Figure 1.--Many German schools were destroyed are damaged. Whenever possible once the schools began to operate, a feeding program was instituted. We are not sure where the food came from, but at first it was not provided by the Allied ocupation uthorities. You can tell from the children's focus that the food was very welcomed. The children were not starving, but they were clearly hungary. None of thee children or most of their parents had any idea of the hunger and starvation imposed on much of Europe by the NAZIs in their country's name. Notice how the children are dressed. We suspect that there was not a lot of heat coming out of the radiators. Not only was there food shirtages, but also coal shortages. The photograph is undated, but was probably taken in 1946 or 47.

As a result of the War with its industries destroyed, Germany could no longer aford to import food, even if it could be found. The food problenm was especially serious in the Western occupation zones. About 60 the population of Germany lived in the French, British, and American zones. This was the most heavily industrialized area of Germany. Before the War, only about 40 percent of the country's food was produced in the west and the War damage had significantly impaired food production. Needed inputs to farmers like equipmebt and fertilizer were unavailable. An farmers lost a substantial part of their work force--POWs. Many Polish and French POWs were used a fatm labor. And these men were quickly repatriated to their countries. Not only was the German agricultural sector disrupted, affecting production, but the Allied bombing campaign had destroyed Germany's transportation system, so it was difficult to transport food from the rural areas to the cities even if it was available. Often not mentioned are price controls and inflation. Farmers were essentilly not being adequately compensated for their hard work--there was no reward for the hard work of expanding production. The Soviet occuption zone encompased largely rural eastern Germany which was more self sufficent in food production. In addition, food producing regions durther east in Pomperania, Silesia, and East Prussia were transfered to both Poland and the Soviet Union adding to food shortages in the western occupation zones. In the first months of the occupation (May-December 1945), civilians in the American and British occupation zones received 1,200 calories a day. The non-German Displaced Persons were receiving 2,300 calories through emergency food imports delivered by UNRRA and international relief groups. [Wiggers, pp. 279-80.] The problems with German agriculture, the damage done to the transportation system and an extrodinarily cold winter combined to create a food crisis during the 146-47 winter. German food consumption amounted to 1,000-1,500 calories per day. And in addition there were sever coal shortges--meaning that many homes were not heated or only minimally heated during the terrible cold winter. [Wiggers p. 244.] Compare this to average adult calorie intake in the United States (3,200–3,300), Britain (2,900), and the U.S. Army (4,000).

Sources

Wiggers, Richard Dominic. "The United States and the refusal to feed German civilians after World War II." in Steven Bela Vardy and T. Hunt Tooley, eds. Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth-Century Europe (Boulder: Columbia University Press, 2003).

Created: 6:00 AM 1/17/2017
Last updated: 6:01 AM 1/17/2017