Vague idea from just-possibly potential fiction author – seeing harking back, as so many do, to the Second World War.
Does anyone know of any instances – real life, or published fiction – of romances with an ultimately happy outcome, between German serviceman in the force occupying European country, and female citizen of that country? There were many such liaisons, of course; but for reasons not far to seek, most ended unhappily for one party or both.
In the British Channel Islands – German-occupied 1940 – 1945, fairly horrible circumstances, but for various reasons, less horrible than in most German-occupied territories – I understand that a few such relationships, in the end worked out happily; though usually, the couple chose to move a very long way away – sometimes to Australia, where Germans were not hated with great intensity. I wonder whether it ever worked out thus favourably, anywhere else in German-occupied Europe? Simply, interesting to know: might have novel-potential (gooey romance, or more serious)? It’s generally accepted that by no means every individual WWII German serviceman, was a fiend in human shape – many were perfectly decent guys, just stuck with what they were stuck with.
For all I know, there may exist a colossal body of fiction, varying between serious / cosy / comical / bodice-ripping / nasty in the extreme, on this subject, of which I’m unaware. Would just be interested in people’s thoughts.
My daughter has told me about a web novel where a concentration camp guard falls in love with a prisoner, and she eventually falls in love with him.
The reaction has been profoundly negative. I don’t know if the main problem is the subject matter, or because the novel itself is written at a soap opera romance level.
This is not exactly it, but the 70s YA novel Summer Of My German Soldier is about the friendship between a 12-year-old Jewish girl in Middle America and an escaped German POW. It’s not a romance (thank goodness) but a similar theme.
The recent Pulitzer winner All The Light We Cannot See hints at a romance between a French Resistance supporter and a German soldier.
In both stories the Germans are portrayed as not adhering to Nazi ideology.
Thanks, all, for comments and examples. The answer would seem to be, not altogether surprisingly, “rather few instances”. A positive spin thereon would be: ample opportunity for fiction-type breaking of new ground.
I doubt that there has ever been a war in the history of man where the occupying army did not end up consorting* with the occupied. Sometimes it was casual, sometimes it developed into something more.
*please no one bring up rape - it is evil, it is a fact and it is irrelevant to this discussion.
Sometimes when the soldier cycled back home the woman would come back with him.
The reason that there are no celebrated examples is simple - there is nothing special about it.
As to the relative wealth or dearth of fictional accounts, I can’t honestly say, But it does not seem to me a terribly compelling story in and of itself.
“Woman and man in tense and difficult circumstances find that love can clear all hurdles and they, in spite of adversity, go on to live a happily married life.” I’ve seen, read and heard it a trillion times - all you would be doing is changing the setting.
Telling the same story the same way but set in a different place has been done times innumerable. It’s almost the definition of cliché.
Now if you can come up with a new twist or interpretation of the worn out saga -see Stranger in a Strange Land - or an innovative and unique writing style - see Vonnegut - then that is something worth pursuing.
Zeke N. Destroi – not meaning to be nasty – but I feel that you’re largely missing what I’m trying to get at; and that you’re speaking from some ivory tower where only High Art is reckoned to have any value. If I were to have a shot at writing fiction: I’d be contented enough to do so on the humble level of literate-but-lowbrow romances or thrillers, of the kind which very many people enjoy – whether they’re intellectuals taking a break from “the heights”, or folk for whom enjoyment of the super-highbrow stuff would be difficult or impossible. I feel that an attitude of, “go for the super-highbrow stuff, or else nothing at all”, is too absolutist, and liable to make life austere and comfort-deprived in a way that it need not be. Plus: I have the impression that plenty of learned literature-mavens are of the opinion that the essential plots in fiction are very few in number, and ages old…
And my OP was not purely about fiction-writing. There is today, a great deal of interest in World War II; innumerable threads about it, come into being on SDMB. The reasons are not far to seek: a historical episode of great drama, with very big stuff at stake; and not all that colossally far in the past – there are people still around, now very old, who personally took part in it. I’d have been interested to hear of any real “love stories across the battle-lines”, from those days, other than my own given examples – although none as such, have emerged in the thread.
I am most certainly not advocating for a “high-brow or bust” mentality in terms of writing. Not am I an ivory tower type person.
Please note what I said. The idea, in and of itself, is not interesting to me. What would be interesting is a new spin on it or new insights that can be gleaned.
I take offense to the general tone of your reply, and your having not read my initial comment closely enough.
As I said, there are few, if any, real-life stories publicized because it is not in any way remarkable. There is nothing inherently compelling about it. It is commonplace. This is also the most likely reason for the lack of fiction utilizing this premise and setting - despite the interest in WWII that you rightly point out is a thing.
Perhaps the reason there aren’t a flood of novels or stories about this particular idea has less to with you being the first to think of it and more to do with the others before you who thought of it and decided it was not worthwhile to pursue.
As I also said, what would make it compelling is a new take or an innovative writing style.
If you want to write Harlequins etc. knock yourself out chum; more power to you. But don’t confuse “It is a boring and derivative idea that would have to be handled with skill and creativity in order to become interesting” with “I am so far above you in the airy realm of literature that I only appreciate egghead stuff and scoff at such picayune piffle as you describe.”
Zeke – apologies for offending. I think we’re on different wavelengths – but this thing not bad enough, I feel, to take to the Pit. Can we drop the subject, and “walk away”?
You might have an easier time with some of the other Axis countries. Finland, for instance, was officially allied with Germany, only because they were at war with Russia. But they had no real beef with, say, England, and it’s not hard to imagine people of those two countries hitting it off.
Wonderful book-memory touched off here: the autobiographical For You the War is Over, by the fairly obscure British actor Sam Kydd (least-not-known, for prolific appearances in Coronation Street). Kydd was taken prisoner in France in 1940, and spent the rest of the war as a POW in German-occupied Poland (occupied much there, with the prisoners’ theatre / dramatic doings). He mentions in the book, falling in love during this period, with a lovely Finnish girl, working (as an ally of Germany) on the camp’s general “written stuff” side, where his and her activities overlapped. They had effectively no language in common, and the affair never developed beyond a quick stolen kiss or two; but a considerable impression was plainly made on Mr. Kydd.