War Diaries (February 7) (nonfiction)
War Diary quotations for February 7.
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Diaries
Petronella Catharina Hauser: February 7, 1945
Even for us, the situation is getting precarious! There are hardly any potatoes anymore, and even the pulses are nearly finished. … Ma is getting thinner and paler by the day. The slices of bread we've been putting off eating are in the bread bin. ... There’s half a loaf for today ... Thursday ... And Friday.
Yesterday, we kept some potatoes aside from the already insufficient afternoon meal. We ate them with a few bits of fried onion mixed in and a cup of soup at five-thirty in the evening, before it got dark. I calculated that each of us could have one more slice of bread. Which we kept until bedtime and had with a cup of ‘tea’, otherwise it would be too long until the next morning! (As if one such a doughy stale slice could keep you going!) We didn’t have anything to top them with, as we had only some cumin cheese left (topping for tomorrow morning). We dunked them in our ‘tea’ and liked it. … !!!!
I have a sore foot: a large blister! Dad can’t get hold of anything anymore; no vegetables, no onions, the potato man isn’t around.
Petronella Catharina Hauser, a 27-year old teacher from Rotterdam, described in her diary how famine affected daily life. During the last winter of the war, the Hunger Winter, as it was known, the Germans blockaded much of the Netherlands, cutting off food and fuel supplies in response to a Dutch rail strike intended to help the Allies.
- Dutch War Diaries @ NY Times
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- Dutch War Diaries @ NY Times