The Effect of War on the German Family

Abstract

H ARDLY any country of Western European civilization has experienced the physical and moral impact of World War II to the same extent as Germany where a total war effort was followed by a total defeat. It would, therefore, appear reasonable to assume that all social institutions, including the family, would have undergone more drastic changes in this country than elsewhere. Such conclusions are encouraged by wellpublicized facts, such as the breakdown of German morale and morals at the end of the war, the diffusion of the more equalitarian American culture, the estimated surplus of over seven million women and their consequently increased participation in the economic support of their families, surpassing the 50 percent mark at least in Berlin. Have these factors been powerful enough to effect changes comparable to those after World War I or are they being retarded by other forces inherent in recent social, political, and cultural developments in Germany? This paper attempts to present at least a few facts on which a tentative answer may be based. For the sake of comparison it may be noted here that World War I and the decade following its conclusion were marked roughly by a decline of paternal authority, increased status of and participation by women in public life, a weak trend toward the companionship marriage and a slow rise in marriage as well as in illegitimacy rates. Around 1928/29 the general trend was reversed for approximately another decade. In this connection it may also be of interest to recall that these changes in the German family roughly coincided with changes in the over-all political trends. The figures and descriptive data available for this paper on the effects of World War II and the immediate post-war period seem to indicate a development similar to that after World War I, though generally on a somewhat reduced scale, and at a considerably slower pace. Familial relationships underwent on the whole only temporary modifications during the war, and no notable changes appear probable in the near future without the support by a powerful social movement, which seems rather unlikely at present. Certain gains made by women during the war were partly cancelled out in the post-war period. The defeat of the manly Nazi regime which left German husbands dispirited and disoriented would have tended to strengthen the relative status of wives. This trend was, however, effectively retarded by still prevailing traditional German attitudes which were partly responsible for efforts to have men replace women in economic positions, by a certain disappointment with the unmanly precepts represented by the Western occupation authorities, and, most powerfully, by the high surplus of women. In marked contrast to the post-World War I period, the functions of the family increased after the last war, due to the fact that several Naziinitiated institutions aimed at increasing the fertility of German women were abolished for political reasons together with the regime. Definite conclusions on a weakening of the German family cannot be drawn from the considerable increase in divorces in 1947 and the first half of 1948, since this trend is rather unlikely to continue. The statistical treatment was seriously hampered by a lack of official or reliable private compilations of figures covering all of Germany for the period under review. Extensive statistical data had to be ignored because of different areas covered, e.g., Germany before militarization of the Saarland, the Anschluss of Austria, the incorporation of the Sudetenland, etc. No attempt was made to test the validity of official German statistics, a task which would have gone far beyond the scope of this paper. Some official statistics covering the war could be located despite an official German order classifying vital statistics after 1938 as top secret. Hardly any material was available for the post-war period covering the Soviet Zone of Occupation; neither were the figures for Western Germany complete in all details. Descriptive data applied generally to the middle and lower classes, covering the numerically insignificant upper class only in a few instances. Statements not directly attributed to other sources are based on the writer's own observations made in Germany during his tour of duty as Military Government Information Officer from 1945 to 1948.