Gifts

At the time of the great post-war shortages huge support, which helped replenish the limited supplies, were gifts from the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA). This international organisation provided help for the regions devastated by the war. The first transport containing food, fabrics, clothes and other products reached Poznań in August 1945. Workplaces were often involved in their distribution. Some of the products, for example dried eggs, were not well-known to Polish housewives. Therefore, the press published suitable advice.

When the first products from UNRRA came, our cooperatives [at Cegielski Company] distributed fabrics for coats, trousers and various jackets according to a list. It was a hassle but we managed to divide them in such a way that no one complained. The prices were affordable. Almost everyone could buy shoes from the military surplus for a low price. We calculated everything so well that the poorest got the shoes for free […]. Multi-child families came to shops with buggies because they couldn’t carry everything they were given in their hands.

Podlawski, Leon. 1970, in: Tadeusz Świtała (ed.) The hardship of the first days. Poznań 1945. Poznań: 235.

For Christmas the University received allotment from the UNRRA supplies. Professors and Associated Professors who were permanently employed received officers’ food packages (canned bacon, processed cheese, five hundred grams of a real cow) and leather shoes. As an Assistant Professor I had the right to receive one soldier’s food package (a tin of salt beef, a marmalade tin, a packet of sponge biscuit) and linen boots with rubber soles.

Kubacki, Wacław. 1971. Journals 1944-1958. Warszawa: 56-57.

Food rationing in the courtyard of the Municipal Executive in Poznań at 49 Matejki Street, photo by Zbigniew Zielonacki, from the family collection, cyryl.poznan.pl

„Głos Wielkopolski” 1945, number 189, from the collection of PAN Kórnicka Library

Childhood

According to the general census from June 1945, over 20 per cent of children in the country were orphaned, meaning that they had lost either one of both parents or had been abandoned. Due to their guardians’ death, bad living conditions and other life struggles faced by families, many children stayed with other relatives or in children’s homes.

Both adults and children suffered from trauma caused by the war. On top of that, there were also post-war problems connected to housing, widespread malnutrition and poor health. In contrast with today’s upbringing models, children were rarely supervised by adults in their free time. The memories concerning childhood in the years after the war demonstrate also a sort of separation of the world of children from the world of adults.

Uncleared debris. Piles of war junk in squares. Broken [tanks] with shells lying in front of the castle. Children made a roundabout from a German revolving [tank] gun. Kubacki, Wacław. 1971. Journals 1944-1958. Warszawa: 41.

We spent entire days outside. We ate carrots directly from the field and played bat-and-ball games with the Kublas who lived next door.

Exerpt from an interview with Stefan Hoppela. 2016, in: Filip Czekała, Stories worth of Poznań, Poznań: 110.

The Cybina River (…) used to have a decent lagoon (…) we all bathed there and learnt to swim and no one drowned because we taught each other. (…) when someone swam across the Cybina, it meant he or she could swim. (…) no one had a football, we had rag balls sewn by our mothers from rags (…) so we played a bat-and-ball game and footbag. (…) when we were hungry, there was some dock. (…) in winter the Cybina River became an ice rink, we would slide down from these embankments (…) a bicycle was a rarity because in the past a bike was quite a thing! We had scooters made of two boards and bearings, simple bearings if someone’s father brought them from Cegielski or Spomet (…) they made so much noise but we rode them because we didn’t have anything else, and a bike was a rarity, just like a radio set, and if someone had a radio set, well!

Mróz, Jan. 2016, in: Michał Kępski et al. (ed.) It should be said. From the Śródka Community Archive. Poznań: 66-68.

„Głos Wielkopolski” 1945, numberr 191, from the collection of PAN Kórnicka Library