Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - The German Problem
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as I can understand, indicative of the attitude and
way of thinking of the average German.
During this trip through Germany, in the autumn
of 1947, everything seemed, superficially at least,
very familiar. The Fourth Reich was still a country
where city streets were totally dominated by ruins;
Where shops were open again but with little of value
to sell; where black market dealings were one of the .
most important ways of making a living and
cigarettes one of the most important items of exchange.
The street cars are functioning again in the Fourth
Reich, but they usually lack window panes. They look
ghostlike, with their windows covered with tar paper
or wooden boards. Local trains leave the railway
stations, and it is not difficult to buy a ticket, but
the trains are overcrowded with people who, day after
day, go out into the country to make the rounds of
the farms in order to pick up a potato here and a
carrot there.
Superficially, all was about the same. But the
atmosphere had changed notably. As I was soon able
to see, economic conditions had deteriorated still
further. The western Allies had evidently completely
failed in their efforts to improve the standard of
living in their zones. The English acknowledged this.
The Germans commented on it in bitter and accusing
tones. The sometimes quite open criticism of the
Allied authorities underlined the new element which
had come into the picture. The criticism sprang from
the graver economic conditions. It was also connected
with the increasing tension between the occupation
powers, between East and West, and with the
important fact that the civil administration of the British
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