MARRIAGES ARRANGED

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 66, Issue 249, 2 August 1946, Page 3

MARRIAGES ARRANGED

OUTCOME OF BAN BEING' LIFTED (Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.) (Rec. 10.30 a.m.) LONDON, Aug. 1. Several marriages between British soldiers and German girls were arranged within a very short time of Lord Nathan announcing in the House of Lords that the ban on servicemen in marrying women of enemy nationality had been lifted with the exception of Japanese. It is stated that local commanders can now give permission for weddings, provided there is no objection to the women. Reports from Hamburg state that there were on-the-spot engagement parties, and in Berlin there are at least 30 marriages pending. It emphasised that the marriages will be rigidly controlled, and the brides will be thoroughly “screened” for political and moral failings. One report states that the principal reason for lifting the ban-is because the Government felt its continuation an unfair hardship on illegitimate children born to German women. An unmarried German mother is still regarded as an enemy, and has no status in a British court. The ban on marriages was lifted two months earlier than after the 1914-18 Avar. <