GIs and Germans : culture, gender and foreign relations, 1945-1949 / Petra Goedde.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Goedde, Petra, 1964-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Americans.

Social conditions.

Germany--History--1945-1955.

Germany.

History.

Americans--Germany (West)--Social conditions.

Civil-military relations--Germany (West).

Civil-military relations.

Germany (West).

Germany (West)--Foreign relations--United States.

International relations.

United States.

United States--Foreign relations--Germany (West).

Germany--Social conditions--20th century.

Germany--Foreign relations--1945-.

United States--Relations--Germany.

Relations.

Germany--Relations--United States.

Physical Description:

xxiii, 280 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

New Haven, Conn. : Yale University Press, [2003]

Summary:

At the end of World War II, roughly 300,000 American GIs were deployed as occupation forces in Germany. Many of them quickly developed intimate relations with their former enemies. Those informal interactions played a significant role in the transformation of Germany from enemy to ally of the United States, argues Petra Goedde in her engrossing book. Goedde finds that as American soldiers fraternized with German civilians, particularly as they formed sexual relationships with women, they developed a feminized image of Germany that contrasted sharply with their wartime image of the aggressive Nazi storm trooper. A perception of German "victimhood" emerged that was fostered by the German population and adopted by Americans. According to Goedde, this new view of Germany provided a foundation for the political rapprochement that developed between the two countries even before the advent of the Cold War. Her provocative findings suggest that the study of foreign relations should focus on interactions not only between politicians and diplomats but also between ordinary citizens.

Contents:

1. "Know Your Enemy?": American and German Wartime Images 1

2. Crossing the Border: The Breakdown of the Fraternization Ban 42

3. Villains to Victims: The Cultural Feminization of Germany 80

4. Selling Democracy: GIs and German Youth 127

5. Forging a Consensus: Americans, Germans, and the Berlin Airlift 166.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [245]-271) and index.

ISBN:

0300090226

OCLC:

50936509