Documents - Scarcity and Moral Uncertainty in Occupied Germany

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1.	Report by the American Secret Service about the Attitudes of the German Population in the American Occupation Zone (August 12, 1945) A few weeks after the end of the war, an opinion poll in the American occupation zone revealed the aftereffects of the politics and propaganda of the Nazi regime. The Germans were weary of politics....
2.	German Bishops at Fulda – Pastoral Letter by the Conference of Catholic Bishops (August 23, 1945) During the Third Reich, anti-church propaganda, the closing of Catholic schools, and the dissolution of Catholic youth organizations put the Catholic Church under great pressure. After the war, the....
3.	Statement by the Council of the Protestant Church in Germany to the Representatives of the Ecumenical Council of Churches (October 19, 1945) During the Third Reich, the “German Christians” within the Protestant Church had actively supported....
4.	Isaac Deutscher, "East of the Elbe" (October 27, 1945) At the end of World War II, Germans were more afraid of being captured or occupied by the Russians than by the Western Allies. About six months into the Red Army’s occupation and administration of....
5.	The Central Office of the Protestant Train Station Mission: Progress Report (1945/46) The Christian churches played an important role in the devastated society of the immediate postwar period. In the war’s aftermath, enormous crowds of people – evacuated civilians, returning soldiers,....
6.	Confiscation of Living Space by the British Occupying Power (1947) In the face of supply difficulties and a dramatic housing shortage, the confiscation of living space, goods, and services by the Allied military governments was a source of conflict. In the heavily....
7.	The Health Office of the City of Düsseldorf on General Health Conditions (1946) The harsh living conditions in the postwar period, especially in large German cities, had very negative effects on the health of the population. The diet of infants and children was terrible across....
8.	The Economic State of Families, Examples from Berlin (1946/47) Berlin was a prime example of the poor economic state of the Germans in the winter of 1946/47. Only half of the families surveyed had an income from work that allowed them to procure at least the....
9.	From the City of Aachen’s Social Report on Family Housing (1947) Concrete examples from the West German city of Aachen attest to the catastrophic living conditions that still prevailed even two years after the end of the war. Apartment buildings were dilapidated,....
10.	Wartime Destruction in German Cities (Graphic Map from 1947) At the end of the war, a great many German cities were in ruins from Allied bombing raids and ground fighting. The destruction and housing loss were especially severe in West Germany’s industrial....
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