Sexual Treason in Germany during the First World War

This book is the first comprehensive study of sexual lives in Germany and German-occupied Europe during the First World War. It explores a wide variety of sources from state agencies: government correspondence, military edits, health records, police investigations, court records, and prisoner-of-war camp documents. It draws from philanthropic organizations: moral and social reform newsletters, church sermons, and women's movement petitions. It incorporates the works of scientific experts: doctors, gynaecologists, sexologists, and considers various sources from the cultural realm: literature, pamphlets, newspapers and posters, diaries and letters. Reconsidering sex in war and society brings to life a whole cast of characters too often left out of the historical narrative: widowed women who sold their bodies to feed their children, fresh-faced recruits who spent their war years in a VD hospital, or soldiers' wives ostracized by the neighbourhood rumour mill. By considering the confluence of public discourse, state policy and everyday life, Lisa Todd adds to the growing body of knowledge on war and society in the twentieth century.