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CHAPTER VI
THE PEOPLE HUNGER
In view of all that has happened in Germany, it is small
wonder that the people have been overtaken by extreme short-
ages of basic necessities, especially food.
Months after the war had ended and the conquerors had
assumed complete control of German government and there-
fore responsibility for the German people and their future, the
Bishop of Chichester, quoting a noted German pastor, said:
"Thousands of bodies are hanging in the trees in the woods
around Berlin and nobody bothers to cut them down. Thousands
of corpses are carried into the sea by the Oder and Elbe Rivers-
one doesn't notice it any longer. Thousands and thousands are
starving in the highways.... Children roam the highways alone,
their parents shot, dead, lost.""
A wireless to the New York Times in April, 1946, says:
"Like Russia's half-wild vagabonds after World War I, Ger-
many's youth is on the road . . . because there was not enough
to eat at home. Homeless, without papers or ration cards
these groups rob Germans and displaced persons. They are .
wandering aimlessly, disillusioned, dissolute, diseased, and with-
out guidance." 2
Despite conditions the German people are putting up a
brave struggle for existence. After a five-week tour of Europe,
including Germany, Malcolm Muir, publisher of BUSINESS
WEEK, told the Union League Club of Chicago:
"The Germans are making every effort to help themselves . . .
It is not unusual to see a milch cow hitched to a plow, a woman
leading the cow and-a small boy guiding the plow." a
What harvesting machinery remains is mostly small, old
fashioned and run down, often useless for want of parts.
Draught work is supplied by animals and men. Oxen are used
where available, and a horse and cow hitched together are
common. It is not unusual to see a wagon of straw moving
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