Germany in War Time: What an American Girl Saw and Heard — Inside the Classic

Getting In and Moving Around

The opening chapter describes the journey through Warnemünde, the only entry point for neutrals. McAuley emphasizes the changing rules: by the time she left, even neutral entry had become difficult. Later chapters detail moving within Berlin—finding apartments, using typewriters, and navigating a city under wartime restrictions. She observes that mail to soldiers on the western front traveled faster than to the eastern front, and that mail was routed through a central station in Hanover to keep troop locations secret. These logistical details reveal how war reshaped everyday movement and communication.

Food, Clothes, and Sparsamkeit

McAuley devotes multiple chapters to food and rationing, including one titled “What We Ate in Germany.” She describes the concept of Sparsamkeit (thrift) as a national virtue enforced by scarcity. The chapter “The Clothes Ticket” hints at a system of clothing rationing. Her observations are specific: she notes what was available, what was scarce, and how people adapted. These details ground the narrative in material reality, showing how war affected daily consumption and social habits.

The Ausländerei Lecture and Language Tensions

One of the most vivid excerpts recounts a lecture by a German count on Ausländerei—the German fondness for foreign things. He criticized the use of English words like “hotel” and “messenger boys,” preferring German alternatives such as Blitzjunge. He lamented that German women followed Paris fashions and that men styled themselves “Oxford men.” McAuley notes that such views were not universal: she spoke English openly in Berlin and was only twice asked to stop. This episode captures the internal debate about national identity during war, without claiming to represent all Germans.

Women at Work and War Charities

McAuley includes chapters on women workers and war charities, reflecting the mobilization of civilian labor. She describes women taking on roles traditionally held by men, and she notes the organized efforts to support soldiers and their families. The chapter “What Germany is Doing for Her Human War Wrecks” suggests attention to wounded soldiers and rehabilitation. These sections, based on what she saw and heard, provide a window into the home front without venturing into military strategy or politics.

McAuley’s account is best read as a series of snapshots rather than a continuous argument. Her perspective as an American art student—neither a journalist nor a diplomat—gives weight to her observations of daily life. Readers should note that the excerpts cover only a portion of the book; the full text includes chapters on Munich, Vienna, and the Krupp works. The value lies in the accumulation of small, specific details that together convey the texture of wartime Germany as experienced by a neutral outsider.

Reading her pages about the quiet dread of ration lines and whispered news, I kept thinking of the harder-edged voices in True Stories of the Great War, Volume 3 (of 6) Tales of Adventure--Heroic Deeds--Exploits Told by the Soldiers, Officers, Nurses, Diplomats, Eye Witnesses — Themes and Context. Her war was small and personal; theirs was loud and terrible. Somehow the contrast made me feel the whole weight of that time, even after I closed the book.