1920s/30s Germany: cabaret, alcohol; WW1 militaria; mourning customs

[akiko]

Greetings! I'm working on an alternate history short story, in which WW1 never happens. Sort of; there's a large European War from about 1930-35, which then leads to the Cold War

Comments

[silversolitaire]

Are you sure on that absinth ban? I've kinda seem to remember that at the beginning of the 20th century Absinth was banned in most European counties except Spain and... some other country. I don't know for sure though, so just a heads up to check the facts again.

Procedure in the German military to notify someone of the death of a relative is that a delegation of two or three people, including one pastor, visit the wife/mother in person and inform them of the loss. A friend of mine who's in the German army, always used to joke about that. "When I'm away and you find three uniformed dudes at the door... uh-oh..." Wartimes are always different of course. Especially when there were many losses then I'm not sure how they'd manage to do the personal visit. I'll have to ask my friend about that. Same with personal effects and posthumously awarded medals. I'll check with my friend.

From personal experience I know that hardly any personal effects were ever sent home if someone died in the war. For one, they don't really have that many personal effects out on the field to begin with, secondly, it's usually just lost in all the chaos. It would also involve huge logistic efforts to lug all the stuff of all the dead guys around. If anything was brought home, then it was by a friend who treasured the diary of his dead friend or something and vowed to bring it home. At least that's how my family got the few select items that made it back home from the battlefield.

[akiko]

No, I'm not sure, but the wikipedia entry implies that Germany wasn't among the countries that banned it. The English one, anyway. German wp says it was banned in most of Europe except Spain and Portugal, which I seem to have misinterpreted yesterday ^^;

Someone above said families were notified by telegram. I'd always imagined it being in person, but during wartime, as you say, things are different. Good point on personal effects. I wonder if a friend might have mailed something to the family at next convenience?

[silversolitaire]

Yes, I could imagine that's possible. Question is just how big it would be and whether there were limits as to what one could send with army postal service. So you might want to research into that direction.

[akiko]

I was thinking something small, like maybe Georg's good luck charm and a letter. Possibly a completion by the friend of Georg's last letter.

Where would you start looking for limits like that? I can find current ones pretty easily, but historic, let alone during wartime? Hmm.