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German History in Documents and Images
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"Gifts of Love": Pharmaceutical Donations for Troops at War (1914)
To finance the war, the German army needed the support of the citizens at home. Private businesses were quick to exploit this dynamic. The advertisement pictured calls on citizens at home to buy a special “care package” [Feldbrief] that would provide soldiers in the field with a personal stock of medicines. The company Amol, which sponsored this program, was a manufacturer of pharmaceutical ointments and creams. The advertisement reads:

“Amol in wartime. Amol the liniment. “Care packages” enclose the invaluable little something that will comfort and uplift the soldier's brave heart, connecting him in the midst of the hardships of war to his fiercely beloved Heimat and to those dearest to him! Every contributor, even of the smallest donation, partakes of this inner gratitude, of this heartfelt joy. Everyone who has stayed behind should make those dearest to them who have gone off to war happy by sending them care packages often. An Amol package contains a very good field-medicine kit and costs, according to selection, 1.45 Marks and 1.60 Marks. Available at apothecaries and drug stores. In the event that this Amol care package is not in stock, the Amol Shipping Department of Vollrath Wasmuth, Hamburg 40 will undertake shipment for the value in stamps plus 10 Pfennigs (pennies).”