My PhD thesis attempts to fill a gap in the historiography of the British occupation of Germany which took place 1945-1949. Garnering evidence in the form of both written and oral testimonies from the lives of ‘ordinary’ women living and working in an occupied country and mapping this onto meanings of gender, identity and power is at the heart of my thesis. Women’s memories of their time in Germany adds lived experience to the interpretations and convictions found in other sources.