"They were good-looking guys and they had money..."

"Why were the GIs so interesting for us? First of all, they had money, so they could pamper and indulge their girlfriends. A girl living then in postwar Austria earned almost nothing - the entire country was still in the process of reconstruction. And the GIs in those days could get along pretty well on their pay. The dollar was very strong - 26 Schillings. I can still remember very clearly that a Schnitzel and a soup, an entire dinner with all the trimmings cost 12 Schillings back then. And it was exciting to discover something new. And, they were good-looking guys. Of course, before then, my conception of the man of my dreams was certainly a different one: he had to be blond and German, with blue eyes, curly hair and tall, no glasses, an engineer or perhaps someone who worked in an office. But Frank, the man I later married, was so attractive to me, so communicative and considerate."

Marianne E., born in 1932 in St. Johann/Salzburg, as an Austrian war bride was married in the USA in 1953 and now lives once again in Austria (Boltzmann-Institut/Steinocher-Fonds Interview Archive, Salzburg)