Love between Enemies
Western Prisoners of War and German Women in World War II

An innovative study of empathy, sex, and love between prisoners of war and German women during World War II.

Raffael Scheck (Author)

9781108841757, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 19 November 2020

398 pages
23.6 x 16.1 x 2.5 cm, 0.69 kg

'Raffael Scheck's study is characterized in particular by the impressive wealth of the source material that he analyzed and evaluated for this project. It therefore greatly enriches the scholarly historiography of the Second World War.' Ann-Kristin Kolwes, Historische Zeitschrift

Love between Enemies explores the forbidden relationships which formed between foreign prisoners of war and German women during the Second World War. From the desire to have fun to deep love commitments, this study examines the range of motivations which lay behind these relationships, tapping into new documents and drawing on thousands of court cases to offer a transnational analysis of personal relations between enemies. Highlighting gender roles, the contradictory reactions of the communities surrounding the couples, and the diplomatic tensions resulting from the severe punishments, this is a history of everyday life which throws light on this subversive aspect of intimacy in wartime Nazi Germany. Comparing the 'transgressing' couples to other groups persecuted for their cultural or private choices, Scheck demonstrates how the relationships were silenced or justified in the post-war memory of prisoners, while the German women, who had been publicly shamed, continued to live with the stigma, and even illegitimate children, for the years that followed.

Acknowledgements, List of abbreviations
Current place names
Introduction
1. The prisoners of war and the German women
2. The legal framework, 3. The relations
4. Discovery
5. The trials
6. Behind bars
7. Case studies
8. Memory
Conclusion. Resistance, dissent, opposition?
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Second World War [HBWQ], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], European history [HBJD]