Rations to civilians
- hauptmannn
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Rations to civilians
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?
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?
- hauptmannn
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- Location: France
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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
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
- JonMichael
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- Location: USA
Thats almost all in 1939 though when they were in good shape!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
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.)
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.
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!
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- Location: Canada
Racpisa,
'Whoa, that is totally @$# nuts.'
Quite.
'Who was that for, the people in the Ghettos?'
I assume so, but the definition would have covered, for example, most of the population of Poland.
Whilst many people did starve, others clearly didn't - even in the Warsaw ghetto, it was possible for the wealthy to live fairly well, right up to the ghetto rising. There was therefore clearly a huge difference between official rations and what people actually ate. Less than 200 calories a day? An adult would survive maybe a month on that before succumbing.
Prit
'Whoa, that is totally @$# 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
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- Joined: 16 Sep 2003, 22:51
- Location: UK
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.
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.