Food in wartime Poland.

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WAR TIME POLAND.

Eating is very much a part of the Polish culture.  Before
WW II, though a poor country by the standarts of Western
Europe, it differed from those countries because hunger
and starvation were virtually unknown.   A predominantly
agricultural country,  with mostly very small family owned
holdings,  whilst very poor the peasants at least had
enough to eat.  The diet was mostly potato based,  with
meat consumed at holiday time only.  These same peasants
took their produce for sale to the nearest market where
the town and city dwellers made their purchases.  It was
only the large estates owned by the wealthy whose produce
was transported a long way to specialist processors and
shops.  Food was a very cheap commodity compared to
manufactured goods.

In the Cities meat, especially pork was consumed in very
large quantities, both cooked at home and also made up in
various and extremely appetising hams and sausages.
As the German occupation started,  they decided to use
Poland to feed their army and the population of Germany.
Every farm had to fulfill a quota which the Germans
collected,  the farmer was only allowed to keep the left
overs. In the towns a very strict rationing system was
instituted,  these rations were minimal.  Bread was of
appalling quality, frequently tasting more of clay than
flour.  Jam was beetroot based,  there was a type of
margarine which was almost unedible.  Tea was herbal and
coffee made from acorns.  All meat was rationed and even
potatoes were frequently scarce.

Luckily Poles hate authority of any kind and the
institution of the street market survived all German
efforts to kill them off.   The farmers faced severe
punishment,  beatings,  fines,  imprisonment, sometimes
even death,  yet they faced most uncomfortable journeys and
kept the markets supplied with food.   This was not
patriotism,  the profits were so high that they considered
the risks worth taking,  and as a result the townies,  if
they had the money,  eat reasonably well and even the
poorer ones could at least survive.  At least the cost did
make people eat less meat and more vegetables,  making for
a healthier diet.

As the war went on this black market became better
organised,  but the quotas demanded by the Germans became
higher and higher, food scarcer and too expensive for most,
starvation begun to stare most people in the face. The
children growing up during that time,  myself included,
bear the effects of this.

This is to an extent the opposite to the effect of
rationing in Great Britain.   There the rations provided
the population with a basic but balanced diet and produced
a healthier population,  but then it was produced for the
benefit of the population,  wheraes the rationing in Poland
was produced for the benefit of the Germans,  the Poles
were used simply as "beasts of burden".


----------------
Dr Jan Mokrzycki
j.mokrzycki@warwick.ac.uk
Vice Chairman
Federation of Poles in Great Britain

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