Rations to civilians

hauptmannn · Post by **hauptmannn** » 17 Jan 2004 10:17

Right first of all it is an honour to be the first poster in this new section

Now can anyone tell me the daily rations of civilians during the war? I'm sure it varies year by year so could you give me info from 1939-45?

Erik E · Post by **Erik E** » 17 Jan 2004 10:26

Which country/town do you mean??

EE

hauptmannn · Post by **hauptmannn** » 17 Jan 2004 10:36

Rations for German civilians

Ti.P · Post by **Ti.P** » 17 Jan 2004 10:40

i dont know but i have a feeling that when we get an exact figure its going to make the food given to the POWs look much better (even that given to the russians)

nondescript handle · Post by **nondescript handle** » 17 Jan 2004 16:02

Like it was already said, the amount of the rations varied during the years (August 27, 1939 - January 10, 1950) and several classes of persons got slightly higher rations (heavy manual work, very heavy manual work, pregnant women, adolescent, children).
A normal ration 1939 (1945) was:

meat and meat products 700 gramm per week (250 gramm per week)
butter 280 gramm per week (??)
jam 110 gramm per week
sugar 280 gramm per week
legumes 150 gramm per week
coffee 63 gramm per week
milk products, fat and oil 60 Gramm per day (125 gramm per week)
milk 0.20 liter per day (pregnant/adolescent/children normal; others low-fat milk)
bread 2250 gramm per week (1700 gramm per week)
(100 g ~ 3.5 oz)

Some of these products (e.g. bread) could be brought (sometimes) on the normal market additionally to the rations, others coulden't be.
There were rations for clothing and soap too.

Regards
Mark

Prit · Post by **Prit** » 17 Jan 2004 18:52

Daily calorific allowance in 1941 was:

Germans: 2,613
Non-Germans suitable for Germanisation and mixed race: 669
Non-Aryan 'subhumans' (as far as I can see, everyone else): 184

- as quoted in Rising44 by Norman Davies

JonMichael · Post by **JonMichael** » 17 Jan 2004 22:26

The rations for some Duth cities reach a low of 500 calories in the winter of 1944-5.
Conditions in occupied Europe vaired enormously from place to place and from month to month.

Ti.P · Post by **Ti.P** » 18 Jan 2004 02:48

nondescript handle wrote:Like it was already said, the amount of the rations varied during the years (August 27, 1939 - January 10, 1950) and several classes of persons got slightly higher rations (heavy manual work, very heavy manual work, pregnant women, adolescent, children).
A normal ration 1939 (1945) was:

meat and meat products 700 gramm per week (250 gramm per week)
butter 280 gramm per week (??)
jam 110 gramm per week
sugar 280 gramm per week
legumes 150 gramm per week
coffee 63 gramm per week
milk products, fat and oil 60 Gramm per day (125 gramm per week)
milk 0.20 liter per day (pregnant/adolescent/children normal; others low-fat milk)
bread 2250 gramm per week (1700 gramm per week)
(100 g ~ 3.5 oz)

Some of these products (e.g. bread) could be brought (sometimes) on the normal market additionally to the rations, others coulden't be.
There were rations for clothing and soap too.

Regards
Mark

Thats almost all in 1939 though when they were in good shape!

Vikki · Post by **Vikki** » 18 Jan 2004 04:27

Yes, and especially toward the end of the war, even if Germans had the correct amount of ration coupons and stood on line for hours, there was often nothing left by the time they got to the head of the line. (There was often not enough supplied to the shops to begin with to meet even the rationed quantities.)

Vikki · Post by **Vikki** » 18 Jan 2004 06:03

The question of early/late war rations made me curious. The latest ration card I have for adults is for 5 March thru 1 April 1945. Some of the coupons it has for the month are: 6700 g of bread or 4875 g flour (most of the individual coupons are for 500 g bread or 375 g flour), 875 g sugar, 750 g marmelade, 60 g cheese, 100 g Butter-schmalz, 200 g pork or 150 g Fleischschmalz, AND.....125 g "Kaffee-Ersatz" (Ugh!).

A rather significant difference in the weekly rations from the beginning to the end of the war---even if they could purchase what they had coupons for.

R-Bob The Great! · Post by **R-Bob The Great!** » 19 Jan 2004 02:49

Wasnt rationing not implemented until later in the war (1940), or at least for children.

RACPISA · Post by **RACPISA** » 20 Jan 2004 03:09

Prit wrote: Non-Aryan 'subhumans' (as far as I can see, everyone else): 184

Whoa, that is totally @$# nuts.
Who was that for, the people in the Ghettos?

Prit · Post by **Prit** » 20 Jan 2004 07:37

Racpisa,

'Whoa, that is totally @$# nuts.'

Quite.

'Who was that for, the people in the Ghettos?'

I assume so, but the definition would have covered, for example, most of the population of Poland.

Whilst many people did starve, others clearly didn't - even in the Warsaw ghetto, it was possible for the wealthy to live fairly well, right up to the ghetto rising. There was therefore clearly a huge difference between official rations and what people actually ate. Less than 200 calories a day? An adult would survive maybe a month on that before succumbing.

Prit

rh_LiteVixeN · Post by **rh_LiteVixeN** » 21 Jan 2004 21:41

Did the rich have to live off rations or no, Just wondering.

alsaco · Post by **alsaco** » 21 Jan 2004 23:59

Remember that the theorical rations did not reflect a real situation.

First all people having links with countryside peasants did try to obtain help this way. And countryside people did eat what they produced;

Rations were a maximum delivered, essentially in towns. But lot of food was also distributed directly in canteens and schools. Moreover numerous evacuations had reduced the number of the urban population

So long the plundering of France, Belgium, Italy agriculture, and the seizure of all production in Poland, Ukrainia and Russia was possible, until 1944, with the help of imports from Spain, Germany had still ressources to distribute. The situation went difficult only after September 1944.

There was also a large black market, inside the Party, and from sending received from the soldiers in the West;

However, the point remains to be studied. There are some sources on the situation in France, mainly by Alfred Sauvy. But the situation in Italy, Belgium, Russia, Poland remains unknown.
The worst happened in Holland, winter 1944 and spring 1945. I have seen some references to books on the subject, but not translated generally.