LITTLE AMERICA

Life in the Military Community in Germany

Red Grandy, Georg Wegemann

Americans have been stationed in Germany since the end of World War II. For the most part, they lived their lives independently of the Germans in areas that were off-limits. The photo exhibition “LITTLE AMERICA” offers an insight rich in motifs into the professional and private everyday life of the American community and investigates what their “temporary home” in Germany meant to the soldiers and their families.
The approximately two hundred photographs from the 1940s to the 1980s are part of the extensive photo collection amassed by the technology historian John Provan, who took over the AlliiertenMuseum in 2016. The images were commissioned by the military and offer an internal perspective of life in the American zones. Along with military training, maneuvers, and technology, the complex infrastructure of shopping centers, residential areas, schools, sports facilities, and GI clubs becomes especially visible. Because many Germans were prevented from entering these facilities, the exhibition provides a first peek over the fence into this inaccessible military world.