The German Wife

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, child death, mental illness, and religious discrimination.

The German Wife alternates between the first-person perspectives of Sofie and Lizzie, thus exploring the experience of Project Paperclip from the perspectives of both the German newcomers and the rural Americans who greeted them with suspicion and hostility. These female perspectives offer a different view of WWII, the Holocaust, the Great Depression, and the Dust Bowl than is typically centered in discussions of these historical events. As a result, the text focuses on the multifaceted impact that women had, largely behind the scenes, even as patriarchal norms meant that men held nearly all official power. The power of women to impact world events is sketched in many of the minor characters. The pressure that Sofie feels when she comes to Huntsville is largely a product of the moral judgment she faces from the women around her. In 1930s Berlin, Adele and her friends represent how women could use their relative invisibility to undermine immoral and evil laws. Lizzie’s choice to eschew romance and motherhood, even while marrying Calvin, shows one way of maintaining independence within patriarchal social structures. Meanwhile, the effect that she has on both Calvin and Henry underscores the support that women provided to family members in America during and after the war.