Figure 1.--Here we see am unidenyified German boy with his best friednd. You can tell tht the two are very close. Notice that the boy seems to have marks from knee sock garters.

Pets were very popular in several different counties involved in World War II. Dogs seem especially popular in America, Enngland, and Germny. A factor here of course was country wealth. Pets in America were not significantly affected by the War, but in many other countries there were significant consequences. This was even more so in Europe. Food during the War, especially meat, had to be rationed, even in the United States. The food shortages were especially severe in the countries occupied by the Germans where the Wherrmacht appropriated food supplies and shipped food needed in the occupied countries back to the Reich. Many occupied countries, such as Greece, experieced food shortages. In Greece people starved. The Germans also created a famine in the Netherlands at the end of the War. Urban residents were the most affected. Families which could barely feed themselves could hardly feed their pets. Wrenching decesions had to be made over beloved family pets.

America

Pets in America were not significantly affected by the War. Some pet owners signed their familiy pets up for war duty. There was food rationing in America, but it was much less severe than in Europe. Thus pet owners did not have trouble feeding their cats and dogs. An English evacuee remenbers always wanting a pet and in Americs he got two.

England

Dogs and cats became popular in Britain during the Victorian era, and impsct of the Industrial Revolution and urbanization. German Shepherds were re-named Alsatians during World War I. The German sherpard name did not become common until well after World War II because of American influence. With the onset of the Battle of Britain, many families found they had to worry about their family pets. They took them with them in the family bomb shelters like Anderson shelters. Pts were not, hoever, allowed in the public shelters. And many of the families who lost their homes also their families pets. After the raids, dogs were used to find those burries in the ruble. I'm not sure to what extent the dogs were trained for this. There is a pet cemetary in Ilford, Essex. Here heroic animals are buried alongside ordinary pets that have died and been buried there. It is looked after by the People's Dispensory of Sick Animals (PDSA). It is this organisation which issue the animal Victoria Cross called the Dickin Medal. Quite a number of the animals there earned the medal during World War II.

France

Germany

The photographic record shows that persm especially dogs, were enormously popular in Germany vefore the War. Counless danily snapshots show German families with their dogs. Food shortages were especially severe in the countries occupied by the Germans where the Wherrmacht appropriated food supplies and shipped food needed in the occupied countries back to the Reich. German families were not much affected because of all the food lootedf from the occupied countries and shipped back to the Reich. As the War began to go against Germany, this changed. Hitler had expected to obtain vast quantities of food in the East. This did not materialize. The food obtained in the East mostly went to feed the Wehrmsacht. Serious food shortages developed in the last year of the War. We do not yet known how this affected German pets.

Greece

Many occupied countries, such as Greece, experieced food shortages. In Greece people starved.

Japan

Not many Japanese families had pets. One source reports, "Cats and dogs were obligatory delivered to the government when Japan became likely to lose it. There were not enough food to feed them any longer. The Army needed the fur for coats that soldiers would wear. They might return wild and attack humans when air raids got harder.The few who had pets, fed them table scraps and leftovers."

(The) Netherlands

The Germans also created a famine in the part of the Netherlands beyond the Rhine that the Germans held at the end of the War until the Allies finally crossed the Rhine (March 1945). A Dutch reader tells us, "We lived in a rural village. We did not have any pets during the War. We used to have dogs before the war and also once a goat. Our neighbors did not have pets either, except for a school teacher, who had a cat. I was bitten by a chained dog at the farm at the end of our street. It was in the fall of 1944. I was looking for food on the farmer's property. I had hoped to find some apples. When I came around the corner of the barn, the chained dog bit me in my hand. I was bleeding terribly and my father had to rush me to the doctor, who put stitches in my fingers. It was evening and the doctor had to work with candle light, because there was no electricity anymore. I still have a scar on my hand after all those years. The farmer came out of his house when he heard the commotion and all he said was: "That's your own fault. What are you doing in my yard?! My grandmother had two rabbits in a cage on her balcony. My grandparents lived in the city and the rabbits were kept for consumption. Even when I was very hungry, I could not eat a piece of the rabbits, because I used to pet them. My grandmother did not pet them, she only would feel them if they were gaining weight. Totally unsentimental." [Stueck] The Dutch in villages like Rudi's were hungary, but they had access to some food. The Germans blocked the roads so that food could not get in the cities andceven took food from city people trying to bring it bck from the countryside. By the time the British and Canadians reached them the people in the cities were starving.

Soviet Union

Few Soviet families had family pets, especially dogs. This was seen as a bourgeois afectation.

Sources

Stueck, Rudi. E-msail message, March 8, 2010.

Created: 6:29 AM 3/15/2010
Last updated: 6:29 AM 3/15/2010