Policy vs. reality: intimate contact in Nazi-occupied Latvia

To better understand the contradictions between regulations and reality on consensual relations between German soldiers and Latvian women, this article investigates the development of Nazi sexual policies and how restrictions were dealt with by the Wehrmacht (German Army). This regulatory analysis is then applied to an evaluation of life in occupied Latvia. Analysis shows how such intimate contact was a continuous concern for the Nazis, how the debate on the 'racial value' of Latvians and their relations with Germans changed with the war, how perceived military needs affected and even altered this 'value,' and how, despite policy, such relationships flourished in occupied Latvia.