A Forgotten Legacy of the Second World War: GI children in post-war Britain and Germany
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
Standard
A Forgotten Legacy of the Second World War: GI children in post-war Britain and Germany. / Lee, Sabine.
In: Contemporary European History, Vol. 20, No. 2, 01.05.2011, p. 157-181.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
Harvard
APA
Vancouver
Author
Bibtex
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
T1 - A Forgotten Legacy of the Second World War: GI children in post-war Britain and Germany
AU - Lee, Sabine
PY - 2011/5/1
Y1 - 2011/5/1
N2 - Whether in war, occupation or peacekeeping, whenever foreign soldiers are in contact with the local population, and in particular with local women, some of these contacts are intimate. Between 1942 and 1945, US soldiers fathered more than 22,000 children in Britain, and during the first decade of post-war US presence in West Germany more than 37,000 children were fathered by American occupation soldiers. Many of these children were raised in their mothers families, not knowing about their biological roots and often suffering stigmatisation and discrimination. The question of how these children were treated is discussed in the context of wider social and political debates about national and individual identity. Furthermore, the effect on the children of living outside the normal boundaries of family and nation is discussed.
AB - Whether in war, occupation or peacekeeping, whenever foreign soldiers are in contact with the local population, and in particular with local women, some of these contacts are intimate. Between 1942 and 1945, US soldiers fathered more than 22,000 children in Britain, and during the first decade of post-war US presence in West Germany more than 37,000 children were fathered by American occupation soldiers. Many of these children were raised in their mothers families, not knowing about their biological roots and often suffering stigmatisation and discrimination. The question of how these children were treated is discussed in the context of wider social and political debates about national and individual identity. Furthermore, the effect on the children of living outside the normal boundaries of family and nation is discussed.
U2 - 10.1017/S096077731100004X
DO - 10.1017/S096077731100004X
M3 - Article
VL - 20
SP - 157
EP - 181
JO - Contemporary European History
T2 - Contemporary European History
JF - Contemporary European History
SN - 0960-7773
IS - 2
ER -