NO HUNGER IN BERLIN

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 69, Issue 76, 10 January 1949, Page 4

NO HUNGER IN BERLIN

BERLIN. There is no real hunger under the airlift. Berliners after being fed from the air for six months have ample rations and a new variety in their food, for instance, Mr and Mrs Fritz Haacke and their son and daughter, a typical Berlin working class family, for a recent dinner had soup thickened with flour, sliced carrots, mashed potatoes, a tin of margarine, two slices of bread each and ersatz coffee. The Haacke family earn about £7 10s a week.

The Haacke family’s airlift rations include “luxuries” like dried egg milk powder, frozen fish, tinned beef, dehydrated potatoes and cost about eleven shillings sterling weekly. After rent, fuel and other expenses have been paid, the Haackes have about £1 15s to spend on the black market. They generally buy a pound of butter or two pounds of meat with it. Although they claim they don’t get enough food, Berliners are enthusiastic about the airlift, says Mrs Haacke, “I can keep my family from feeling too hungry. For lunch on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays there are four ounces of meat each, potatoes, peas and carrots—but no desert.” —> (From British United Press).