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Diary of Annie's War

Page 19

by Annie Droege


  Cousin Johanna wrote me that she expected me for a few hours on the Wednesday. I wrote and told her not to send Hedwig for me before five o’clock as I had another engagement. I then went to Schönberg for the evening and came home at ten-thirty.

  We spent the remainder of the week shopping and got through a lot of cash. But we could not get anything in the food line because we had no tickets. We found things very scarce in Berlin and a goose of five pounds weight cost twenty-two shillings and sixpence, one egg cost three-and-a- half pence, soap was four shillings and three pence and only on tickets, but each person could have a pound of flour without a ticket at a shilling a pound. A cup of tea is sixpence and a cup of coffee is seven pence Things are awfully dear and fresh vegetables are not to be had at all. This is because Holland has refused to sell any to Germany.

  A four-year old child’s pair of shoes cost twelve shillings and sixpence and woollen material for a dress, which I have paid often three shillings a yard, is now fifteen shillings a yard. Butter, meat, lard etc. are not to be seen anywhere. We were so pleased to get home and it cost us at least five pounds to see our men for two hours. We were glad of it at the price.

  In Berlin things are very bad and one day last week thousands of women went to the palace, very orderly, and asked for bread from the Kaiser. He came out on the balcony and they shouted: ‘Give us our men out of the field of battle and more bread’.

  The Kaiser answered: ‘In two months we shall have a great victory and then there will be peace’.

  The women said: ‘We want without the battle or the victory. Give to us our men and bread’.

  There was no answer to that.

  We got home on the Saturday evening of June the 24th and I was so glad to be back again.

  Friday 14th July.

  It’s a long time since I wrote here but there is not much to report.

  There is a great deal in the papers about the English offensive in France on the River Somme but the reports are so contradictory one does not know what to believe. In the neutral papers it seems as if England has made advances. The German papers say they are sent back.

  Our chief interest is food and this everlasting anxiety is dreadful. When you go to bed you never know if you are to be fed the next day. We have had butter cards for a month but no butter. Remember we are only allowed two ounces per week. A quarter pound must last fourteen days, but at that rate of allowance we are a fortnight without. One sends the maid out every day and it is the same answer: ‘None today, come again in three days time’. Now the beer fails. We get a quarter of a pound of meat per week and are very uneasy on a Saturday morning to see if the butcher is open for it can happen that he is closed. Potatoes are very scarce and are thirteen shillings per hundredweight and only so many are allowed per person. The new post tariff comes in on August 1st and everything will be double.

  I went to the estate last week but it is no use to gather the fruit for there is so little sugar to preserve it with. We have been allowed a half pound per person per week for a long time, so one cannot preserve much out of that.

  Most people think that the war will end next autumn, but I have a poor opinion of it doing so.

  Things have been so scarce for so long that one gets used to the shortage and only wonders what will fail us next.

  I was so delighted to get on my wedding day, June 30th, a parcel of food stuffs from Arthur. The finest packet I have had for twelve months – one pound of butter, two tins of milk, one pound of biscuits and one pound of tea. It was worth twenty shillings to me.

  I am not able to bake now for flour is not sold more than a half pound per week to a person. Before the order I used to get for my cards (bread) the flour and bake myself. I got a little better bread but now that is impossible.

  No news from home for four months but Arthur gave me a little home news. I hear of a new baby that is to come to Will and Lilly. I was so very glad to hear that Joan will have a little playmate. I had good news of Ettie and her little ones and also of dad.

  Sunday 16th July.

  Belle tells me that there is a lot in the neutral papers about the exchange of prisoners (civil) and that it is to be considered. I do not think anything will come of it for Germany cannot exchange half of hers as they are the children of naturalised English parents. And their wives, children and businesses are here. So how could they exchange them? No, that must wait the end of the war.

  It seems as if England has made advances in France, but the papers are very quiet about it. In Russia it is very bad for the Austrians.

  My enquartering went away two weeks ago and has never written one line. I do hope nothing has happened to him. He had a dread of Russia having spent one winter there and had been badly wounded. I do hope I hear from him.

  Wednesday 19th July.

  Went today to Woltershausen and saw on the station a lazarett train being unloaded. It was a dreadful sight and I shall never forget the impression it made on us all. They usually send the wounded here at night but lately there has been so many to come from France that they must unload day as well as night.

  We talk often of events and I wish we had other news. Many speak of peace this year. I have no hope of it.

  There is such a lot of fruit this year and so very expensive. I wonder at that for no one can preserve as we do not have the sugar. The only reason I can think of the high price is that formerly we had imported fruit. Now it is only our own grown which we have.

  Wednesday 26th July.

  Yesterday was my birthday and I had lots of good wishes and flowers but not a line from Arthur. I wondered at that because he had written to Belle that he was writing me. James Walmsley wrote me a birthday letter and posted it on the 5th of July in Blackpool and it got here on the 25th – just the right day. We had a very nice day and Belle made a little tea so we were happy in our own way.

  All talk is that no land can hold out this winter and that we are sure of peace before Christmas. I do not feel so hopeful of it myself.

  The baths of Salzdetfurth are doing me a lot of good and I feel much better for them.

  Friday 28th July.

  I received a packet from Arthur today and I was very thankful for the tinned milk and tea. He is well and I can see that he is building up on this exchange of prisoners. But they will never exchange him - he is far too healthy and can do many useful jobs.

  Tuesday 1st August.

  I had a visit from Johanna Pulmann today. She and her daughter, Hedwig, are staying at Goslar for a few weeks in the hopes of better food. But the feeding is bad there too. It would be funny if it was not so pitiful. When you meet a person and say: ‘How do you do?’ They reply: ‘Do you still get your butter or milk?’ Hildesheim is badly off for food and one wonders how much longer these dreadful days last.

  When Johanna was here she remarked that England has taken all the German’s businesses, land and property from them and she expects it will come here also. If the government takes all our property I shall have to travel home quick. One lives in anxiety from morning until night and does not know what the next day will bring.

  I got a new enquarterings today. These last ones are such young men that it is sad to see them.

  The drapers are now selling only on permission tickets. Woollen clothes are such a price – twenty-four shillings a yard for cloth that used to be four shillings. I paid fifteen shillings a yard for stuff that was dear at two shillings and eleven pence. The prices of woollen goods are simply awful. A lady told me of paying twenty-five shillings a yard for dress material (wool) and cousin Johanna paid seventeen shillings and sixpence a yard for her stuff. It is really wicked the prices being asked.

  Today all bicycle tyres are confiscated. A few weeks ago all bicycles were forbidden to be used and you had to pay a heavy fine if you went for a bicycle ride for pleasure. Now to make sure of it all tyres have to be given up. For a good tyre, inside and outside, you get three shillings; an inferior one is two shillings and for a discarded one sixpence is
paid.

  It is announced that no more bacon or lard is to be had and that only houses with children are to be served milk. For each child under three you get a pint of milk and over three a gill of milk a day until twelve-years-old, and then no supply at all. We have no children so I am glad of Arthur’s cans of milk. Things are fine here.

  Thursday 10th August.

  Had no letter for two weeks from Arthur and it makes one anxious.

  Frau Voight and I hope to travel to Berlin in a few weeks time as it is almost three months since our last visit.

  There is a lot in the papers about the confiscation of property in England and I expect daily to hear that all ours is confiscated. What I shall do then I do not know.

  Most people are keeping rabbits to kill in the winter so of course the price is very high. A buck and doe of the Belgian breed (coloured like a hare) costs thirty-five shillings a pair, a chicken of eight weeks and not weighing more than one pound costs two shillings and sixpence, a good sized cock or hen that one got for three shillings before the war is now twelve shillings. Eggs are four pence each and you are allowed two per week.

  We read that the war can last three years longer. I do not think so.

  We had a visit from two gentlemen (brothers) this week and one said the war would last three years longer and the other said Christmas would see the end. There is a great deal of difference in the opinions and a great deal depends on the harvest.

  There is to be a house to house examination of food stuffs on the 1st of September. They are to come in your place and see your stock and according to what you have you get your tickets. For instance, if you have thirty eggs in preserve you get no egg tickets until that stock is used up. It is the same for sugar, meats etc. so it is almost impossible for one to stock for the winter.

  Monday 14th August.

  We have news that our baker is to close. He has done something that is forbidden so his place is closed for an uncertain time. He has been given six days to bake up all his flour and then lock up. It is announced in the papers that it is because he is not dependable. A butcher opposite was done the same about three months ago and is to be allowed to re-open next week. He told a woman that he had no meat and she had a card and money. After that she saw another woman go in and get a parcel. She reported the fact and his punishment for not serving the one that came in first was three months closed shop – rather stiff.

  Sunday 20th August.

  Got permission to visit Arthur on the 22nd September so I will be in Berlin from the 18th or 19th. It is a pleasure to look forward to. One gets so few of these in war time.

  No further news of the exchange of prisoners or the confiscation of goods.

  This week we are told that no more sugar is to be obtained until the end of October and one has not been able to save much out of half a pound per person per week. We are allowed (on cards of course) a small packet of saccharine every two weeks – twenty small tablets per person.

  We read that all church bells in Vienna are to be melted down for bullets. It will come here soon.

  We expect to hear everyday of the arrival of the Deutschland, the marvellous underwater boat that got to America. The Bremen, the second one, has not yet been announced as arrived and all the people are anxious about it.

  The harvest promises to be good but the weather on this date is very cold. Many towns are worse than Hildesheim as regards food, and some a bit better. So we now hear that a set rule is to be made direct from the government and that every town and village is to be served alike.

  We read that in England white bread is nine pence for a four pound loaf. That is the price for a dark loaf here and white bread costs one shilling and three pence for four pounds.

  Here bacon is six shillings and sixpence a pound when you can get it. One man offered ten shillings a pound for a ham and was refused because it had fat. It was fourteen pounds in weight so you can reckon what that ham would cost. Sugar is four-and-a- half pence a pound, meat is three shillings a pound (with bone) and steak is three shillings and four pence, potatoes are one-and-a-half pence a pound and a cabbage for five people is five pence. Soap is three shillings and three pence and soft soap is three shillings and no more will be made (government orders). We are told that next month is to be the worst during the war for the scarcity of food.

  Thursday 24th August.

  Great celebrations today for it is announced that the Deutschland, the wonderful undersea boat, has returned to Germany. No more does Britain rule the waves as she has nothing to come up to that.

  I have no great war news other than the usual German announcement that the enemy is sent back on all fronts and of the usual English and Russian advance made on the frontier. One does not understand half of what is in the papers.

  I intend getting a rabbit for a pet so have spoken for one. I hope that I can keep it alive. I have been told that two is far better than one.

  I have been to the estate today and had trouble about my potatoes. I do hope that Arthur lets the place before next year as it will be better for all.

  We have been told that we must take a census of all our stock and must announce everything we have in the house above one pound weight in the eating line so that they will have an idea of how long this stock will last us. The census is to take place on the 1st of September and anyone falsifying will get one year imprisonment and a fine of twenty pounds. I think very few people have a stock of anything.

  Sunday 27th August.

  There is a deal in the papers about this exchange of prisoners over forty-five-years-old and Herr Voight has written to his wife that they expect that Herr Dröege will be exchanged. If so it will be soon so one does not know how long this uncertainty will last. Perhaps I shall be amongst my own before Christmas.

  They are all concerned about this food census, because the rain has increased these last few days and it is bad for the harvest.

  We are told also that during the month of September we are to receive papers to fill up stating how much money each person has invested in foreign countries. It is not for taxation but to get at the amount of German money there is in foreign lands. I told Belle that I thought it a sign of peace much more eloquent than lectures. But one must wait and see.

  I got news of likelihood to clear out and Mrs. Voight is thinking of taking an etage (a floor) as she is sick of hotel life. I shall be glad to hear of what Arthur thinks about it all.

  We are all earnestly requested to take all our old gold ornaments to the town hall and we shall be given the market price for it. A lady of my acquaintance took a lot of old family jewellery, gold watches, chains, broaches and got sixteen pounds for them. She was very pleased at the price besides feeling that she was helping the Fatherland.

  The children are to go from house to house and beg old bottles, jars, rags, paper or anything at all in the lumber line and for a certain monies worth, gathered by one school, will get a free holiday for a whole day. Every child has been gathering cherry, plum, apricot and peach stones for they contain oil. When the children gather a certain weight they are taken to the school and prizes or a holiday given. They have it so finely reckoned that every twenty-eight cherry stones give half a tea spoonful of oil (pure). You can imagine the amount of stones gathered.

  A friend of ours has had her son missing for a long time but has now heard that he is in Siberia. He has now written home for a grammar book as he is learning Russian and Polish.

  Another friend, Frau Pestorrous, got a parcel yesterday and on opening it out fell her only son’s watch, scapular and rosary. In the next post she got a letter to announce his death and one also from Luni (her son). He was just one day at the front when shot in the head.

  One ceases to wonder at the sad things we hear daily and only wonders how the relatives manage to live through it all. I know numerous families personally who have lost every male member of the entire family. Five or six cousins of the one name fell in a month. The family completely died out for not one had married
.

  Monday 28th August.

  We read startling news today. Italy declares war on Germany and Romania declares war on Austria. Everyone is astonished. The news from Romania was so favourable last week. We had a telegram last night that the first Romanian prisoners had been taken. I wonder if it will prolong or end the war.

  The weather has been very wet and cold this past two weeks and it is bad for the potatoes and most of the corn is ripe.

  Wednesday 30th August.

  Had a letter from Arthur to say that he is full of hope that he is to be released and that he has to go to England. I expect that he will write instructions to me. I do not know how to arrange it and would like someone to speak to about it. Perhaps the exchange will not take place before my visit of the 22nd of September.

  They make light here of the two new war declarations, but thoughtful people say that there are many people with money in Romania and it will be serious from that point of view. It will also be serious in the fact of food buying. Some even say that Germany had no need to declare war on them at all.

  Every day we are having rain and I think that it will be bad for the potatoes for the earth is so very cold and wet for August.

 

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