American Genes

A little-discussed chapter in German-American relations is approaching its end.  In his book Do not fraternize. Die schwierigen Anfänge deutsch-amerikanischer Freundschaft 1944-1949 Johannes Kleinschmidt wrote about the estimated 37,000 "occupation babies" or "Ami-Bastards" – the illegitimate offspring of American GIs and German women who were born in immediate postwar years.  Time is running out for these now middle-aged Germans to located their fathers in the United States.  Yesterday’s Boston Globe had a front-page article about the desperate hunt some have undertaken to solve the mystery of their own identities:

"They were offspring of romance in the occupation era, born to German women who had flings with American GIs — sometimes for love, sometimes for a moment’s passion, and sometimes, in the hardest days immediately after World War II, for a few packs of cigarettes or a pair of nylon stockings. Johnny went marching home, often leaving no forwarding address or even a full name. Perhaps unaware of the pregnancy. His lover was left to face disapproving parents and neighbors. Or a German soldier-husband returning from the front.

The children were known as occupation babies. No one missed the meaning of the euphemism: Occupation bastards.

The unlucky ones were dumped into orphanages, taunted as ”little Amis," the not-quite-affectionate term for conquering Yanks. Others were handed off to relatives. But most were raised by a resigned and often deeply reticent mother in a society in which birth out of wedlock remained scandalous. Bearing the illicit child of an American soldier carried even darker shame.

”Times were different, difficult," said Ute Baur-Timmerbrink, 59, the progeny of a love affair whose secrets her mother took to the grave. ”There was an attitude that these girls were sleeping with the enemy and only got what they deserved."

The occupation children, as they grew older, were told not to ask questions."

"Now time is ticking out. The occupation babies are middle-aged men and women. Their fathers’ generation is filling obituary pages from Boston to Bakersfield. And some of these GI offspring — or their grandchildren — are seeking fuller versions"

The stories are sad and poignant.  One of the seekers featured in the Globe article – Franz Anthoefer – was curious from an early age, and eventually did track down his American father – only to learn that his father had died weeks earlier.  Antohoefer’s story was also told last year in the Tagesspiegel:

Doch Anthöfer kam zu spät: Drei Wochen zuvor war Louis G. Craig, Anwalt und Bürgermeister, gestorben. Nach dem Schlag ins Gesicht drohte Craigs Schwester, den „deutschen Bastard“ verhaften zu lassen, falls er sich noch einmal blicken lasse.

Aber Anthöfer wollte die amerikanische Staatsbürgerschaft, und dafür brauchte er hundertprozentige Sicherheit. 1996 ließ er die Leiche des Vaters exhumieren und eine DNA-Analyse machen. Sie brachte 99,9-prozentige Sicherheit, dass er der Sohn von Louis G. Craig in Weston ist. Ein Freund seines Vaters schrieb, notariell beglaubigt: „Ich kann bestätigten, dass Louis Craig mehrmals sagte, dass er sich wünsche, sein Sohn wäre bei ihm. Ich habe keinen Zweifel, dass Franz Anthöfer, der den gleichen Gang hat, das gleiche Gesicht und die gleiche Art, die Daumen in die Hüfte zu stemmen, der Sohn ist, von dem er immer gesprochen hat.“

Die DNA-Analyse hätte bei der Anerkennung der Staatsbürgerschaft vor Gericht Bestand, glaubt Anthöfer. Aber das Verfahren geht nicht weiter, weil er nicht zu den Verhandlungen kommen kann. 1997 blieb er länger als die im Touristenvisum zulässigen drei Monate in Virginia. Man schob ihn ab. Seitdem darf er nicht mehr einreisen.

One group of "occupation babies" is not discussed in either the Globe or the Tagesspiegel, they represent the most visible legacy of the forbidden American-German fraternizaiton: the estimated 3000 children of African-American GIs.  It would be fascinating to learn more about their fate.