GIs and Fräuleins

“This important book belongs on the shelf of anyone interested in the U.S. military’s interactions with foreign civilians, the military’s presence in Europe during the Cold War, and in gender and race relations in 1950s West Germany.” — Journal of Military History

“Höhn’s study skillfully places local experiences into the larger contexts of West German society and German-US relations.” — CHOICE

“This fine book should become a staple for students of postwar Germany, sexuality, and race.” — Central European History

“Makes a significant contribution to our understanding of 1950s community dynamics and race relations during the occupation. . . . [Höhn’s] use of gender provides a new and detailed picture of German social and economic history at the local and national levels since the 1950s. Her book is a valuable contribution to the scholarly literature.” — Journal of American History

“In this very fine book, Höhn illuminates critical changes in West German society and opens up a fascinating new front in the history of the cultural expansion of the United States.” — International History Review

“Few scholars have focused on the social impact of the American bases on local communities in Germany. Maria Höhn’s study of the Baumholder region in the 1950s is a significant step toward understanding the local repercussion of such a deployment. . . . As a model community study, Höhn’s book makes a major contribution to our understanding of the American impact on local German communities during the Cold War.” — American Historical Review

“GIs and Fräuleins tells an interesting and important story, and with it Höhn makes a valuable contribution to the burgeoning literature on post-World War II Germany.” — American Studies

“This is a beautifully written book that adds immensely to our understanding of 1950s culture. GIs and Fräuleins focuses on the intense popular and institutional reactions to sexual and romantic relations between German women and American men and the complex interplay between German and American forms of racism. Höhn’s richly textured account also recasts the terms of debate over the legacies of Nazism and the persistence of anti-Semitism, deepens our understanding of processes of Americanization and secularization, and makes sense of 1950s West Germans' distinctive, contradictory mix of punitive and tolerant attitudes toward nonmarital heterosexuality.” — Dagmar Herzog, Michigan State University