World War I Belgium: German Occupation -- Food

German occupation of Belgium
Figure 1.--This photograph was taken in German occupied Brussels far from the front lines. Unfortunately we can find no caption about this image other than the date--12-10-15. (Which may mean October 12, 1915.) This looks to be a field kitchen of some kind which is ladeling out soup to the kids. We are not sure, however, who operated it. The men eem to be earing uniforms, but do not look like Germans who were not noted for feeding civilians. We wonder if the CNSA operated it.

Food became a critical issue from the beginning of the Germn occupation. Belgium was a heavily industrialized country, one of the most industrialized in Europe. There was an agriciltural sector, but it did not produced the quantity of food needed by the populous industrial cities. As a reslt, Belgium was heavily dependent on imported food. Unfortunately for Belgium, neither was Germany which from the outset of the war was intent on using Belgian food to feed its army without any consideration of the impact on the Belgian people. The German invasion and occupation resulted in economic collapse and set in motion a humanitarin crisis. There were shortages and widespread unemployment which could have resulted in famine and starvation. The Germans were the strongest land power in Europe, but the British Royl Navy was the strongest naval force. And in addition to sending the British Expeditionary force to Belgium, the British instituted a North Sea naval blockade which was gradually extened to the Mediterranean. The blockade affected the Central Powers and contries occupied by them. Germany like Belgium was not self-sufficent in food. Thus if the Germans cold be stopped before reaching Paris, a naval blockade would affect the German war economy by depriving it of food and raw material. But as an unintended consequence, food shortages quickly developed in Belgium. There wold be food shortages in Germany as well, but this wold take some time to devlop. The Allied concern was that if food and raw materials were allowed into Belgium, that the Germans would divert them to Germany to support the German war effort. And German policy suggested that this was exactly what would happen. The German Army as prt of its occupation regime seizedthe civilian food stocks to feed its forces driving through Belgium. Various Belgian groups organized to prepare for a possible famine. A major figure was Émile Francqui. He and other philanthropists established the Comité National de Secours et d'Alimentation (National Relief and Food Committee--CNSA) to obtain and arrange for the transport of the needed food to Belgium. The idea was to sell it in Belgium. [Dumoulin, pp. 120-21.] The profits were to be used to feed the needy. Difficult negotiations were conducted with both the Allies and Central Powers. The CNSA managed to secure permission to import food from the neutral United States under carefully reglated conditions. Francqui happened to be acquainted with Herbert Hoover, at the time a virtually unknown American minining engineer. Hoover helped organize the Commission for Relief in Belgium (CRB). The food was distributed within Belgium by the CNSA. [Dumoulin, p. 122.] Several smaller relief organisations with contacts in other neutral countries were also active in Belgium. The Germans managed to occupy almost all of Belgium. The CNSA came to play a major role in the life of occupied Belgium throughout the War. The CNSA took over the function of a goverment welfare system. Unlike the Belgian Government in the occupied areas, it was not controlled by the Germans. It suceeded in preventing famine and starvation, but food and material shortages existed all during the German occupation. [(De) Schaepdrijver, pp. 52-53.] The CNSA employed more than 125,000 agents and distributors in its Belgian operations. [Dumoulin, p. 122.] The CNSA was administered by a central committee and with local networks across the country looked very much like a governmnt agebcy. , as paralleling the actions of the official Belgian government in peacetime. Many Belgians cane to see it as a symbol of national unity and of passive resistance against the German occupation authorities. [Dumoulin, pp. 122-26.]

Belgian Economy

Food became a critical issue from the beginning of the Germn occupation. Belgium was a heavily industrialized country, one of the most industrialized in Europe. There was an agriciltural sector, but it did not produced the quantity of food needed by the populous industrial cities. As a reslt, Belgium was heavily dependent on imported food. Most of the sources were overseas, imported by sea.

German Occupation

Unfortunately for Belgium, Germany was also not self sufficent in food production which from the outset of the war was intent on using Belgian food to feed its army without any consideration of the impact on the Belgian people. The German invasion and occupation resulted in economic collapse and set in motion a humanitarin crisis. There were shortages and widespread unemployment which could have resulted in famine and starvation.

Royal Navy Blockade

The Germans were the strongest land power in Europe, but the British Royl Navy was the strongest naval force. And in addition to sending the British Expeditionary force to Belgium, the British instituted a North Sea naval blockade which was gradually extened to the Mediterranean. The blockade affected the Central Powers and contries occupied by them. Germany like Belgium was not self-sufficent in food. Thus if the Germans cold be stopped before reaching Paris, a naval blockade would affect the German war economy by depriving it of food and raw material.

Food Shortages in Belgium

An unintended consequence of blockading Germany was that food shortages quickly developed in Belgium. There wold be food shortages in Germany as well, but this wold take some time to devlop. The Allied concern was that if food and raw materials were allowed into Belgium, that the Germans would divert them to Germany to support the German war effort. And German policy suggested that this was exactly what would happen. The German Army as prt of its occupation regime seizedthe civilian food stocks to feed its forces driving through Belgium.

Comité National de Secours et d'Alimentation (CNSA)

Various Belgian groups organized to prepare for a possible famine. A major figure was Émile Francqui. He and other philanthropists established the Comité National de Secours et d'Alimentation (National Relief and Food Committee--CNSA) to obtain and arrange for the transport of the needed food to Belgium. The idea was to sell it in Belgium. [Dumoulin, pp. 120-21.] The profits were to be used to feed the needy. Difficult negotiations were conducted with both the Allies and Central Powers. The CNSA managed to secure permission to import food from the neutral United States under carefully reglated conditions. Francqui happened to be acquainted with Herbert Hoover, at the time a virtually unknown American minining engineer. Hoover helped organize the Commission for Relief in Belgium (CRB). The food was distributed within Belgium by the CNSA. [Dumoulin, p. 122.] Several smaller relief organisations with contacts in other neutral countries were also active in Belgium. The Germans managed to occupy almost all of Belgium. The CNSA came to play a major role in the life of occupied Belgium throughout the War. The CNSA took over the function of a goverment welfare system. Unlike the Belgian Government in the occupied areas, it was not controlled by the Germans. It suceeded in preventing famine and starvation, but food and material shortages existed all during the German occupation. [(De) Schaepdrijver, pp. 52-53.] The CNSA employed more than 125,000 agents and distributors in its Belgian operations. [Dumoulin, p. 122.] The CNSA was administered by a central committee and with local networks across the country looked very much like a governmnt agebcy. , as paralleling the actions of the official Belgian government in peacetime. Many Belgians cane to see it as a symbol of national unity and of passive resistance against the German occupation authorities. [Dumoulin, pp. 122-26.]

Anerican Food Aid (CRB)

Herbert Hoover after assisting Americans stranded in Europe at the onset of world War I, helped organize the Commission for Relief in Belgium (CRB) (October 1914). The purpose was to provide food relief for occupied Belgium and Belgian refugees. The CRB fed millions of people in Belgium and occupied northern France (1914-18). Americans raised money, obtained food, shipped the food past the British naval blockade and prwling German submarines, and supervised the distribution of the food by the Comité National de Secours et d'Alimentation. The CRB shipped 5.7 million tons of food to Belgium, much of it was flour. The flour was packaged in cotton bags by American mills. In addition to the flour itself, the CRB also monitored by the CRB since cotton could be used in the manufacture of German ammunition. The empty flour sacks were distributed to professional schools, sewing workrooms, convents, and artists. When the United States entered the war, Belgian relief was turned over to the Comité Hispanico-Hollandais. This had figurehead directors (the king of Spain and the queen of Holland). Hoover continued to actually oversee the effort to aid Belgium and the food continued to come from America. The CRB continued to function through 1919. Some 2.5 million tons of food worth $300 million fed some 10 million people in Belgium and France, about 7 million of that total were Belgians. This is an extrodinary figure give that that the 1914 population of Belgium was only about 7.5 million people. The American effort was an exceptional, unpresedented indertaking and 'constituted a superb accomplishment, technically, morally, and practically'. [Burner]

Sources

Burner, David. Herbert Hoover: A Public Life (1979).

Dumoulin, Michel (2010). L'Entrée dans le XXe Siècle, 1905–1918 [The Beginning of the XX Century, from 1905–1918]. Nouvelle Histoire de Belgiqu. (Brussels: Le Cri édition: 2010).

(De) Schaepdrijver, Sophie. "Violence and legitimacy: Occupied Belgium, 1914–1918" in The Low Countries: Arts and Society in Flanders and the Netherlands (2014) Vol. 22, pp. 46–56.








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Created: 6:50 AM 10/29/2017
Last updated: 6:50 AM 10/29/2017