Institutional feeding

An important role in the fight against hunger played institutional feeding. In March 1945 the Municipal Social Welfare Committee in Poznań organised eateries which, thanks to the gifts from the villages in the Wielkopolska Region, each day provided inhabitants with nearly 5,000 dinners. What is more, companies and organisations opened their own canteens. In July 1945 57 such canteens existed. They served simple meals, but for many people they provided the only chance to eat one hot meal a day.

For dinner I went to some eatery in Składowa Street. (…) I was given swede soup. It tasted better if they added some carrots and sometimes even some potatoes. No trace of meat, though.

Jaśkowiak, Franciszek. 1970, in: Tadeusz Świtała (ed.) The hardship of the first days. Poznań 1945. Poznań: 106.

A canteen located in the basement of the university building in Słowackiego Street. The windows are covered with wooden boards. We are eating in the dim light of spring sunbeams piercing through the holes. The dinner consists of a bowl of soup and a slice of brown bread. There are no dishes. We are standing by the wall, waiting for them to wash a bowl and a spoon. I am hungry all the time. We are given a loaf of bread a week for our ration coupons. This suffices for three days. After that there is only soup and a slice of bread in the canteen again.

Kubacki, Wacław. 1971. Journals 1944-1958. Warszawa: 42.

Zbigniew Zielonacki is given soup shortly after the Second World War, 1945, from Zbigniew Zielonacki’s family collection, cyryl.poznan.pl

Bakeries

Due to the widespread hunger, providing bread for the inhabitants became one of the priorities. The first mills and bakeries were brought back to life. This was possible thanks to the engagement of workers who began to renovate their workplaces, as far as it was possible, and start production. In March 1945 there were already 93 bakeries working (before the war there were 129). The working conditions of bakers were not easy. Often the buildings were destroyed and it was difficult to get flour and yeast.

Our street was “liberated” by Russians on 2 February 1945. (…) After that, despite the fact that corner of our four-storey tenement house was under heavy fire from tanks and katyusha (…), and after debris had been removed from the chimney, we were able to start baking bread already the next day. We covered window panes with plywood and brought water from the nearby street pumps (under the unceasing fire). Two bakery apprentices and several workers living nearby enthusiastically volunteered for the work. (…) The bread was baked only at night, very quietly, to prevent the fighters on both sides from noticing the smoke rising from the chimney (…).

Gluza, Zbigniew. 2001. Small business owners. 1945-1989. Warszawa: 22.

The social attitude of baker Gogolewski deserves a special praise. He opened his bakery in Chociszewskiego Street immediately after the district of Łazarz had been liberated, and baked bread for the starved inhabitants from the flour left by Germans without asking for payment. When he ran short of the supply, he kept baking bread from the flour brought by his customers. It was a currency of sorts, which replaced money.

Grzonka, Rajmund. 1972, in: Mieczysław Skąpski (ed.) The inhabitants of the Wielkopolska Region talking about 1945. Poznań: 193.

„Głos Wielkopolski” 1945, number 17,from the collection of PAN Kórnicka Library

Food rationing

Due to constant shortages and difficulty with obtaining supplies, getting staple foods proved to be a huge challenge. In March 1945 a new system of ration coupons was introduced, which regulated food allocation. However, the number of products which each citizen was allowed to buy was small and often these items were unavailable in shops. As press releases and letters sent to Głos Wielkopolski’s editorial team suggest, the amount of food rationed to people would sometimes suffice for two meat dinners a month. One reader complained of having to ‘alternate eating bread with eating potato soup.’ The so-called black market became commonplace. The prices of products it offered, however, reached astronomical levels. Food products also became the currency in unofficial trade.

Already in the first days after the fighting in the city stopped, the so-called black markets emerged in the city. One was located in the Łazarski Market Square, the other in the Jeżycki Market Square, whereas its branch was situated in Kościelna Street. Traffic was heavy and products of uncertain origin found many buyers. You could see there people looking gaunt – these were fire victims. But there were also others, with bright, nervous gaze, looking only for valuable objects: porcelain with a mark of a famous manufacturer (e.g. from Meissen), crystals and works of art. Those who suffered most were looking for ordinary faience mugs and plates, knives and forks, some essential items, and if they could afford it, they purchased clothes they did not have in their wardrobes.

Romała, Marian. 1970, in: Tadeusz Świtała (ed.) The hardship of the first days. Poznań 1945. Poznań: 284.

„Głos Wielkopolski” 1945, number 20, from the collection of PAN Kórnicka Library

„Głos Wielkopolski” 1945, number 17, from the collection of PAN Kórnicka Library