ISLANDERS SUFFER

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 50, 28 February 1945, Page 8

ISLANDERS SUFFER

JERSEY UNDER GERMAN OCCUPATION

A letter which was brought away by some young men who escaped from the German-occupied Channel island ©!■ Jersey has reached the New Zealand: brother of the-woman who wrote it. The letter is the first he has received since 1940, when the Germans occupied the island, and it gives an excellent account of some of the effects of the occupation. It was written on November 4 last. "Mytthoughts are often with you .and I long-for freedom so as to have news," says the writer. "In spite of kiri; am keeping very well, and thanks to good, friends I have so far never needed, the essentials., The first year of the occupation 1 spent with friends, ahd; since September 4, when gas was completely cut off, I am with them again. We still have electric light for a few hours. There is very little oil v in the island so we may be cut off that, too, shortly. There is no coal and . soon there will be no trees left. Many people are without heat in their homes. "Meals are sent to be cooked in bakehouses which have been opened in different, parts. Some have a mile to go to; the' nearest, so dinners cannot be very : warm when: they get them. There: are, of course, people who are profiting by this occupation to make money.', But their time is coming, and some, I am sure, already quake. These last few weeks some shops and houses have been tarred. EMPTY SHOPS. "As.ah island we were very well stockedt -but very soon 'after We. pccupatioij 6hops were emptied and goods ,_ent away. The occupiers fed wftile the7 inhabitants were strictly rationed. Shops have, been empty for a long time and .only second-hand things are to be procured. Not a pin is to be had. There is now no leather, and clogs are the fashion for rich and poor. .■/■-. "Our. weekly rations are 61b of bread for .mien arid.4lb for women; '3bz of " sugar; Xhow'^r-duced to '2b?:;: (joz of breakfast meal. It is better not to ask what it is, but it makes a kind of porridge. The meat ration is 4oz, including, bone, once a fortnight. We have no salt, but once a month we get 2oz of7 cement-like paste over which we pour a pint* of water. OCEAN WATER SOLD. "After boiling and straining we get about two tablespoons of dirty-looking salt, ■ Those who live near enough to the coast get sea water anc cook.with that, but all the bays are 'not open to the.public. So carts go round selling it at one penny a quart—fancy the ocean being sold.

"We have not nad tea for three years, but we occasionally get half a pound of coffee made from acorns and barley. Once a fortnight so far we have had 6oz of macaroni of a kind. "We also get 2oz of butter weekly, but we have never had any kind of fat. I

think we have had fat about six times during the four and a half years of occupation. We also get 51b of potatoes a week, when they are available. We get half a pint of milk daily. Our medical officer of health has fought hard for us to have it. We were expected to have skim milk.

' "There is only one taxi and you have to get a doctor's certificate if you wish to have it. Doctors have to share cars and have also either to walk or use a cycle. There are very few b-.tses and they have been converted to charcoalburners. At one time the telephone service was cut off, but we have it again. *

"Friends and relations cannot visit one another and we do not know what happens in other parts of the island. We . have a sheet of newspaper five times a week,, but it contains no local hews of interest and the war news as printed is just the opposite of what.is happening. No wireless sets are allowed. They all had to be given in two years ago. Anyone found with one has to go to prison. PRISON QUEUES. "This is so full that there is always a number of people waiting to go in. There are queues of all kinds, but I think-this one is really funny. People are warned that they have to go to prison on a certain date and they find their own way there. "Our medical supplies are now practically exhausted, but our occupiers say they will not give in until all food has been consumed. No potatoes or grain are to. be planted this year so they can be eaten instead.' Then they say not until all seed potatoes and cows are gone will they give in. Very many who have no friends in the country are suffering from hunger, for the rations are just enough to keep life going.

"We all hoped there would have been a collapse before ' this, which would have meant freedom for us. We are now very strongly fortified. Houses have had to disappear and many fields are ruined. When we look at France and think that they are free it. makes us very envious, but we cheer up and try to think that our own turn is drawing on. Churches carry on and have not been tampered with."

The writer also speaks of the prices for certain foods which are obtainable on the "black market." Tea is £1 an oz; butter, 30s to £2 per lb; pork, £1 per lb; eggs, 25s a dozen, sometimes more; r_bbits, 30s to £2 each; turkeys, at Christmas, 1943, £15 to ,£2O each. She also says the people make tea from sugar beet, beet-root, bramble leaves, black currant leaves.