'There is no icebreaker like a tiny child': Reuniting British Military Families in Cold War Germany

Grace Huxford

doi:10.1017/S0960777322000248

'There is no icebreaker like a tiny child': Reuniting British Military Families in Cold War Germany

Grace Huxford

Department of History (Historical Studies)

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

494 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Family reunion had a deeply practical and symbolic significance in post-war Europe. Through the case study of British military families, this article examines both official discourse and families’ own experiences of reunion and life overseas in the first decades of the Cold War, through the three national but also international visions of the family: as emblems of familial and domestic stability, as ‘unofficial ambassadors’ promoting European unity, and as friendly faces of western democracy. In all cases, the article shows the ways that official messages were embraced, subverted or ignored by families, highlighting the value of context-specific agency. Military families seemingly lived in a world of limited choices, but a range of life narratives show how they came to see aspects of their family life as resolutely theirs.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	203-220
Number of pages	18
Journal	Contemporary European History
Volume	32
Issue number	2
Early online date	13 Oct 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/S0960777322000248
Publication status	Published - 1 May 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
My thanks go to the AHRC Leadership Fellowship Scheme (AH/S002634/1) and to the British Academy/Leverhulme Small Grant scheme (SG152333) for funding this research. I would also like to sincerely extend my thanks to all oral history narrators for their generosity in sharing their stories with me, to the organisations that put me in touch with interviewees, and to colleagues and reviewers for reading earlier drafts of this piece, particularly Jennifer Crane, Julio Decker, Will Pooley, Lauren Stokes and Sarah Paterson. My thanks also go to Joel Morley as post-doctoral research assistant on the 'British Military Bases in Germany' project. Informed consent was granted for use of oral history interview material for research purposes and publication and interview recordings are available on formal request from the University of Bristol Research Data Storage Facility.

Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2022 The Author(s).

Access to Document

10.1017/S0960777322000248Licence: CC BY

Full-text PDF (final published version)
This is the final published version of the article (version of record). It first appeared online via Cambridge University Press at https://doi.org/10.1017/S0960777322000248. Please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher.
Final published version, 376 KBLicence: CC BY

Handle.net

Persistent link

British Military Bases in Germany: Living with the Cold War and its Legacies, 1945-2000
Huxford, G. (Principal Investigator)
7/01/19 → 31/01/22
Project: Research

Cite this

@article{d9bf78836e84401ba6ac92339347f62f,

title = "'There is no icebreaker like a tiny child': Reuniting British Military Families in Cold War Germany ",

abstract = "Family reunion had a deeply practical and symbolic significance in post-war Europe. Through the case study of British military families, this article examines both official discourse and families{\textquoteright} own experiences of reunion and life overseas in the first decades of the Cold War, through the three national but also international visions of the family: as emblems of familial and domestic stability, as {\textquoteleft}unofficial ambassadors{\textquoteright} promoting European unity, and as friendly faces of western democracy. In all cases, the article shows the ways that official messages were embraced, subverted or ignored by families, highlighting the value of context-specific agency. Military families seemingly lived in a world of limited choices, but a range of life narratives show how they came to see aspects of their family life as resolutely theirs. ",

author = "Grace Huxford",

note = "Funding Information: My thanks go to the AHRC Leadership Fellowship Scheme (AH/S002634/1) and to the British Academy/Leverhulme Small Grant scheme (SG152333) for funding this research. I would also like to sincerely extend my thanks to all oral history narrators for their generosity in sharing their stories with me, to the organisations that put me in touch with interviewees, and to colleagues and reviewers for reading earlier drafts of this piece, particularly Jennifer Crane, Julio Decker, Will Pooley, Lauren Stokes and Sarah Paterson. My thanks also go to Joel Morley as post-doctoral research assistant on the 'British Military Bases in Germany' project. Informed consent was granted for use of oral history interview material for research purposes and publication and interview recordings are available on formal request from the University of Bristol Research Data Storage Facility. Publisher Copyright: Copyright {\textcopyright} 2022 The Author(s).",

year = "2023",

month = may,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1017/S0960777322000248",

language = "English",

volume = "32",

pages = "203--220",

journal = "Contemporary European History",

issn = "0960-7773",

publisher = "Cambridge University Press",

number = "2",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - 'There is no icebreaker like a tiny child'

T2 - Reuniting British Military Families in Cold War Germany

AU - Huxford, Grace

N1 - Funding Information: My thanks go to the AHRC Leadership Fellowship Scheme (AH/S002634/1) and to the British Academy/Leverhulme Small Grant scheme (SG152333) for funding this research. I would also like to sincerely extend my thanks to all oral history narrators for their generosity in sharing their stories with me, to the organisations that put me in touch with interviewees, and to colleagues and reviewers for reading earlier drafts of this piece, particularly Jennifer Crane, Julio Decker, Will Pooley, Lauren Stokes and Sarah Paterson. My thanks also go to Joel Morley as post-doctoral research assistant on the 'British Military Bases in Germany' project. Informed consent was granted for use of oral history interview material for research purposes and publication and interview recordings are available on formal request from the University of Bristol Research Data Storage Facility. Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2022 The Author(s).

PY - 2023/5/1

Y1 - 2023/5/1

N2 - Family reunion had a deeply practical and symbolic significance in post-war Europe. Through the case study of British military families, this article examines both official discourse and families’ own experiences of reunion and life overseas in the first decades of the Cold War, through the three national but also international visions of the family: as emblems of familial and domestic stability, as ‘unofficial ambassadors’ promoting European unity, and as friendly faces of western democracy. In all cases, the article shows the ways that official messages were embraced, subverted or ignored by families, highlighting the value of context-specific agency. Military families seemingly lived in a world of limited choices, but a range of life narratives show how they came to see aspects of their family life as resolutely theirs.

AB - Family reunion had a deeply practical and symbolic significance in post-war Europe. Through the case study of British military families, this article examines both official discourse and families’ own experiences of reunion and life overseas in the first decades of the Cold War, through the three national but also international visions of the family: as emblems of familial and domestic stability, as ‘unofficial ambassadors’ promoting European unity, and as friendly faces of western democracy. In all cases, the article shows the ways that official messages were embraced, subverted or ignored by families, highlighting the value of context-specific agency. Military families seemingly lived in a world of limited choices, but a range of life narratives show how they came to see aspects of their family life as resolutely theirs.

U2 - 10.1017/S0960777322000248

DO - 10.1017/S0960777322000248

M3 - Article (Academic Journal)

SN - 0960-7773

VL - 32

SP - 203

EP - 220

JO - Contemporary European History

JF - Contemporary European History

IS - 2

ER -

'There is no icebreaker like a tiny child': Reuniting British Military Families in Cold War Germany

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Access to Document

Handle.net

Fingerprint

Projects

British Military Bases in Germany: Living with the Cold War and its Legacies, 1945-2000

Cite this