DEPENDENT BAGGAGE: Destination Germany

by Marie DiMario Wann ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 19, 1955

A wry report on life in Germany as the wife of the American Director of Education and Cultural Affairs in the Occupied Province of Hesse gives an unadorned version of occupation existence. As ""Dependent"" Marie Wann coped with her own dependents in the persons of a ""free"" maid (who had the distinction of being honest), a wily chauffeur whose fragile figure was his fortune in food, and other such characters on the one hand, and with Army restrictions, budgeting, and facilities on the other, she frequently asked herself who had won the war. Attempts to see the ""real"" Germany were discouraging-it had either been or was going to be. The Germans' refusal to express responsibility for their situation was equally depressing. Mrs. Wann was glad to return to the States and equally glad to welcome Germans to her home there as her husband became involved in the project to show American techniques to German experts on tour, a kind of reversal of the Occupation which really gave promise of German growth. A candid, at times curdled review of an unpleasant situation, this speaks for the expatriates trying to do a job and carry on regular lives in an environment bound to resent them and exploit them.

Pub Date: April 19, 1955

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1955

Categories: NONFICTION