In the presence and aftermath of armed conflict and war, there has always been contact between armed troops and civilians ranging from superficial to intimate; and from these contacts children have been born. These children are so-called Children Born of War (CBOW), who are typically fathered by foreign soldiers and born to local mothers. Their existence is a worldwide and timeless, yet widely ignored reality – to the disservice of these children and their communities. German and Austrian Occupation Children (GOC resp. AOC), whom I will investigate in this dissertation, are subgroups of this worldwide population of CBOW and are fathered by a soldier of the allied forces “occupying” Germany and Austria after World War II and born to a German resp. Austrian mother. 74 Several studies have described the hardships these children faced when growing up in postwar Germany and Austria, being born as a child of the enemy and out of wedlock into a defeated and tarnished former National Socialist society, in which losing the war and the regime did not equal losing the National Socialist mindset. Studies already showed that growing up as an occupation child in postwar Germany likely included experiences of discrimination and stigmatization (e.g. Aßmann et al., 2015), as well as heightened risks to be subjected to child maltreatment and to suffer from depression, somatization, PTSD, and long-term attachment issues (Glaesmer et al., 2017; Kaiser et al., 2016, 2015; Kaiser, Kuwert, & Glaesmer, 2015). There have been case-studies and reports from the field of history and social sciences about occupation children voicing problems with identity and identity formation, but systematic, empirical studies covering this topic have been lacking thus far. This dissertation intended to close this gap in literature by systematically investigating identity issues and questions of identity that occupation children face. We applied a mixed-method approach in an effort to gain different types of data and ultimately a better coverage and understanding of these topics.:INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................. 4 Historical Background ...................................................................................................... 4 Theoretical Background ................................................................................................... 8 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES ................................................................................................ 14 METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................. 15 Study Design & Samples .................................................................................................. 15 Instruments ...................................................................................................................... 17 CORE PUBLICATIONS OF THIS DISSERTATION ...................................................... 21 Publication I ..................................................................................................................... 22 Publication II ................................................................................................................... 34 Publication III .................................................................................................................. 47 DISCUSSION ..................................................................................................................... 61 Summary of Findings ....................................................................................................... 61 Strengths and Limitations ................................................................................................. 62 Outlook ........................................................................................................................... 63 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................... 65 APPENDICES .................................................................................................................... 72 1. Abbreviations ............................................................................................................. 72 2. Zusammenfassung der Arbeit ..................................................................................... 73 3. Erklärung über die eigenständige Abfassung der Arbeit .............................................. 77 4. Darstellung des eigenen Beitrags ................................................................................. 78 5. Curriculum Vitae ........................................................................................................ 79 6. Publikationsverzeichnis ............................................................................................... 80 7. Danksagung ................................................................................................................ 81 8. Teilnahmebestätigung „Gute wissenschaftliche Praxis“............................................... 83 9. GOC Questionnaire ................................................................................................... 84

Objective: Children Born of War (CBOW) are an international and timeless phenomenon that exists in every country involved in war or armed conflict. Nevertheless, little is known on a systematic level about those children, who are typically fathered by a foreign or enemy soldier and born to a local mother. In particular, the identity issues that CBOW often report have remained largely uninvestigated. In the current qualitative study we began filling this gap in the scientific literature by asking how CBOW construct their identity in self-descriptions. Method: We utilized thematic content analysis of N = 122 German CBOWs' answers to an open-ended questionnaire item asking how they see themselves and their identity in the context of being a CBOW. Results: We identified five key themes in CBOW' identity accounts. Loneliness and lack of belonging appeared as a paramount aspect of their self-descriptions next to narratives about belonging and positive relationship. On a less interpersonal basis, we found fighting and surviving and searching for truth and completion overarching aspects of their identities. There were also few accounts growing up unaffected by the fact of being born a CBOW. Although all themes portray different perspectives, they all (but the last one) clearly indicate the impeded circumstances under which CBOW had to grow up. Conclusions: Integrating our findings with existing interdisciplinary literature regarding identity, we discuss implications for future research and clinical and political practice.