February 6, 1947

I still have not gotten my visa as my quota is oversubscribed. The Department of Commerce has taken us over, and started the Publications Board Microfilm Program. I am now coordinator for metals, minerals, and machinery for the microfilm program.  We work in the three western zones exclusively. I meet the best German scientists, write reports on subjects in my line, and can study this strange life in Europe. I supervise 15 of our screeners, discuss their problems and targets, and visit the targets myself. In addition to writing reports on special aspects of German metallurgical industry or science, we now screen and film all German documents in industrial establishments, universities, research centers, etc. The DOC is publishing a weekly bibliography and anybody in the States or England can order copies of the films on the latest German research in almost an field. You can now read about the latest research on rubber conducted by IG Farben, or order the film on aluminum cladding or on synthetic shoe polish. Krupps latest research on deep drawing steels or low temperature steels is thus made available. (Speaking of Krupps, I heard from my friend that her cousin, Dr Benno Strauss, who was the inventor of Stainless Steel and director of Krupp before the war, died in 1944 in a concentration camp after being denied a visa to the US. )
     I visited hamburg and the Ruhr last week hamburg was bitterly cold. People were skating and bicycling on the frozen lake. People can only heat their dining rooms and their bedrooms are around the freezing point. The condition in The Rhineland is awful. I remember when I read about famine in China and it sounded very sad, but did not affect me too much- it was too far away. That is different now, you see workers at the furnaces who can't carry on after a few hours work.  You speak to a manager of a factory who tells you that he and his family of three had three beet roots for last two days and nothing else. Rooms are without light and heat and the people are without hope.
      Germany is in a rotten position now, particularly the British Zone is on the brink of collapse. There are regulations forbidding all kind of essential production. There is a lack of mining machinery and of skilled miners. Many have been killed and many are POW's in Russia or France. Those who are left have no incentive to work, and not enough food to keep them fit. The machinery is worn out, and replacement can't be made because the machine factories do not produce anything.  There is an influx of refugees from the East. The black market flourishes. One carton of cigarettes sells at 1000 to 1200 marks in the British Zone, at 500 in our zone, where conditions are better and supply is greater. In the British zone, ration cards are often not honored. I do not pity the Germans, but it was bad policy to let things go so far and now one has to start with loans and imports to get the country going. In addition, the presence of a slum in the center of Europe can't be anything but a source for more trouble. So far, Germany has not gone communist because the conditions in the Russian Zone are even worse than in the British. It reminds one of Nazi Germany, people are scared to speak in the train cars, they are taken from their homes and shipped to Russia or lose their jobs because they do not join the party. Our Zone is by far the best run, partly because it was less destroyed and had more agriculture, and partly because the US government realized much earlier than the British that we can control German industry at a top level, but we have not enough good men to spare to run and manage it. The British had too many second and third rate people over here, made them managers of big plants, and they don't know any details of production, but know enough about essentials. The British have lost most of the good will they held a year ago, and the chief problem will exist in a year or two, what kind of philosophy or way of life will the Germans choose. The Russians will certainly try to demonstrate theirs. I personally do not think that free trade and private enterprise will succeed in Germany, if the British have nationalized the coal mines in the Ruhr and the Russians all the industry in their zone. The competition will be between planned democracy, and communism. Democracy does not seem to mean much to the average German as it brought worse living conditions than ever, he thinks.The communists are clever and absolutely unscrupulous. I sometimes wonder whether and when we shall see another war. I don't see how one can cooperate with people who have no moral principles at all.
     I have also recently been to Brussels. It is an amazing place, full of the newest motorcars, light, unrationed food and clothes, oranges and sweets and hundreds of things I have not seen since 1938 can be bought there, rather expensively, but quite unrationed. I was asked to visit an Aluminum foil plant in the French zone, in which  US industry, apparently, is interested and to report on it. But I can hardly imagine that German rolling mills, eight or ten years old, can be very useful for the US Industry.

May 6, 1947

I am still in Germany, which is very much against my liking I applied for a US visa in 1945. Although I am a Czech citizen, but as I was born in Vienna, I have to go to the states on the Austrian quota , which is badly oversubscribed. I was told by my lawyer that there will be no more visas issued before July. I am trying to make the best of it, but I should prefer to be in the States and to get a permanent job.

It is somehow surprising and amazing to watch the speed with which things are done by the US government, being used to European conditions.The work here is coming to an end, more quickly than expected. Many things may have to be left undone, and a fair proportion of all the investigational  and microfilming work will not be utilized, because no time is left to index and process it properly. Very much of good material was and is in the mill just now and can hardly be processed without help of the German scientists in the Document Branch. But the army wants us out of Germany. Gen Clay wanted us out of Germany as the new policy will rebuild Germany and he does not want anybody here who tries to get knowledge or information out of this country. The DOC is trying to get a three month extension, which would be all that is necessary. I sometimes wonder how much benefit will derive to the industry as a whole. My impression is that the dissemination of German reports in the form of microfilm will be a difficult job and would take so long that most industries will not be willing to wait for it. That may be a pity in many cases, as a lot of effort and work has been put into this organization.  I personally would prefer if FIAT could carry on for just that time, but if it doesn't, I shall say thanks for everything I had here and take another job. The Krupps' team of the war crime people want somebody with experience in metals so I may be in Nuremberg next month.

I bought a Volkswagen. Gasoline is furnished by the army, as transportation here is getting worse and worse. Conditions in general are very bad. It is difficult to find a German of the younger generation who would not like to emigrate and leave his country. Germany is too weak now to recover on its own strength alone, particularly if no unity can be reached on any major issues. The credit of the US army is high. This based to fair degree on the PX and not on the belief in democracy. More than 50 % of German youths joined American sponsored youth clubs largely because of additional food, and to a lesser degree because they want to learn English. Everything over here can be bought for a few cigarettes or a pound of coffee, whether a shop keeper, policeman or a pretty girl. Democracy does not mean much the average German. He thinks it brought worse living conditions than ever. Of course he is wrong, it was not democracy, but he himself and Hitler who brought all this about, but people have short memories, and remember that Hitler did much for them and now the communists preach a new millennium and they will fall for it again. It seems that many of the Germans hope for an early clash between East and West, and the country is full of rumors of an oncoming war. The communists are clever and absolutely unscrupulous, more than ever. I wonder whether we shall see another war. I don't see how one can cooperate with people who have no moral principles at all.

June 14, 1947

I have taken a job with the Krupps team at the war crimes trials in Nurnberg. They needed somebody who knows a little about steel. The job is interesting, but would have been thrilling 2 years ago. But now no one cares so much about reading secret letters from Goering to Krupp officials, or on the building of the "Maus", (learn more about "Maus" tank) and on the damage inflicted by Allied air raids, or on the treatment of Eastern laborers, etc. I certainly think these Krupp leaders should hang, but it seems rather difficult to prove their guilt if one sticks to normal standards. Of course they just say that they got their orders from higher up, and so on. I personally am working on the aggressive war team and we have to show that Krupp or Houdremont (manager at Krupps) or others were guilty of preparing and fostering aggressive war. I personally should prefer to do something more positive. I become familiar with US law by meeting lawyers all day long and talking about other problems as well. My immediate boss is a very intelligent woman lawyer. ( Cecelia Goetz - for more about Cecelia Goetz  https://sites.manchester.ac.uk/wilnet/2017/05/15/cecelia-goetz-first-female-prosecutor-nuremberg-trials/  )Four other people and myself spent two weeks in Essen and Herford to check Krupp documents, it was quite strange to re-visit old places.

I would like to go to Vienna, but no permits are issued. the US authorities don't like visitors because billets are scarce and every bit of food has to be shipped for such a long distance. One can go to Salzburg or Innsbruck, and I have applied again. As Vienna was out I went to Prague and Moravska Ostrava last week. ( my note:  Moravska Ostrava is now the third largest city in the Czech Republic and the second largest urban agglomeration after Prague. Located close to the Polish border. Its history and growth have been largely affected by exploitation and further use of the high quality black coal deposits discovered in the locality, giving the town a look of an industrial city and a nickname of the “steel heart of the republic”  during the communist era of Czechoslovakia. Many of the heavy industry companies are being closed down or transformed, yet the city remains one of the most polluted in the EU.)  Prague is as beautiful as ever. The country has recovered to an amazing degree. Food is better than in England, they have a ration card, but in restaurants you pay 25% more and get everything without the cards. I spent an evening with an old friend who is in charge of the office of the World Jewish Congress. Both he and his wife had been in several concentration camps and luckily enough found each other again after everything was over. They, as well as other people I met, do not want to stay. One has a feeling slightly comparable to the one in 1938. Also then Prague was lovely, food plentiful, industry working- but a big shadow of uncertainty loomed over it all. One can talk freely in Prague, as one could in 1938, papers from London and New York are sold in the streets. But the question felt everywhere is how long will it please Stalin to permit all this? When I was in Moravska Ostrava, I visited my cousin Irma. No one from her family survived at all, except her sister, Stella, who is in New York.

I also visited the factory ( Elbertzhagen & Glassner - family steel factory that he managed until 1939, and was confiscated by the Nazis). Mr Bucala, who worked under Wluka in the old days in the accounting office, is now the procurist, and a new man from Witkowitz is the director. The factory has been enlarged very much during the war. Now it is called First Ostrauer Machine Factory, Nationalized Undertaking. Like all the big mills it has been nationalized, and there is not the slightest hope or chance ever to get this factory back. Laws about compensation have not been passed yet, but one may get finally a few thousand Kronen, if one is lucky, and if everything would be slightly less involved than it happens to be, due to the skill of Hugo, Tony, Ludwig and Alfred (his uncles). But the feeling against everything German, and capitalist is very strong, and it is absolutely ridiculous even to consider for a moment to return there, except on holidays to the Tatra ( a mountain range which forms a natural border between Slovakia and Poland, and are the highest mountain range in the Carpathian Mountains ) or Prague. I was not permitted to enter the factory, which made me rather sad, being slightly sentimental. But as the factory is working on government orders they still have got these silly orders, and since they think of me as "American" they were not willing to let me in. I spoke to one of the old bosses, who was very good and nice, but the other people did not like seeing me. They are Czechs, and antisemitism and anti-capitalism is very strong in these nationalized mills. Hatred of the Germans is terribly strong everywhere, much more than in Belgium or France. Ostrau itself is rather poor. There is hardly any damage, but most civilized people have gone. I went to the old cafe and felt glad to get out again. On the other hand, the workers seem to profit under the new system. Everybody agrees that the spirit of the workers is high and their condition is good.  I went to see Dr Kraleczek, who was and is a lawyer, and who looked after my things in 1939. His wife is Jewish, and all her family has been killed.

September 7, 1947

Germany is the poorhouse of Europe. Conditions have not improved much although you can see a fair number of houses repaired, and more goods seem to be available than six months ago. This particularly applies to the Ruhr, where the miners get big extra rations and live comparatively well off now. But otherwise, all incentive for work has gone and people do not care anymore. They cannot buy anything with their marks, earn much more if they spend a day in blackmarketeering than a week at honest work. This lack of incentive applies as much to large industries as to the tram conductor. Taxes are too high and factories lose money because they can never replace goods they have to sell at fixed prices. Germany is heading for a a tough winter. The army of occupation is less popular than ever. One can notice it quite often by the attitude of the Germans who have changed from extreme servility a year ago to an underlying hostility and passive resistance now. It does not seem that the Germans are ready for democracy.

My work here is steady and we have several interesting cases including Krupp, IG Farben, and Einsatzgruppen case .

( my note- SS paramilitary death squads that were responsible for mass killings, typically by shooting. The units targeted Jews in particular, but also significant numbers of other population groups and political categories; including Gypsies, and Soviet political commissars. The Einsatzgruppen operated throughout the territory occupied by the German armed forces following the German invasions of Poland, in September 1939, and later, of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. The Einsatzgruppen carried out operations ranging from the murder of a few people to operations which lasted over two or more days, such as the massacres at Babi Yar (33,771 killed in two days) and Rumbula (25,000 killed in two days). The Einsatzgruppen were responsible for the murders of over 1,100,000 people, and they were the first Nazi organizations to commence mass killing of Jews as an organized policy.)
I occasionally find time to listen in on the other cases for short periods and find it amazing, inspite of everything one knows. Some of the defendants are very interesting people. I listened several times at the IG Farben and SS general trials. It seems incredible how harmless these SS generals appear. One could be an old professor and in fact he killed 150,000 Jews in a few months and has no guilty conscience whatsoever. My work with FIAT brought me in contact with mostly decent Germans, and one tends to forget what happened here for eight years. Nuernberg is a dreary bombed out city and one cannot do much in town.

November 14, 1947

     The Krupp's case will finally start on Monday. The trials show how big business helped Hitler in waging his war, but the average German has the impression that the choosing of just a few industrialists is an injustice or that the whole trial is just a stage show. In Essen, it seemed that everybody there was most antagonistic towards the idea of bringing the Krupp leaders to trial. One hardly has the feeling one is doing anything very useful, whether from a point of justice or of propaganda value.
     Germany is getting rather tense. The friction between East and West can be felt everywhere, and many Germans see their opportunity- particularly in the British Zone. I would not drive alone at night this winter. The hatred against the Allies is increasing and bad policy adds to the prevailing feelings. The Germans hate the Allies. They blame the Allies for all their misery and forget they started, waged and lost a war.  British women have been spit at in shops. I offered a girl at Krupp's, where I worked at Essen, a bar of chocolate, because she had been typing for me all day. She refused to take it as Krupp's employees feel particularly embittered. Democracy cannot be taught amidst hunger and ruins, and I think all such attempts will come to nothing. Money has lost its value and factories as well as private people try to barter goods for goods. Consequently, large stocks of odd material are kept at the wrong places. The cement factory may have traded a few tons of copper sheet for it cement, and has to put the copper in their store room until they can trade it for a small furnace, or food for workers. The Germans complain bitterly about the conditions they are living in, but they hardly ever make any efforts to improve them.
     The political situation seems to be deteriorating. Reports from Eastern Germany are sometimes uncanny. More and more people disappear, everything is much as it was four years ago, except the master have changed. But fear exists more than ever. The country is thoroughly demoralized and there is no ideal to which they may look to. Only the behaviour of the communists in the Russian zone prevents spreading of communism. There, concentration camps exist again, and people do not dare to talk on the streets. US Mil. Gov happened just to catch the few directors of the Askania Works in Berlin producing fuses for the Russians, but they can hardly catch all the Managers in Saxony and further east.(Askania was a manufacturer of aircraft accessories - from Wikipedia " The Askania works had a branch in the Mariendorfer Ringstrasse during the Second World War .  In Mariendorf, Marienfelde and Lichtenrade therefore there were numerous barracks for forced laborers of Askania works. Due to forced labor, the number of employees rose to around 20,000 in 1940. These came from western occupied areas such as Belgium , France and the Netherlands , but also from eastern areas such as Poland and later the Soviet Union, In a major air raid on Berlin by the Allies on August 24, 1943, at least 16 forced laborers from the Soviet Union died in a camp on Ringstrasse.  It is also known that near the end of the war, in 1944 to 1945, children of forced laborers from France and the eastern territories who were in camps of Askania works were starved.  )

December 3,1947

I came back from Vienna yesterday and am very glad that I could go. Vienna was a most agreeable surprise to me. I had not seen it for two years, the last time being Christmas of 1945. I could hardly believe my eyes. It is very different from Germany. One can see repaired houses everywhere, people are working, they do not look starved, and are well clad. The country is far from normal, but the progress made is great, unlike Germany where one has to spend all their spare time in getting a few additional rations in the black market. The American help is very great. 60% of all food consumed in the towns comes to Austria as free gift. All the people I visited had at least one warm room, and fair food. Very many people in Vienna get additional CARE packages as well. The   Opera is open, and the theaters are good. Prices are exorbitant, though. Just now they are converting their money to Schillings at a rate of 3:1. Everybody wants to buy as much as possible and get rid of the bad old Schillings. Consequently the shops are almost empty of goods and the shop owners refuse to sell anything. People pay debts to their enemies with the old Schillings, but not their friends. There are good jobs now and men and women who could not get any work before 1939, are in leading jobs now.Vienna is not what it used to be- the town is now without Jews, and somehow without culture. A new generation has come. My impression may be comparable to the one that one may have had in 1922, looking at Old Vienna of 1912. Perhaps it will be nice again- it certainly is interesting. Austria is the only country where the communists are losing ground, surrounded by communist dominated Eastern Europe. I felt strongly that I do not belong to Austria any more.

January, 1948

     Last week there was a bomb in our dining room in the Grand Hotel, which is our mess. I happened to be present when the thing went off; it was quite noisy. A big window was smashed but nobody was injured. I expect more trouble of that kind. It won't help them to get more food. But some stupid Nazis feel they have done something and so they rob cars, throw bombs and just try to stir up disorder. The bombs they dropped over London were rather more unpleasant. I shall be glad to be out of Germany, but not because I am scared, there is very little, so far, to be scared of. Bevin's speech and all it implicates is much worse. I am rather pessimistic concerning the general future of Europe. Conditions here are very bad. Yesterday the meat and fat ration was cancelled without warning and they won't get anything for the next two weeks.  The standards for decency and morality have disappeared. There is no German official who could not be bribed for a pound of coffee. In addition, the little food and goods which are available are badly distributed. Everybody tries to hoard whatever they can. The local shoe shop owner may have cement, or kitchen stoves which are urgently needed somewhere else.
     The Krupp's trial is at an interesting stage at the moment as most of the defending lawyers are in jail for contempt of court. I take it they will be released soon, but the whole atmosphere is rather strained. The other day two young Jewish girls came in as witnesses. They had been transferred from Auschwitz to a camp in Essen as slave workers and testified how they had been treated. Krupp did not use many concentration camp inmates, unlike IG Farben, who used many thousands. But the way these girls were treated was more than bad enough. Now they will go to the States, being DP's they have high priority, especially as they were born in what is now Russian territory. The trials are in my opinion too late in the game. Two years ago all this was necessary and important, today other problems overshadow the deeds of Krupp ( read more about Krupp) , Schnitzler (Read about Schnitzler here), and Flick.  ( Despite being found guilty in the Nuremberg Flick Trial, he quickly became one of West Germany's richest people by the 1950s and the largest shareholder of Daimler-Benz. He was awarded numerous honors, including the Grand Cross with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1963 and the Bavarian Order of Merit, and was an honorary senator of the Technical University of Berlin. At the time of his death, his industrial conglomerate encompassed 330 companies and around 300,000 employees.   read more about flick here) and Darre (read about Darre here). Three years ago it would have been thrilling to read through all these secret and top secret documents, to see Krupp, Weizsaecker, Darre, Flick,  Hans Malzacher, Schmitz, and VerMeer and many other leading industrialists as witnesses or as defendants and to talk to them. But now I think it is outdated and new problems overshadow everything else.
     Vienna was a pleasant surprise for me. I had not been there for almost two years. I could compare the progress made in Austria with the stagnation in Germany and wit the misery which existed in Vienna in 1945. Certainly conditions are bad, but I did not see as many repaired houses in any German town. People in Vienna work again and not every conversation turn round black market or food in general. The American help is tremendous, of course, but I had the impression the Austrians are pulling their weight, whereas the Germans complain and work little or not at all. The Russian question overshadows everything else. Austria and Germany are terribly short of good people. All my old friends have high positions in government or industry now. They all hope that Russia will not interfere too much in Austria and that they will be able to rebuild an Austrian democracy. Germany seems to be in utter misery. People have lost all will and initiative for work. They spend their energies on acquiring a few bags of potatoes and a pair of shoes and blame the allies for their plight. They have completely forgotten that they started the war. The plight of the Eastern refugees is worst of all. They have nothing to trade with, no friends, no home, and very often no profession or knowlege. Mostly women and old people and children came from the Sudenten areas and the German East. The standards of decency and morality have disappeared as there is no German official who could not be bribed for a pound of coffee. In addition, the little food and goods which are available are badly distributed. Everyone tries to hoard whatever one can. The shoeshop may have stocks of cement, food, or kitchen stoves which are urgently needed somewhere else. Money can hardly buy anything except the official rations. . Factories trade in the "grey" market (goods for goods), whether the partner needs the goods is another question. Five tons of potatoes are not shipped in one rail car but 200 individuals with rucksacks spend two days to bring that amount back home, offering the farmers outraeous prices and filling two railroad cars with their bodies, wasting working time and energy. It is difficult to see how all this can be remedied. Only a big injection of money from the outside might do the trick. Communism does not gain much ground her. POW's returning from Russia tell their tales.