Figure 1.--Some of the German civilians to approach the llied soldiers driving into the Reich. The younger children did not understnd the issues abd the GIs not only proved friendly, but often had candy. Something that German children found harder and harder to find as the war-time rationing became more and more severe.

Gen. Eisenhower's non-fraternization policy proved unenforceable and was widely ignored, especially by independen-minded GIs. As a result, it was very rapidly relaxed in stages. The first step was relaxing the prohibition on speaking with German children (June 1945). From the beginning it was very rare to punish soldier who interacted with the children. We are not sure about the Soviet occupation zone, but was certainly the case with the Western Allies. Children would after the Allies moved into an rea begin to tentatively approach Allied soldiers out of interest and specialy after learning that there was candy to be had. Sugar was rationd in Germany during the War and cndy becme more and more rare as the War contunued. Expecting Allied soldiers to ignore the friendly approaches of charming little chilren was absurd from the beginning. Away from home and loney, many American soldiers found the children to be a welcome interlude in a dangrrous or borihg day. And quickly after the children broke the ice. And the allure of German women was probably even more enticing, especially after the occupation set in. This of course has been the case for armies since the dawn of time. Keeping soldiers and women apart was from the beginning a lost cause, at least in the Western zones. The Soviets seem to have been more successful after the mass rapes ceased. Gen. Eisenhower began to modify the regultions concerning adults. Allied soldiers were allowed to speak to German adults in certain circumstances (July 1945). Gen. Eisenhower finally rescended the whole effort to enforce a strict non-fraternization policy (September 1945).

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Created: 10:43 AM 3/30/2015
Last updated: 10:43 AM 3/30/2015