Liberating the Germans: The US Army and Looting in Germany during the Second World War

As the US Army drove deep into Germany in early 1945, American soldiers looted civilian possessions on a large scale. While GIs did take items in Allied countries, what occurred in Germany was different and more extensive. Servicemen justified their actions by claiming wartime necessity, opportunities for profit or trade, keepsakes, and revenge for Nazi atrocities. Researching Americans looting in Germany provides the full narrative of war’s end, and troops’ interaction with a public that was still considered the enemy. Drawing on memoirs, journals, letters, interviews, and official US Army documents, this work seeks to extrapolate the reasons why GIs looted, while outlining the motivations of Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force to stop such actions.