October 1946

(From a letter to a friend, Dr Judith Miller, who immigrated to Palestine)
I am interested in whether you managed to go to Palestine this year. Conditions there, I gather, are anything but enjoyable. It is a great pity that all this trouble had to come. The British, of course, are in an extremely difficult situation as long as the American government is not willing to back them up and to help them to face the consequences of the large number of immigrants. The Russians are doing everything possible to stir up trouble and support the Arabs, and the British alone feel not strong enough to face a big Arab opposition. Their main fault, in my opinion, lies in fact, that they did not try to settle the Palestinian problem before the war. But what did Chamberlain do after all? I think very much indeed of the present Labour government, and believe that they are the most progressive and positive influence during the last ten years, and perhaps the last century. And yet, they still have difficulties all over the world.
     I have had enough of Europe and am rather unhappy my visa has not yet been granted. I expected it to take six months and that was a year ago. I would like to get settled and find a real permanent job. I still hope it will be during 1946, but my hope is getting fainter every day. People who come out of concentration camps or have been persecuted by the Nazis get preference, rightly so, over those who are not in the same plight. Still, I wish my turn would come soon and sometimes I wonder whether I should not go back to England after all. But very much attracts me to the Sates. I have been working with Americans for more than a year now, and I like them, their open-mindedness, the fact that you are not a b... foreigner, the quickness with which they correct mistakes, and the technical progress which you feel in every detail.
     I have no interest in going to Moravska Ostrava. (Where the family steel factory was in Czechoslovakia) Conditions there are impossible for anyone who is not a real true blue Czech, and a good Communist as well. I am neither and prefer not to return. The country is recovering speedily, living conditions are better than elsewhere in Central Europe, but I hear and see too much of Communist pressure and dictatorship to wish to live under those circumstances. You can hardly imagine what life looks like in the Eastern Zone of Germany. It reminds you very much indeed of Germany in 1934. There is no freedom of thought, fear of arrests, concentration camps exist in Oranienburg (although with better treatment than under the Nazis) ( read about Oranienburg here ) arrests occur without reason, and for undetermined periods.
      Men lose their jobs, and their ration cards if they remain social democrats. I am seeing a rather dark future and am skeptical that our way of thinking and the Russian way will ever compromise. Germany is in a terrible mess. The Western Allies did not realize that one has to get industry going  to some extent, until it became frightfully too late. They have not given the Germans anything to live for- no creed or belief. That is where the Russians have gained the upper hand. They are still detested by many, but economic success will count for a lot and hunger in the West, plus unemployment and the cold will hardly convince Germans of the better way of democracy. We have to do something better, otherwise we shall have chaos in Europe once again in the near future. The American Zone is the best organized at the moment, but the American taxpayer has to pay for it, and that can hardly go on forever.

November, 1946

Life in Germany has not changed much. It is still very easy going for us here inside the compound gates, and yet so very many difficulties and frictions, poverty and distress on the other side of the gates. You may have heard that FIAT men live in Bad Homburg now, which means a great amount of travelling every day. I have been in the field very much during the last few months, and have more and more to work on with the microfilm project. I spend much of my time in the British zone and I can judge with my own eyes that conditions there are anything but good and are deteriorating. More and more plants have to reduce their output, steel production is declining and fewer goods are available in the open market than ever before. It is slightly better in our zone, due to the greater agricultural area and the great amount of money which the Americans are putting into the country. But on the whole it looks pretty bad and if this winter is very cold, it will be anything but lovely. Starvation and famine exist, particularly in the British zone in the big towns of the Rhine and Ruhr. A manager of a factory tells me he and his family of three have been living on four beet roots for the last two days, bread being unobtainable in Dusseldorf as well as potatoes and any other food.  The whole country looks like it is becoming a slum. One can only be surprised that there aren’t riots. The conditions in the Russian Zone are not much better and have the added scourge of fear. People do not dare to talk aloud in the tramcars and are arrested and taken from their homes without reason or warrants.  
      Central Europe is anything but decent. People hate each other and do everything possible to make life disagreeable. You can hardly imagine the attitude of the average Bavarian to the refugees from the East, and the amount of running to the police and denouncing one’s neighbors. The food situation, particularly in towns like Essen or Dussledorf is grim beyond description. People sit in the cold, the light fades out or is dimmed to almost uselessness every day, and  there is nothing to eat. Millions of refugees have to  be crammed in the overcrowded area. Why one agreed to accept several millions of refugees from Eastern Germany without making provisions to feed them I do not understand. Most of the good will which England and the western democracies enjoyed a year ago has gone. They believe that England is starving them purposely. One has the feeling the Ruhr is near complete collapse.
          My mother and some other friends want me to stay in England, but I am hoping to go to the states before very long. I personally never got to like England enough, or to put it better, England never got to like me enough. I always feel there as a stranger. I don’t feel that way with the Americans. I have met many very nice and good people, many rather primitive ones, but on the whole, I like them.  I had planned to go to the States during 1946, but the reorganization of the quota system made this impossible.

Christmas, 1946

I feel rather disappointed that I had to celebrate Christmas in Germany, although I am trying to make the best of it. Just before Christmas, rushed imports from the US Zone restored some of the bread distributions and at least the bread rations were honored. The black market flourishes more than ever. The general manager of  one of the biggest companies tells me he spends half his time bartering minute quantities of steel and erecting barns and huts for farmers in order to get potatoes from these farmers. The potatoes are then distributed to workers who attend fairly regularly, because their wages cannot but buy their ration and one cigarette. It is astonishing and surprising that a great part of the workers and staff have enough conscience to come to work, to do their best and not give up hope. The US zone is very much better off, America is pumping quantities of food and other raw materials into their zone, and that can be felt.  People in our zone are much better fed, better clad and have more coal to heat their houses.  Machine factories in the British zone could not get permission to resume work, no mining machinery was produced, no consumer goods available for the miners, and the whole way of life has almost collapsed.The Americans have greatly enhanced their good will, whereas the British have lost it.  People sit in the cold, in dark or dimmed houses, without food, sometimes with only a beet root to eat for a day. The people believe that England is starving them purposely, and it takes a few years of living in England to be convinced that it is just British inefficiency and lack of imagination and lack of forethought rather than bad will. There is no hope and no work. They blame the British occupying government and with it democratic socialism has lost very much of the goodwill it held a year ago.The British have blundered terribly in their zone, forbidding all kind of work, sending some of their most inefficient civil servants over here, and trying to run the country.

January 12, 1947

     We have moved from Hoechst to Karlsruhe. We are billeted in Durlach, about 6 miles away. In order for us to have our places to live, the Germans were cleared out of their houses, and the "organizing" or what was really looting of furniture reminded me of the tales I heard of Oynhausen (headquarters of the British army of occupation - this is what one article said about it: After the war the city was closed for the people of Bad Oeynhausen, and 2/3 of the inner city was fenced in with barbed wire. The people in this area had to leave their homes within 24 hours and what was left in the houses was burned by some (not all) of the British soldiers, regardless of being precious, sentimental or important to the owners. Also excrement was deposited in rooms or on beds......you see, not all the houses were used for accommodation.). The Germans sent protest telegram to their minister presidents, but the army wanted us there. One tried to evacuate Nazis and exempted politically sound people as far as possible, but the fact remains, that the people had to leave most of their belongings in their homes.

      I cannot understand what delays my visa so badly. I write and cable to Washington, but so far without success. I hope this year will see me in the states.
      I heard from my friend who lives in southern California. She writes a very interesting description of life there as follows: "I hope you will visit here for a while to gape and marvel and shake your head at southern California, and wonder whether the Creator in His whim has fashioned it as a kind of funny relief to Europe of the present. Life here is so much  "the other side of the coin" that it really looks as if it had been done on purpose. I never knew that sun, warmth, and abundance of food and goods could do so little to remedy the core irritation and dissatisfaction in people's lives. But there it is, undiminished - let me explain. One of Los Angeles' biggest newspaper men, Manchester Boddy  (read about Manchester Boddy ), wrote from Berlin the other day, that when he saw the tired food queue in front of a baker's shop break up in anger and disappointment because the rations had given out and they had waited for hours in vain and had to go home hungry, he was reminded of the same sights he had seen time and again at the ticket counters in Los Angeles before the annual football match. Reading such a comparison before I got here would have outraged me. Now I understand only too well what Boddy means, for similar comparisons simply force themselves upon me every day.
      At first you will enjoy it all tremendously. You will love the pretty practical house of our neighbor the truck driver. You will enjoy the ever-ready sun and the orange trees full of fruit, and the roses and carnations that will be flowering for your welcome as much as they are flowering now on the 2nd of February. A neighbor, an old woman, who had lived in Frankfurt throughout the war and gone through the whole post-war period, found sunny, abundant, overfed Los Angeles too much to bear. She now sits in her luxurious room or under the laden orange trees in the garden wrapped up in a desperate melancholia, a woman who was never given to deep brooding before in her life."

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.