Diary of Annie's War

by Annie Droege

  It is surprising how many women are doing the work in these country stations. There is not a man to be seen on the stations or on the post or trams.

  Saturday 18th November.

  We have news today of the flyer over Munich and his dropping of three bombs. But there were no casualties. Also of the accident to the Deutschland, but it is not serious.

  Rosie v.d. Busch has come for a few days and I am so glad to see her as she is so very chatty and friendly. She told me of Joedecke in our village who would not send any more potatoes to the government than he thought fit. He kept all that he thought he required. One day six soldiers came and broke into his potato cellar (it was locked) and weighed out his quantity of potatoes. They left him one-and-a-half per day per person until next harvest and took all the remainder. They then sent him a bill for the work he had caused them. There is a way of making you do things here. He cannot work with that allowance of potatoes until next July because farmers eat at least three pounds a day.

  Many more soldiers are called up and in one class at Josephenun School only two scholars are left as all the others were over eighteen years and have gone to the military.

  Wednesday 22nd November.

  Got a letter from Arthur today in which he says that it is not at all certain that Mrs. Ferguson travels on the 6th. If that is so I shall not go because I feel that I cannot make the journey alone. Perhaps she will travel in January.

  Arthur writes me that he has had a letter from Ettie and she says that Bob must go to the military in December and she wishes that I was there. So do I. If only I could get over to help them all in this dreadful time.

  Tomorrow is general holiday here for the Catholics as it is St. Elizabeth’s feast and for the Protestants a day of penance so we keep it as a Sunday.

  I got some honey today at four shillings a pound and was glad to get it. It takes the place of sugar.

  Friday 24th November.

  No further news of my journey so I think it very improbable that I travel to England on the 6th.

  I think so much of father, Winnie and Ettie and wish I was able to help them.

  We have had further advice from a friend in a good position and he strongly advises me to remain here. He says that Hildesheim is much better than a Zeebruggen prison and that a ship with passengers from Holland to England had been taken there. If only one knew what to do for the best.

  We are told now that the eating places for the poor (like our soup kitchens) are to be two days a week without food. It means that the people cannot buy any portion with potatoes in it for two days each week. They must eat barley cooked with apples or plums. These kitchens are a fine institution for the poor. You can eat there (must take your own spoon) or buy it in a dish and eat it at home. Many people send their servants to buy one for fifty pfennigs (sixpence) and all the family eat the same. It is all cooked together like a thin potato hash. Sometimes it is potatoes and cabbage and other times it is potatoes and carrots or swedes. Twice a week there is a little meat in and on Friday it is fish. You get so many potatoes and half a herring or a few mussels cooked with the potatoes. These kitchens have of course been provided for the winter with vegetables and, as many houses are without, the people must all buy their food there. The food is cooked and served by ladies or women who give their time for nothing. Each person takes their own spoon and meals are served from half past eleven to half past two, and from six to eight o’clock. All is in a thin soup and no knifes and forks are required.

  There is talk of instituting a better class of place so that the better class people can go and eat. They will pay a little more for their food and then the profits will go to the kitchen.

  We read about the death of the Emperor of Austria and wonder if it will alter the war at all.

  From here many journeymen were sent away this week and all were eighteen-years-old. In the better schools the entire top classes fail pupils.

  In the November muster of military over six hundred were sent from the young scouts of this town. They seemed only children when gathered together at the station. So many mothers are so sad with the children being taken straight from school and to the shooting graves.

  Rosie has returned to Celle but she comes again in a couple of weeks to spend Christmas with us. Of course she must bring all her food with her, potatoes, sugar, jams and her bread and meat cards. She writes us this morning that the town of Celle is in darkness at eight o’clock each evening and that the gas goes out in each house at the same time (nine o’clock on Saturdays). It is to save gas and coal. Here it is one hour later. The houses with electric light are better off though we are all advised to go to bed earlier and save light to help the Fatherland.

  Thursday 7th December.

  I had hoped this time last month that I was on my way home but it’s not to be. I go next week to visit Arthur and hope that I find him well again.

  Yesterday we got new orders (the outlanders) and if we are found in the streets after eight o’clock at night or before seven in the morning without written permission from the police we can be put in prison. We must all be in our houses at that time so my two nights a week at Frau Voight’s is at an end. She cannot leave Thea and visit me. I used to take my sewing and sit with her from eight o’clock to ten o’clock so now it is goodbye to all that.

  We celebrate tonight the fall of Bucharest. The poor Romanians are completely beaten and all our flags are flying and the bells are ringing. How do those people feel who are terribly so beaten? It must be awful.

  They tell us here that it is a wonderful gain of food stuffs and oil so perhaps we will get a little extra. I ordered a gill of oil yesterday for twelve shillings a gill. A goose now costs six shillings a pound so one of twelve pounds costs three pounds twelve shillings. The rich people pay it.

  Well, if Romania is such a gain as they say we can hope to have more flour, potatoes and meat and not the everlasting swedes.

  Hermenia was here yesterday and bought one pound of wool at twenty-six shillings per pound and gets four pairs of stockings. And she has to knit them herself. I thought it was awful when I must pay twenty-five shillings and sixpence a yard for a dress that used to cost seven shillings but the price of this wool is much more out of proportion. It used to be three shillings and sixpence per pound and the shop man said it will be thirty shillings next month.

  This new civil service comes at once into force - men from seventeen to sixty and women from seventeen to fifty. They have built a quantity of new ammunition works in the centre of Holland and now want workers for them. I as an Englander do not count.

  Saturday 9th December.

  Not any further news of the gains we are to get from Romania but it is a fine thing for Germany.

  All plain chocolate is now confiscated and so it is goodbye to any extra for Christmas. The last cost nine shillings a pound. I bought today a little for Christmas – wine etc. and the prices are enough to stagger one. Almonds are eight shillings a pound and used to be one shilling and three pence, brandy is twenty-one shillings and cheap port wine (Tarragona) that used to be a shilling a quart is now three shillings and sixpence for a three gill bottle. No more bread than half-a-pound per day is to be fixed for Christmas, and no more than one pound of potatoes. We hope for more than a quarter pound of meat that week because there are three Sundays together. Everything is confiscated. You can buy nothing that is necessary without a note from the government; not even a pocket handkerchief or a pair of gloves. All is under control.

  We are wondering how we shall find it in Berlin. Of course, we shall take some bread, butter and sugar with us.

  A funny thing happened last night. A soldier came here and asked if I had yet gone to England and also if my man was free. He said that a lady had sent him but he did not know her name. He was told to say: ‘A certain lady wished to know it’. It sounds very funny.

  No further news of the exchange and I expect to be in Berlin in a few days.

  Wednesday 13th December.

>   Frau Voight, Thea and I arrived in Berlin. Things have changed since our last visit and it is sad to see the place. Everyone is talking of peace terms but very few are hopeful. They remark that if one only knew the contents of the Kaiser’s note then one could judge. It came as a great surprise, this peace announcement, though many said it is only to keep the people quiet until after the New Year. I think that the scarcity of food has a great deal to do with it. It was very noticeable in Berlin that no potatoes were to be got and women workers were everywhere. They were waiters, drivers, window cleaners, tram conductors, parcel deliverers and navvies, in fact everything. I must say what struck me most was to see women repairing a water burst in the street. They were just like regular navvies pulling up tram lines, laying pipes and digging clay.

  We heard at the Commandant’s that just half an hour before we arrived permission had been granted to the people who only visit once in three months (that is from a distance) that they can visit their husbands in Ruhleben twice in the week. We decided to stay eight days in Berlin and visit our husbands on Friday and Tuesday and then return home on Wednesday the 20th of December. Our men did not know of the extra visit and were delighted. Arthur is in the picture of health thanks to the English food and is very hopeful of the exchange. He strongly urges me to go home in February. I scarcely know what to do as I am so afraid of the journey.

  Arthur tells me that some of the men have taken the disappointment of the exchange very much to heart as they had built themselves up so on being home for Christmas.

  Here one remarks the change of the men very much. The soldiers are either very young or very old. The only fine soldiers one meets are the soldiers who are home on leave.

  We thought to do some Christmas shopping but it was no use. Everything was sold on cards and as we were not residents we had no cards for the Berlin shops. If you buy a costume you have to give up the old one. If you want a pair of shoes you have to give up the old ones. It is impossible to get one article (a pair of gloves etc.) without a ticket saying that you have permission. Each article is booked to you and you may not buy two of anything only fancy work. I mean handwork that you do yourself.

  Hotels must be coining it in as four tablespoons of vegetables costs two shillings and sixpence and beer is nine pence a pint. So we drink wine. It is impossible for things to last another year at this rate.

  Sunday 17th December.

  We went to Wilmersdorf, a suburb of Berlin, to visit Herr Schumacher. He is a brother of Frau Voight, but we got confused in the number so we had to go again on Monday and we had a very nice time there. He is a painter and had been interned for two years. He showed us many sketches of Ruhleben. He has changed his nationality and he intends to make Berlin his home. He is now free but expects to be called up for military duty any day. Everyone tells him he was a fool to come out to the scarcity of food. He confesses that it was better in Ruhleben and says he misses his friends very much and at times feels very lonely.

  We made our second visit to Ruhleben on Tuesday and had a famous cup of coffee and some jam puffs baked by Herr Voight. They were splendid. It is so wonderful what men can do when put to it. He was very proud of them and we encouraged his work by eating them up. We ladies got a fine parcel for which we were very thankful.

  We were glad to return home and now we have seen Ruhleben in summer, autumn and winter and hope it is our last visit. It makes one sad to leave them there and it always makes me think of caged up animals.

  Belle and Rosie met me on my return at the Hildesheim station. Rosie is staying with me until the New Year and I am glad of her company. Frau Voight and her sister Thea are also coming for one evening this feast time.

  Christmas Day.

  We have just finished our dinner and have had such a nice hare. It was a present from a gentleman to me. I have many good friends. We got up early this morning and all went to six o’clock mass at the Dom, received Holy Communion, heard three masses and then returned here for breakfast. We each put our surprises on our chairs under a serviette and were a very merry party of three for a few minutes. It touched me to see how very much Rosie and Belle had thought for me. I had such a number of surprises, useful and ornamental, and among several from Belle was a very nice broach which her husband had brought for her from India. It was a blue and white sapphire set in the form of a fly. It was very kind of her to give it to me and I am very proud of it. I admire stones so much.

  Arthur had written to Belle to get me something for him and she bought me a lovely black Spanish lace shawl or scarf. Rosie gave me, among other things, a very pretty travelling writing case and cushion. Herr Schumacher sent me a fine etching of the Juden Strasse which is a street in Hildesheim. Frau Voight, Fil Schumacher, Hermenia all tried to make my Christmas happy. I have so many kind friends that I can never forget.

  I spent Christmas Eve at the Voights as they had a tree and we tried to make as much of a feast as possible. We could not get any chocolate, or biscuits, and cakes have not been made for some time. We are all forgetting how to eat several things and eggs are never seen. I do not know how the poor manage as here it is dreadful and yet not as bad as in Berlin and the big towns.

  We got no extra meat but we got half-a-pound of flour each to bake with, but no fat. We only get one pound of sugar a month per person now and eat principally swedes. The five pounds of potatoes per two weeks is not enough, but I have more for I get them from the estate.

  I had a letter from Arthur on the 30th and he says that it has been officially announced that the exchange commences in a couple of weeks time. I must send his clothes etc. and get my papers ready to go. I hope that he is right but all my friends say that I am foolish and must stay here. It makes me quite nervous of the journey.

  I shall enquire at the police this week if I must travel when I receive my papers even if Arthur does not leave this month. I would rather meet him in Rotterdam and then travel home together. But perhaps it would be better and safer for us to travel separately for surely a ship which contains exchange prisoners will be certain to reach the English shores safely.

  One dares not think of the shipping accidents which have happened this year.

  I know I am glad to say “goodbye” to 1916 and hope it is not my luck to have such another year of suspense during my life. But one never knows.

  New Year’s Day January 1st 1917.

  Another weary year is at an end and one wonders what the new one will bring to us. Peace does not seem any nearer but one can never tell. It does not do to look back on all the misery one has lived through. There are many more sad homes this Christmas.

  A lady said to me: ‘I am tired of trying to comfort the people and do not wonder when they grumble so’. She is a good soul but her patience is getting to an end. I myself cannot see the people lasting another year on this food supply, but they say: ‘What can we do but sit down to it all?’

  It is the little ones that grieve me. Please God it is the last New Year’s Day that dawns with such misery in the world.

  Sunday 7th January.

  Today is Belle’s birthday so we made a feast day of it. She had a lot of callers and we had plum pudding for dinner. We then drank champagne and tried to cheat ourselves into thoughts of peace.

  The Kaiser’s note addressed to the soldiers was published yesterday. He says he has offered the hand of peace, but England and her allies refused to accept it. So now it is to be war to the knife.

  One dreads the coming year with this awful hate between nations.

  We have not heard anything from Arthur since 30th December so I do not know if he has received any more news of his exchange.

  We hear that we are to have only half-a-pound of potatoes per day per person commencing on January 5th and that is dreadful when one thinks that there is no more bread given than half-a-pound per day. No-one can live on half-a-pound of bread and half-a-pound of potatoes per day. We have only one quarter of sausage and one quarter of meat with bone per week and now we are to hav
e only three-quarters of sugar per person per month. We get two ounces of tea and coffee at stated times. The last was at Christmas and it was two months since the last sale. Toilet soap is not to be had at all and a very dreadful scouring soap is three shillings and sixpence a pound.

  Tuesday 9th January.

  I have written up to Berlin today for my permission to travel to England. One does not know which way to turn for advice and everyone tells me to stay here - at least my life is safe. Arthur says I must go at once on February 6th.

  Well, I am getting ready. I have sent him some things to pack and he says he can send them in a case. I hope so. I have plenty of luggage but only clothes are allowed. Arthur’s gold watch I also sent today.

  I took some shoes to be repaired for him but it is impossible to get them done. First the leather fails and then the new shoes are dreadful to obtain. The poor little ones, their feet are in such a sad way what with stockings and shoes failing. If I was a poor mother here I think I should go mad. It’s just the same with the food. Everywhere you go the people are talking about food. In the trams, in the trains, in the shops the only thing you hear is: ‘We have had no butter in our house for three days’.

  ‘We are quite without bread and I do not know where to buy anything for a substitute’.

  ‘If only I had twenty pounds of potatoes. It does not matter what it costs’.

  ‘What are you having in your house for dinner?’