The people left behind on the home fronts of the world were as profoundly affected by the war as the soldiers who fought its battles. Not only were the world's economies brought out of unprecedented depressions by the industries required to support the war, but smaller, more ordinary events took on extraordinary significance.
Church, vegetable gardens, baths, weddings, dinner parties, and even laughter were instilled with a wondrous aspect for those whose lives were now filled with rationing, evacuations, air raids, bomb shelters, and invasions. These diary and letter excerpts poignantly illustrate how those who endured World War II on the European home front served as a testament to the human spirit everywhere.
"Our guests will be here soon, and the preparations are finished . . . . It does not look as though we shall have another raid. There is fog in England. The dining room looks almost as it did in the old days. We have polished the parquet as best we could and fixed up a kind of bar. Over the blacked-out windows we have hung rolls of canvas on which Mamma once painted flowers." (1)
"The garden is a wonder and now we pick peas and beans, etc., to feed 15. It is cram full of vegetables and we've dug more under the dining room and made it vegetables and also a big patch at the end of the lawn . . . . We are rationed all around but have ample of all things necessary; no one should complain--of course we live very simply." (2)
"The main event of the day, to me, is my first hot bath! What pleasure! To be able to undress entirely, to splash water and lather oneself. To change into fresh clothes. I even feel morally transformed. I feel everything will be all right." (3)
"The day is marked by a memorable event for a woman: I visited the hairdresser!! I had unearthed a "potable" one at La Deliverande and I was in great need to see my hair groomed. What pleasure! I feel almost lightheaded. It's so foolish!"
"Mass is still being held on the first floor. I attend though I'm half asleep. It's the hour where I sleep best and try to recover the sleep lost during the night."
"At night I do now sleep in the basement, as the vibration from our barrage is so terrific that I shouldn't close an eye upstairs. Also, though it is all really a matter of chance where the bomb lights, on the whole I think the survival value of a basement is slightly higher! The courage of the "common man" is really superb. They take most things with a laugh, and in the evenings, before settling down for the night, my maid and her husband play cards with the porter and his wife in the latter's sitting room, and their bursts of laughter come floating out to me as I read in the hall, against a background of barrage and bombs! And it is genuine enjoyment too. Sometimes it is so infectious that I find myself smiling just to hear them." (4)
Daily life on the United States home front was not affected by air raids except for a hapless, lost Japanese seaplane and some paper balloons dropping incendiary charges along the west coast. Even so, the impact of the war on individuals was no less significant than it was for the British home front. As history tells us, the social and economic shift that began to take place during World War II still affects us today.
Perhaps most importantly, during the war women entered the work force in earnest--both to fill the vacancies left by men at war and to staff the industries that war created. Businesses met these new women workers with skepticism and long-held prejudice, and it took a government campaign to persuade some companies to hire women at all. There was one thing that even government could not overcome though: pay. Women earned much less than men.
By 1943, women made up fully one-third of the paid work force in the United States and millions of other women served the war effort through voluntarism. Working women had a ripple effect on American society that we still feel late in the twentieth century. On-the-job training was provided to teach necessary job skills, grocery stores remained open longer to accommodate the women's schedule, and the federal government helped build and operate 2,800 child-care centers.
Men, returning home from the war found women were more interchangeable with men. Their new skills ranged from changing tires and mending faucets, to presiding at meetings, keeping treasurer accounts, and even organizing political campaigns.
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1. Ursula von Kardoff, "Diary of a Nightmare," (New York: The John Day Company), p. 94.
2. Beatrice Curtis Brown and Jan Struther, "Women of Britain: Letters from England," (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1941), p. 195.
3. From the "Diary of Madame Marie Louise Osmont," used with permission from the author and Discovery Communications, Inc.
4. Ursula von Kardoff, "Diary of a Nightmare," (New York: The John Day Company), p. 287.
