Evening star., 1941-01-26
Prague Citizens Find
Food More Plentiful
Than in Berlin
Cafes Serving Turkey,
Goose and Chicken;
Meat Cards Go Farther
Rv DAVID NJ. NICHOL.

by DANlD vi. NlSnOL,
chieaeo Daily News Foreign Correspondent.
PRAGUE, Jan. q Delayed Two
brief days anywhere are not suf-
ficient to learn what people thinks
and feels. but two days in Prague
provide some interesting pictures, at
least of life under the German pro-
tectorate in the former Republic of
Czecho-Slovakia.
Ones first impression is that the
citizenry eats more and better than
in Berlin, for example. 1t is not
true of some of the other occupied
areas, and it may be only temporary
here. but Prague's restaurants are
serving turkey. goose and chicken,
unrationed items which seldom can
be found in Berlin and which this
region formerly supplied in quanti-
ties to England, while 100 grams of
meat cards seem to 60 much farther.
There are vegetables in greater
variety and sizable portions of
cheese for which one need surren-
der no ration tickets, although
cheese is closely controlled in Ger
many. And the giddy feeling that
comes from buying a box of choc-
olates even if the bottom layer is
filled with paper, or a pound of gor-
gonzola without waiting in line, pro-
ducing permissions and pickering
with shopkeeperS, must be expert
enced to be understood.
Shortage of Butter.
The most pronounced shortage is
butter. With ration tickets it is
possible always to get fats in Berlin,
but almost no restaurant in Prague
has butter. Textiles of all kinds also
are carefully rationed.
AS elsewhere under rationing sys-
tens, the value of money as such
has been almost destroyed. The
new order" has provided work. even
In the armed forces, or in industry
and agriculture, for almost every
person in Europe in the tremendous
effort to make the continent self
sufficient and to supply the armies.
Prices and amounts of rationed
items are rigidly fixed and limited.
No price, then, seems too fantastic
for what unrationed items can be
found.
In Germany control is exercised
also in this field. but so far it has
not been fully extended here. 1t
has presented the Germans in their
administration of the protectorate
with an awkward dilemma: How to
prevent the upward spiraling of
prices and the growth of illegal,
or "speakeaSy,' trading without ap-
plying ironbound regulations with
the risk of stirring up the volatile
Czech populace. In the right
places whole turkeys may be pur-
chased for the reichsmark equiva-
lent Of about ST pound
Streets Are Crowded.
Externally, by daylight al least,
Prague is much as it always was.
The streets are crowded: policemen
wear their peculiar white sleeves:
stores do big business in the items
that are available. The citizens
reverently lift their heads as they
pass the red marble Tomb of the
Unknown Soldier by the ancient
City Hall and the castle cathedral
tower on the heights across the
river. German uniforms-fewer than
might be expected, although the
region is heavily garrisoned-are
the principal apparent difference.
Occasional Czech uniforms also may
be seen, for there is still Czech
army of 5000 men.
BY night Prague is blacker and
eayer than Berlin. The city so
far has not been raided, but the
blackout seems to be peculiarly
effective. Night clubs, most of
which are in great underground
halls. are crowded with CzechS and
Germans, although in some at
least. Germans are not permitted
in uniform. In place of Berlin's
! o'clock hour, it is a IN. here. and
at that time the Wenzelplatz still
has many persons. Masters of cere-
monies speak German and are fol-
lowed by Czech announcers.
The occasion for the visit of
party of correspondents was a
speech by Dr. Otto Dietrich, Reich
press chief, before the branch of
the German Academy here and a
reception by the Reichsprotektor,
Baron Constantin Won Neurath, in
the Chiernin Castle. which is the
headquarters for the German ad-
miniStration of the region. DR.
Dietrich. speaking on The Spirit
ual Background of the new Eu-
rope" referred at length to the
German concept of liberty. - -
Concept of Liberty.
Liberty, he said, springs, not from
the individual, but from the COM
munity, and any other basis is
without reality. The French revo-
luton, he declared, "chokes free
dom in the licentiousness of indi-
vidualism."
The freedom and sovereignty of
nations are outWardly restricted, he
declared, by territorial factors and
'healthy organic principles Of
order" While the restraints may
be necessary, he said, National
Socialism lis of the opinion that
every nation should live its own
internal life after it's own fashion"
There has been an obvious effort
on the part of the Germans since
they established the protectorate to
avoid subsequent incidents and
provocations. Not all the intense
" nationalistic Czechs by any
means, however, are convinced pro-
ponents of the European new order
as it has so far been applied to
them. There is distinct chill in
the atmosphere in many OF the
smaller shops when one speaks
German, and in one place pro-
spective customers were told po-
iitely that "everything is for chill
dren, only for children"
ccopyrisht, 1e41, Chicago Daily News Incl