Evening star., 1946-11-03
Daily Life in Occupied Berlin

cabbage being most often available.
Sometimes he gets meat. In each
period Of 10 days he Is allotted
slightly less than half = pound Of
meat on his ration card. But &C.
tuaHy he gets more than this. for
the fat contained in Kurt and Mari
annes ration is put aside for him.
Max takes nap in the afternoon
while Marianne cleans and dusts
the apartment. Later . neighbor
may drop in for a chat, or Marianne
may take Max with her while she
visits q friend for an hour or 80.
To-Day Meat Ration
Is a Pound and a Half
Kurt comes home q little after 8,
when he and Marianne have their
main meal Of the day-the same
thing Max had at noon, in some
what larger portions. Their meat
allowance for each Today period is
about o pound and . half.
After supper Kurt reads the paper
while Marianne mends, or they sit
and talk or play with Max until
he is put to bed at 8 o'clock. Kurt
and Marianne usually 60 to bed by
80, SO they will be asleep before
they get hungry again.
If this account Of q day in. the
Theurer household seems to dwell
on the subject of food, that
Is because food is unquestionably the
most important thing in the lives
of these people. Itmust be under
stood that the Theurers are envied
by many Berliners because, owing to
his job and her pregnancy, they
both have the heavy laborer's ration
card. emitting them to q humping
2 ,500-odd calories day. She has
had this card only since her sew
enth month-before that she was
on the housewives card. the lowest
adult ration, providing around $500
calories. She will revert to this
ration after her baby is born.
But the familiar statistics involv-
ing calories and weights Of food
obviously do not tell much Of the
story. Kurt eats almost two and q
half pounds of food q day. All but
S ounces Of this, however, Is bread
and potatoes, plus q little bit Of
green vegetable. That 5 ounces in
cludes hts allotment of meat, fat,
sugar and cereals. and he gives the
sugar, fat and cereal to Max. Mari
anne's situation differs from his
only in that she gets, temporarily,
an additional pint Of milk q day.
Marianne used to keep q budget,
but since the end of the war she
has abandoned the practice. ITO
keep a budget" she explains, there
must be a question as to how you
will spend your money" For the
Theurers there Is no problem.
Taxes and compulsory health in
surance already have been deducted
from the 180 marks Kurt brings
home each month. After the rent
has been paid 1877 marks remain.
Gas and electricity for the apart
ment come to about 8 marks-these
services can only be used sparingly
Kurt's transportation to and from
work costs another 40 marks each
month. The daily newspaper ac-
counts for S marks, soap about 3
marks. Roughly. 100 marks remain.
The Theurers spend these on food.
This Is not the kind Of theoretical
division Of expenses, departed from
on special occasions, which an
American family calls its budget,
After meeting what they consider
their essential fixed expenses, the
Theurers eat the rest Of their in
come. If Kurt got q raise tomorrow,
they would eat that, too. The fact
that the newspaper is not regarded
by them as a luxury item becomes
quite clear when one considers some
Of the things not included in their
division Of income.
Clothing, for instance. They have
not bought anything to wear since
the war. They do not plan to. Nor