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German History in Documents and Images
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Blessed New Year: Cover Page of Simplicissimus (January 4, 1958)
After the famine, disease, and hardship of the occupation period, Germans had an enormous, pent-up desire to enjoy life again, especially food and drink. Thanks to improved supplies and living standards in the 1950s, this desire was satisfied within a relatively short time in what appeared to some in the populace as a Freßwelle (wave of gorging). While daily calorie intake often amounted to less than 1,000 per person in 1945/46, it rose dramatically to 3,000 calories per person by 1954/55. Drawing by Manfred Oesterle.