From Blockade to Aid

Once the blockade against Germany was fully lifted on 12 July 1919, food from different sources began entering the country. Excess food from the US military was parcelled out to American citizens resident in Germany. Though significant for the recipients who received it, the military surplus lasted only a few months and could only be shared with other Americans. A source of foreign food for German citizens were food drafts, which allowed family and friends in foreign lands to purchase foodstuffs for their loved ones in Germany without taking the risk of theft or spoilage associated with directly exporting the goods. Other institutions, private and public, focused on feeding German children. This chapter examines the efforts of some of the major international aid organizations, including the American Friend Service Committee, Save the Children, and other groups feeding German children. It examines the approaches and struggles of these groups at an institutional level.

Nutritional Deprivation of Children Across Germany

When nutritional deprivation is severe enough and of a long duration, evidence for deprivation should be found in the growth patterns of children. Anthropometric measurements were collected across Germany during and following the First World War. This chapter analyses the changing heights and weights of school children, both male and female, across Germany from 1914 to 1924. Comparisons are made using 1914 as a baseline, comparing growth curves to modern standards. As a whole, most German children were shorter and lighter than German children of similar ages before the war, suggesting the war had a negative impact on the growth of children. These data also allow for comparisons of changing heights and weights between different socioeconomic groups across Germany. The timing of deprivation varied most according to social group, with different groups reaching their nadir and zenith in different years. Finally, these data make it possible to consider as well the mitigating effects international aid had on children’s growth.

Nutritional Deprivation in Urban Leipzig

This chapter describes how statisticians and nutritionists did their best to calculate the total number of raw calories available in Germany before, during, and immediately following the war. Given their estimates, if calories had been distributed equally among the population there should have been enough calories for everyone in Germany. Yet it was recognized that distribution was not equal, and that some groups of people probably suffered more than others. Because of the unique data that survives for urban Leipzig, it is now possible to examine more closely caloric distribution across Leipzig society (intrahousehold allocation) and inequalities within families (interhousehold allocation). Through a study of the amount of calories that were available to specific households in Leipzig, physical activity levels (PAL) are estimated, as well as individual measures of chronic energy deficiency (CED) as defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO). With these analyses it is now possible to see more specifically how different groups and households were impacted by reduced food supplies.

Were Rural Germans Better Off Than Urban Citizens During the War? The Case of Straß‎burg

Urban Germans believed that civilians in rural areas had a more plentiful and varied diet than city dwellers. There was widespread suspicion that agricultural workers were deliberately cheating the rest of society by hoarding food for themselves or selling it illegally for exorbitant prices. There certainly were thriving black markets, yet differences in the nutritional status of urban and rural civilians may not have been significant. Poor farmers often had limited control of their own foodstuffs. Military action also impacted civilian food supplies, though this was rarely recognized in the cities. This chapter uses newly discovered anthropometric data of school boys from Straβ‎burg and the surrounding rural areas to measure differences in the nutritional status of urban and rural civilians. These analyses are matched alongside the qualitative evidence and together they indicate a more complicated story between the supposed urban and rural divide.

German Children’s Response to Aid

Following up on the food aid provided to German children discussed in chapter 8, this chapter explores how children felt about and responded to the aid that they received. Using letters and drawings from children sent to aid organizations or given to individual aid workers themselves, primarily the American Friend Service Committee, these sources confirm some details of food distribution and triage schemes employed by missionaries and their sponsoring organizations. The chapter also reviews some of the themes related to children’s measurements discussed elsewhere in the book, showing that in many cases very different kinds of sources—statistical records on children’s heights and weights, instructions to aid workers, and the recipients’ own letters and drawings—result in similar conclusions.

Armistice and Blockade

Germans hoped the Allied blockade would be lifted with the Armistice, yet it was not fully lifted until July 1919, after the Treaty of Versailles had been signed. Interim treaties relating to food were made between the Allies and Germany in between the Armistice and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. This chapter considers the various attempts during this eight-month period within and without Germany to revictual the country, as well as efforts by some of the victors to prevent foodstuffs from entering. Germany was still the enemy, feelings were charged, and there was political pressure, particularly from France, to continue the blockade. The United States Food Administration, created in 1917 and based on the vision of Herbert Hoover, increased total food supplies available for shipping to the Allies during the war. This resulted in a surplus amount of food during the armistice that could have been directed towards feeding vanquished Germany, but only if the Allies agreed.

Epilogue

Out of the air a voice without a face Proved by statistics that some cause was just In tones as dry and level as the place.1 ~ W. H. Auden, ‘The Shield of Achilles’, 1952. 1 W.H. Auden, ‘The Shield of Achilles’, Poetry, 81/1 (1952), 3....

Nutritional Deprivation after the Fighting

Germans were dismayed that the Allied blockade continued during armistice, and loudly protested the nutritional distress it created for women and children. Official reports of the German food supply and living conditions of the civilian population were commissioned by the Germans, the Americans, the British, and a conglomerate of European neutral countries. Less official studies were also made, and first-hand reports were published across the world. Beyond the political hurdles of sending food into a blockaded country, there were also bureaucratic issues under the Supreme War Council related to food control and distribution. Limited amounts of foodstuffs were eventually allowed into Germany starting at the end of March of 1919, and these are analysed for their caloric value. Herbert Hoover became an influential figure in efforts to change public opinion to lift the blockade.

German Responses to Food Scarcity

Germany was highly susceptible to a blockade that prevented food and fertilizer from entering the country. In addition to importing between 25 and 30 per cent of its foodstuffs, Germany was increasingly reliant on the import of foreign fertilizer to increase yields. As a result of this national vulnerability to the blockade, the state and individuals responded in different ways to address food insecurity. These responses had mixed success, and changed over time. This chapter examines some of the policies and institutions put in place in Germany aimed at providing sufficient food for civilians. It also suggests some of the ways individuals responded to food insecurity, including participation in the black market.

The First World War and the Blockade of Germany, 1914–1919

This chapter provides an analysis of the legal and diplomatic documents surrounding the Declaration of London 1909, and the way in which different governments—especially neutral countries such as the Netherlands, the United States, and Sweden—addressed the limits placed on their oceanic trade by the British government and threatened U-boat attack by the Germans. The legacy of the British blockade is also considered, particularly the impacts it may have had on civilian health in Germany, as are the arguments for the morality of siege during wartime. Timing and duration of the blockade were important. However, there were mixed messages at the time, within Germany and elsewhere, about the level of civilian deprivation. The chapter considers how German protests increased during the armistice period when the blockade continued to be enforced. Such efforts, designed to create foreign sympathy, helped to attract international aid to Germany.