ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with the term universally used for the transfer of massive amounts of property in the Federal Republic of Germany from the control of foreign militaries to civilian use after the end of the Cold War. It looks at conversion as a sociocultural process, one in which Germans began to reassess the nature and meaning of their national community in the context of a dramatic set of changes in material and social circumstances after 1989. Germans came to work every day, as did thousands of American civilian personnel supporting the military mission in Central Europe. This was Benjamin Franklin Village, one of the oldest and longest-lasting American military communities in the Federal Republic of Germany. The City’s Building and Environment Office then presented the beginning of a comprehensive plan to transform areas under American control. The report sketched out a vision of more than 5,500 apartments, 2,000 of which were concentrated in Franklin Village.
