Parents and children in Second World War Germany: an inter-generational perspective on wartime separation

This article discusses how the relationship between parents and their children were affected by the second world war in Germany. With fathers away from home for often as long as a decade, many children grew up without a father being physically present. The current historiography suggests that wartime separation caused a crisis in the family. But did the prolonged periods of time apart and the separate experiences of husbands at the Front and wives and children at home really destabilize family relationships? This article questions such a picture of families in ruin. It argues that family relationships were far more resilient in the face of wartime separation than has previously been credited. Indeed, it reveals the importance of children in keeping mothers and fathers focused on getting through the war. It further contends that, even from afar, fathers continued to play an important role in their children’s lives. And this in turn revises our understanding of the situation facing reuniting families.     

Review Article:Three Second World War Studies

STEVEN MERRITT MINER. Between Churchill and Stalin: The Soviet Union, Great Britain, and the Origins of the Grand Alliance. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1988. Pp. 319. $36.00 (US);

CHARLES MESSENGER. Hitler's Gladiator: The Life and Times of Oberstgruppenfiihrer and Panzergeneral-Oberst der Waffen-SS Sepp Dietrich. London and New York: Brassey's Defence Publishers (Pergamon), 1988. Pp.xvi,245.$26.95 (US);

TONY LE TISSIER. The Battle of Berlin 1945. London: Jonathan Cape, 1988. Pp. xiii, ago. £15.