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Selling France to the French: The French Zone of Occupation in Western Germany, 1945–c.1955

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 September 2012

K. H. ADLER
K. H. ADLER*
Affiliation:
Department of History, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD; karen.adler@nottingham.ac.uk
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Abstract

This article contributes to the literature of occupation, as well as to transnational history, by exploring the social history of the military government in the French Zone of Occupation in West Germany (ZFO). It uses the Zone as a case study to understand the construction of a French community abroad by looking at systems of buying and selling, and asks whether these systems were not in themselves constitutive of the very transformation of members of the military government into a ‘French community’. By investigating the insistence that French customers buy French goods at the économat, the shop restricted to their use, the article claims that gender, family and commercial practice helped to define home for members of the French administration in Germany.

Vendre la france aux français: la zone française d'occupation en allemagne occidentale, 1945–c.1955

Cet article contribue aux écrits sur l'occupation et à l'histoire transnationale en explorant l'histoire sociale du gouvernement militaire de la Zone française d'occupation (ZFO) dans la partie occidentale de l'Allemagne. La Zone sert d'étude de cas pour chercher à comprendre l'élaboration d'une communauté française à l'étranger. L'article examine les systèmes de vente et d'achat, et avance l'hypothèse selon laquelle ces mêmes systèmes auraient en fait été constitutifs de la mutation des membres du gouvernement militaire en communauté française. En examinant l'insistance que les Français fassent leurs achats à l'économat, commerce réservé à leur seul usage, l'article montre que des questions de genre, de famille et d'usages commerciaux ont toutes aidé à cerner la notion d'un chez-soi collectif pour les membres de l'administration française en Allemagne.

Frankreich an die franzosen verkaufen: die französische besatzungszone in westdeutschland, 1945–ca. 1955

Diese Untersuchung zur Sozialgeschichte der Militärregierung in der französischen Besatzungszone in Westdeutschland (ZFO) leistet einen Beitrag zur Erforschung der Besatzung und zur transnationalen Geschichte. Der Artikel analysiert die französische Zone in einer Fallstudie, die ein neues Verständnis von Konstruktionen einer französischen Gemeinschaft im Ausland ermöglicht. Die Analyse der Systeme des Kaufens und Verkaufens verfolgt die Frage, ob diese Systeme an sich nicht konstitutiv waren für ebendiese Transformation der Mitglieder der Militärregierung in eine ‘französische Gemeinschaft’. Der Artikel zeigt, dass das Beharren darauf, französische Kundinnen hätten französische Waren in den économats, den für sie vorgesehenen Geschäften, zu kaufen, dazu beitrug, für Mitglieder der französischen Besatzungsmacht in Deutschland ein Zuhause zu definieren. Die Parameter von Geschlecht, Familie und Handelsbräuchen spielten dabei eine wichtige Rolle.

Type
Articles
Information
Contemporary European History , Volume 21 , Issue 4 , November 2012 , pp. 575 - 595
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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References

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