ABSTRACT

Research into the relationships between the occupying troops and German women and their subsequent migration is relatively recent and focuses almost exclusively on German-American relationships. This has certainly been stimulated by the large numbers of women who migrated to the USA1 but can also be seen both as a reflection of the powerful political relationship that developed after the war and of the cultural transformation Germany underwent as part of its process of post-war reconstruction. Several authors argue that German women played an important but undervalued part in forging this political and cultural process (Goedde 2003; Höhn 2002; Willoughby 2001; Kleinschmidt 1997). In contrast, German-British liaisons have received no more than passing mentions in academic publications on the era of occupational politics. As migration to the UK did not enjoy social status (and political recognition) comparable to migration to the USA it took place rather inconspicuously, in the shadow of the much more glamorously perceived transatlantic migration. Although the occupation of Germany was based on jointly formulated aims, their application

varied considerably between the occupying nations. This chapter concentrates on developments in the British zone of occupation. It draws on a variety of official and non-official contemporary sources and also on interviews with 14 women carried out in the late 1990s, 50 years after their migration to the UK. The interviews, which were part of a research project that analysed various groups of German migrants who came to Britain in the post-war era (Weber-Newth and Steinert 2006; Steinert and Weber-Newth 2000), add a subjective viewpoint to the more structural/ factual account of historical events.