"We looked at them like one of the wonders of the world"

"In those days, America seemed to us to be an unimaginable paradise. The US soldiers had everything and they lived in such a cool and casual way - and the American girls too. We needed such a long time to pull ourselves out of our poverty. Three years after the end of the war, I still hadn't gotten a warm coat, and my arms and legs froze in the winter. By the time I was 18 years old, I still had no silk stockings because I just didn't have the money. But the GI brides had them right after the war These stockings, they were simply wonderful, you looked much prettier in these silk stockings. The GI brides were incredibly well groomed, they had the most beautiful clothing. Everything came from `over there'. We looked at them like one of the wonders of the world."

Gertrude B., born in 1930, she experienced the era of occupation as a salesgirl in Zell am See/Salzburg (Boltzmann-Institut/Steinocher-Fonds Interview Archive, Salzburg)