Figure 1.--The Americans provided food to West Berliners for a school feeding program. Here we have some serious eating goung on. Notice how the girls are tilting up their mess kits to get to the soup that their spoons can't get to. They weren't about to waste any. And notice the niceries--each girl has a table cloth for her desk.

Food was the most immeiate problem for most Beliners. The children which Hitler and Gobbels refused to evacuate scavenged in garbage dumps, especially the garbage of the occupation forces. Anyhing even mouldy bread or the residue in cans was seized upon. The former public gardens and parks were turned over to communal allotments where Berliners could grow food in order to complement their meagre food rations. Average food consumption before the War had been around 3,000 calorie per day. After the War, occupied Berliners were surviving on an average of 1,500 calories per day, sometimes as little as 900 calories per day. This was above what the Germans imposed on many occupied people unedr the NAZI Hunger Plan. Virtually everything was rationed, including margarine, milk, coffee, meat, sugar and fresh eggs. Many items, like fruit, were non-existent. People survived on potatoes. Signs like 'no more meat' or 'bread – sold out' commonly had to be put out before people in long lines reached the shop counters. One of the problems was the destruction of rail and canal links to the countryside where food was available. But this problem evaporated when the Soviets began hardening the border. The Soviets did not want food brought into East Berlin truckled into the Western sectors. West Berliners were not allowed to obtain food in East Germany. The food for the Western sectors had to come in from West Germany. When West Berlin reopened the schools, a feeding program became very popular wih the children. Food supplies continued to be tight in Berlin until surprisingly Stalin tried to starve the people of West Berlin and drive out the Americans (1948).

Food Situation Final Months of the War (January - April 1945)

Food was the most immeiate problem for most Beliners. TheNAZIs fed the Germans by seizing food theough various methods from the occupied countries. France was particularly important. As the Americans began targetting the German transport system, to finally destroy the German war economy, it became increasingly difficult getting even German produced food from the countryside into the cities. The children which Hitler and Gobbels refused to evacuate scavenged in garbage dumps, especially the garbage of the occupation forces. Anyhing even mouldy bread or the residue in cans was seized upon. The former public gardens and parks were turned over to communal allotments where Berliners could grow food in order to complement their meagre food rations.

Occupation Food Rations

Average German food consumption before the War had been around 3,000 calorie per day. After the War, occupied Berliners were surviving on an average of 1,500 calories per day, sometimes as little as 900 calories per day. This was above what the Germans imposed on many occupied people unedr the NAZI Hunger Plan. Virtually everything was rationed, including margarine, milk, coffee, meat, sugar and fresh eggs. Many items, like fruit, were non-existent. People survived on potatoes. Signs like 'no more meat' or 'bread – sold out' commonly had to be put out before people in long lines reached the shop counters.

German Transport System

One of the problems was the destruction of rail and canal links to the countryside where food was available. After the Allied breakout from Normandy (late-July 1944), Gem. Eisenhower returned control of the Allied strategic bombing force back to the Eighth Air Force and Bomber Command. And the P-51 Escorts with the destuction of the Luftwaffe were ordered to come down on the deck and go after transport targets, especially transport targets like trains and barges. within a few months the German war economy began to collapse. It was not only the damage to the factories, but production plummeted because of the destruction of the transport system. The Germans could not het coal and raw materials or parts to the factories. And what was produced was difficult to transport as well. And getting food from the farms to the cities also became very difficult. The Germans were forced to sharply reduce ration levels and often in the cities German civilians found it increasingly difficult to even find the food they were entitled to under the rtioning system. After the NAZI surrender, the once efficent German transport system had collapsed. There was no way to rebuild the system very quickly. This was a major problem in feeding the Germans after the War.

Soviet Policy

But this problem evaporated when the Soviets began hardening the border. The Soviets did not want food they brought into East Berlin truckled into the Western sectors. West Berliners were not allowed to obtain food in East Germany. The food for the Western sectors had to brought in from Western sectors.

School Feeding Program

When West Berlin reopened the schools, a feeding program became very popular wih the children. The image here vividly shows how much the children appreciated the program (figure 1). Similr scenes transpired all over occupied Germany, at least in the Western sectors. We are less sured what transpired in the Soviet sector. The food situatation appears to have been better there. The Soviet or eastern sector was a largely agricultural, food producing area. Thus the food situation was somewhat better there.

Operation Stork (Winter 1945-46)

We note references to Operation Stork in Berlin after World War II. The term Stork has been used to name several humanitarian efforts. The first such effort we are aware of was a British effort to feed German children during the Winter following the War. We have not been able to find a good overview of the program, but have found a few bits and pieces. What we have founds suggests it was a British Army program. The 7th Armoured Division (Desert Rats) in Brlin were involved. So was Save the Children and the German Red Cross. We note U.S. Army trucks being used. Some reports suggest it was a program for Berlin children, but Pathé News seems to suggest that other cities were involved. Food was a real problem for West Berlin so the idea of the program was to get the children out of the British occupatiom zone of Berlin and find country families in the British Sector of occupied Germany to care for them. The Allied occupation zones were still separate. There were sad partings at the assembly points in Berlin. The Pathé images seem to show a very happy group of children involved in the transport phase and with their host families. Transport was a problem. We note both trains and army trucks being used. The children were aged 4-14 years old. Younger children were no allowed because of the interensive care required by the youngr children. Some mothers were allowed to participate, but because of transport shortages, only one mother for every five children. Food was not the only problem. Berlin was a vast piles of rubble. Sanitation systems were destroyed along with the rest of the city. As a result the children had to be deloused before transport to their winter care homes. The British army officer who conceived the idea is now irrevocably known as 'Stork' throughout the whole British Army. The British hoped to bring some 60,000 children out of their zone in Berlin for the winter. We are not sure how many Berlin children ctully partivipated. Food was comparatively available in the British occuption zone of Germany. The British at first reported that mothers were reluctant and rumors circulted about child stealing and concentration camps. [Maguire] Participation was voluntry and many mothers eventually consented. We see others and old men seeing the children off. (Military age men were either dead or in Soviet POW camps.) A Pathé newsreel shows the childen being moved and brought to welcoming homes who volunteered to hist the children in the countyside for the Winter. The Pathé description reads, "Operation stork is the evacuation of children from the devastated German towns to the country. C/U Children and a dog with evacuation tickets attached to them. Most of the children are smiling and laughing. Not sad evacuees. C/U shoulder patch of the S.C.F. (Save The Children Fund). Woman from SCF talks to a young girl who holds a large doll." [Pathe]

Berlin Airlift

Food supplies continued to be tight in Berlin until Stalin tried to starve the people of west Berlin and drive out the Americans (1948). All highway and rail connections into West Brlin were cut. Stalin calculted that food shortahes would quickly develop.

Sources

Mguire, Paul. "British feed chhildren from Brlin: 'Operation Stork'," The argus (Melbourne) (Novembr 15, 1945), p. 2.

Pathe. "Refugees onto train AKA Operation Stork 1945," 2056.05.

Created: 12:06 AM 5/15/2014
Last updated: 7:31 PM 7/31/2016