West Germany: Brunnhilde Reshaped

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Though less celebrated than the economic miracle, or Wirtschaftswunder, another happy postwar transformation has overtaken West Germany. It might be called the Fräuleinwunder. In place of the pigtailed, fat-at-elbow female who used to be the popular image of Teutonic womanhood, a new generation of luscious, leggy girls has grown up for the delight of girl watchers everywhere —not to mention the tens of thousands of G.I.s who have married Müdchen.

Germany's three big fashion shows, just concluded, not only displayed the smart ready-to-wear clothes that have helped put chic into German life; they were also an eye-popping showcase for the girls themselves. Since more than 1,000 models are needed for each of the big shows in Munich, Berlin and Düsseldorf, more than half of them are recruited from offices, universities, cafe society—and it is becoming more and more difficult to tell the amateur beauties from the pros.

Help from Hamburger. Modeling is one field in which German girls are increasingly sought after both at home and abroad. Bavaria's Ina Balke and Rhinelander Dagmar Dreger are among Manhattan's highest-paid models. German mannequins are in equally great demand in Paris; most of them came to France originally as domestic servants, although one of the most noted, Brigitte Laaf, is the daughter of a wealthy Cologne businessman.

The situation is similar in the movies. From Rome's Cinecitta to Hollywood, yesteryear's Latin and Anglo-Saxon actresses are being challenged by such talented Teutons as Romy Schneider, Elke Sommer, Nadja Tiller and Senta Berger. Eddie Fisher rebounded from Liz with the help of a Hamburger—pert, blonde Renata Boeck. Tony Curtis left Janet Leigh for dark, Munich-born Christine Kaufmann.

Even top German women athletes—among them, Olympic Figure Skating Champion Marika Kilius and Sprinter Jutta Heine—look more like starlets than muscle-maids. At the Lido in Paris, where the famed Bluebell girls were once mostly English imports, one-fifth of the dancers are now German. Las Vegas talent scouts are also turning to Germany. Pan American Airways, which recruits 150 foreign stewardesses yearly, now finds a sizable percentage of them in West Germany. The Germans even boast two of Europe's prettiest politicians, Bundestag Deputies Hedda Heuser and Annemarie Renger.

The Aryan Look. The postwar German girl seems to have come from another world than the one her mother inhabited and in effect, she has. German women have always had considerable natural assets—among others, the advantage of being, despite Hitler's theories, a mixture of many different racial strains. But the assets tended to be hidden in one way or another. Romantic German poets sang the love of their women to the point of distraction, but their heroines usually sounded remote and untouchable. Faust's demure Gretchen was touchable, all right—but he left her to go cavorting in the Devil's company with Helen of Troy.