The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1947-12-01

Dullt before the war, 1eW IN
the interval between the first
war" and World War II. Others
are now under construction in
various parts of Helsinki's out
skirts. But city housing has been
delayed on account of high
building costs, plus the fact that
almost total destruction of north
ern Finland by the departing
Germans has demanded that pri-
GRITTY be given that area. "We
in Helsinki," one newspaperwom-
an told me-" can get along some
how. But in Lapland, new con-
struction is absolutely imperative
for the Germans destroyed over
70 percent of existing buildings"
One grim, gray morning I Wis
tied a bomb shelter, temporary
home for some 35 childless cou-
Piles (no others are permitted in
these quarters), a veritable city
cut into the solid rock in one of
Helsinki's many stone hillsides.
Built between the wars" as an
air raid shelter and hospital far
below the surface Of the earth,
and protected by a huge thick
ness of rock above, this series of
tunnels is equipped with central
steam heat, forced ventilation.
electricity and running water. 1t
has been re-partitioned now, inio
tin yrooms, large enough only for
a small bed and a few pieces of
furniture. There is a cOmmun-
ity kitchen, and community
bath. 1t was so clean throughout
that the floors, walls and ceilings
fairly shone. But sometimes, the
Finnish relief executive told me.
when the heavy rains come, the
pumps don't work properly, and
the place is flooded.
A few hours later we visited a
typical workers apartment. Fa-
Their, mother and eight children
live here in two rooms plus Il
kitchen. The building is in a.
bad state of repair, the paint
chipping off the doors, and the
entire apartment was dirty and
in a bad state of repair. The
mother, a woman of about 35
years, appeared rather sullen,
tired, respondent. Her husband
earns about 10000 marks per,
month in state metal factory, ,
and the rent is 2,400. Then there
is the food to buy for 10 hungry
people, and food-although there
is plenty in the stores-is eX-
tremely expensive. So the moth
er takes cleaning jobs at night,
to stretch the family income.
Another apartment was Co,
operative housing development
built some years before the war,
in which the occupants own
their quarters, paying only a,
small sum per month for main
tenance. Here again, father and
mother and eight children, in
two and one-half rooms, plus the
kitchen. The husband had pur-
chased the place before the war
for $4,000 marks, on which he !
still owes $4,000. The same apart
ment today would sell for 300
000-so he considers himself |
lucky. His monthly maintenance!
fee is 900 marks, and the home
fairly shines in its cleanliness.
The family smiles, the. children
are clean and neatly dressed. But |
there is still the question of how
to live on 10000 marks per
A middle class husband and +,
wife occupy two large rooms
one used for living room and di-
nette, the other a bedroom-and !,
kitchen, plus a small bath, in d
modern, recently built apartment
block. The rent for these quar-
tiers is about 5000 marks per
They have five-month-
old baby and are expecting an
other in April, but they cannot
get a maid, because there is no
room. If they should be so fort
innate a sto obtain larger quar-
tiers, they would be forced to take
in another person, probably a
stranger, assigned to live with
them by the state.
When I got aboard the Ameri-
can Airlines plane at Stockholm,
l was the only American on the
passenger list. But-Small world
that it is-across the aisle from
me sat an Englishman, and his
name was Smith. The steWardess
was Swedish girl, who spoke |
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