, Joshua S. War and Gender: How Gender Shapes the War System and Vice Versa (Cambridge University Press, 2001).
Kleinschmidt, Johannes. Kleinschmidt authored a book on U.S.-German fraternization issues.
Nickerson, Colin. "Germany's war children scramble to find their GI fathers," Boston Globe (March 26, 2006).
Paulick, Jane. "The Allies’ Human Legacy Lives," OnDW-WORLD.DE (May 3, 2005). Paulick suggests that U.S. Army authorities went to enormous lenghs to separate GIs from their children. The U.S. Army did have a no-fraterization policy and commanders were under orders to discourage marriages. While the Army could make marriage difficult, there was no real way of separating two peope who really wanted to get married.
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