Five Brothers and a War

Hongerwinter (“Hunger Winter”)

The second component of the Hongerwinter was the lack of energy of all forms— electricity, coal, and natural gas. Under any circumstances, this is a serious problem when winters had to be endured, and there was no heat in houses, no light for seeing at night, no hot water, and nothing to heat food. Making the matter all the worse was the extreme cold of the winter of 1944-45. As a result, every imaginable source of potential heat was found. By war’s end, few if any trees remained in or near cities. Railway ties were removed, under penalty of death, to burn. Empty houses were taken apart to remove wood, including those within the exclusion zones—again where the people risked being shot for doing so. Furniture inside homes was broken apart and burned.

the war

Five Brothers and a War

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