March 1945

Teofil learns that two streets away from where they live someone is trying to open a bakery. As he is a baker by profession, he volunteers to help. The beginnings are difficult: they lack flour and yeast. Sometimes the shop’s workers use flour gifted by customers in exchange for baked bread.

Food ration coupons are introduced. Still, however, finding something to eat is not easy. Sometimes Jadwiga spends her whole days waiting in a queue but at the end of the day there is nothing to buy.

Zenon returns to work in Cegielski Company. The factory, like many other workplaces, runs its own canteen for workers. Part of the salary is paid in the form of comestible products. Zenon, however, prefers eating at home, thus keeping all of his food ration coupons. What is more, he receives a set of pots produced for the workers from the surplus of sheet metal left in the factory.

The family’s food situation improves a little. They no longer have to go to an eatery which usually serves swede soup and a slice of brown bread.

March 1945

Jadwiga and Zenon carefully browse through adverts published in Głos Wielkopolski. They do not have shoes in the right size. They are also looking for a wardrobe for their clothes. However, the majority of adverts in the paper are offers of buying, not selling.

Janina and Bronek attend a school in Jarochowskiego Street. It is the first school opened in Poznań after the war. Its opening was possible mainly thanks to the commitment of teachers who cleaned the school buildings and found the basic equipment. Before the war, Janina finished the first grade of primary school. During the occupation she did not go to school but studied at home with the help of her parents and grandad. Bronek is only beginning his adventure with education. They both attend the so-called composite classes, which combine different grades into one class.