Evening star., 1941-11-10
German Advertisements Reflect Wars Woe
Daily Shortages and Household Crises Share Space
With Grim Appeals for Nurses and With Death Notices
BY EDWIN A. SHANKE,

BY EDWIN A. SHANKE,
The Special News Service.
BERLIN.-Leafingt through the ad-
vertisement pages of German news
papers is much the same as having
the average German sit across a
beer table from you pouring out his
troubles in this third year of war.
The advertisements interspersed
with public notices give revealing
picture of daily limitations, problems,
headaches and sorrows.
This is cross-section OF the
average Germans wartime life
drawn from the press advertising:
Uppermost in every housewives
mind is how to get the most out of
the iron-bound food and clothing
ration cards which enable consumers
only to get by"
Egg Substitutes Advertised.
An official notice tells them that
during the next four weeks each
| adult will be entitled to only two
eggs. But in the next column there
is plug for substitute egg product,
milei, which says;
The cow lengthens the egg card.
The COW gives wonderful, fresh milk.
From this source the strength of
milei is won. Milei is used in place
of hen eggs. 1t can be used for
cooking, roasting, baking. 1t
thickens soup and sauces, it makes
cakes and pastries spongy, it dresses
fish
Meat cards can be extended, too,
because the butchers of horse meat
offer twice the quantity printed on
the tickets
Attention." another advertise
ment reads. I'm order to supply my
customers with meat and sausage I
request offers of horses and colts for
slaughtering. I pay up to Is pfennigs
on the hoOf for horses for butcher
ing. In cases of exceptional quality
pay up to 80 pfennigs on the hoof
and even higher prices Please
notify my nearest shop, either by
telephone or letter.
Accident Service Too.
I'm accident cases, the speediest,
most accommodating service: horse
butcher, Willy WeSendrup, Dort-
mund, Hoerde, Hamm, Cappel near
Lippstadt and Lyck, East Prussia"
And If the housewife complains
to the baker about the soggy, yel-
loWlsh, hard-to-digest wheat bread,
the baker can point to the daily
advertisement: Stay healthy by
eating whole meal bread. 1t is made
out of washed, shelled grain. Easily
digestible."
New clothing cards just issued
permit German to buy only half
the amount he did last year. Suits
and coats and such articles eat up
the major share of the card. After
two years, the war reserves in
household closets have dwindled,
and suits and dresses show wear.
Permits to buy shoes and other
leather good meanwhile are as hard
to obtain in Germany as gold. Be-
fore receiving a permit to buy shoes
or bed linens. for example. a Ger
man can count on an official in
specting his household to see
whether he really needs them.
Bartering Is Used.
Advertisements in the press re-
veal that many Germans are find
ing solution-taken over directly
from the Nazi economic system
namely. the barter plan.
Country woman is seeking lined |
leather jacket or fur jacket, size 46; |
brown boots, size 40; material for
dress in exchange for linens"
Another reads: Ladies riding
boots. size 38, sought either by buy
ing or by exchange for new pair of
street shoes"
But clothes and shoes are not
the only articles of which there Is
a shortage, because the whole Nazi
economy is engaged in war produc-
ton. For example, an advertiser
offers to exchange IAN auto radio
for a piano"
Or there is father whose son
has placed an early order with Santa
Claus, hence the notice, Beautiful
rocking horse offered in exchange
for toy train
Champagne Containers Needed.
Others show that a champagne
firm is looking for bottles, corks and
cartons. Another business house
needs metal tubs even if they al
ready are stamped and labeled as
an article no longer in production.
The war has brought new cop-
struction to a standstill. An acute
housing shortage has developed. A
growing family is willing ito ex-
change three-room home, rent 81
marks, for five-room house, maxi
mum rent 80 marks" Another Is
willing to trade a home in Magde-
burg for one in Berlin. Unable to
find a dwelling for its increased
staff, a Berlin firm seeks used
barracks in order to house Is to 80
men"
Air raids bring add to the war
tone of the advertising. Every Ger
man is interested in making him.
self as comfortable as possible dur
ing long winter night alarms. Hence
one firm offers "collapsible hard
wood single and double beds and
benches for air raid protection
rooms"
Another offers straw mattresses
and pollows. Or, 1--WE black you out.
Blackout material out of cloth