ABSTRACT
I spent my childhood and adolescence in a small village near Schweinfurt, an industrial city in the middle of Germany. Early adolescence is a crucial period in one's life and for me it coincided with the demise of the Nazi Regime and the occupation of Germany by the Allied Forces. For me, therefore, the advance of the American army and the eventual surrender of our village to them by the local priest was a critical life event. When, the next morning, the other children and I observed the newly arrived GIs, we were surprised by how anxiously they proceeded through the village. While we stood in the middle of the street observing what was going on, the soldiers took cover moving forward cautiously from house to house. However, the GIs quickly won the friendship of the children through chocolate and chewing gum. My first impression of Americans was that they were open minded, friendly, loud, humorous, nonchalant, and having a lot of sex. As my brother and I were the only ones in the village who spoke a little English, we occasionally served as interpreters, but found it hard to cope with more difficult messages. America was for all of us the Promised Land with its abundance of food, wonderful big cars, and lots of clothing. One of the GIs jokingly invited me to the States; for him only a joke, but for me an exciting prospect. I mention these details because it was the first suggestion that there might be a connection between wealth, happiness, and democracy. It was also during adolescence that I made up my mind to at some point live in America.
