FAMINE DESTROYING FAITH IN ALLIES

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5320, 5 February 1947, Page 7

FAMINE DESTROYING FAITH IN ALLIES

COLD AND HUNGER DEMOORACY MAY FAIL TN OCCUPIED ZONES. DUSSELDORF. Warning that the whole experi*ment of teaching democracy in Germany might fail unless humgry people could be given more to eat in the coming months, Dr. Rudolf Amelnnxen, Minister-President of the North Rhine- Westphalia Provincial Government, has appealed for American aid' in fighting the threat of starvation in Ruhr cities. In his big office overlooking the wide sweep of the Rhine in the heart of wrecked Dusseldorf, the close-cropped,, gold spectacled Minister-President gaid in an interview: "The need of #»these Ruhr cities ,-s greater than any where else. There is a real danger of epidemics. A few weeks ago I did not believe that. To-day I am convinced that it has to be reckoned with. "Also, people are becoming increasingiy dissatisfiod. Great demonstrations were planned by the workers here in Dusseldorf, 'but the unions managed to cairn them. They may not always be so successful." Britain Blamed, ' a , - Amelunxen said many in the Ruhr cities believed that shortage was caused by the Briti'sh shipping food to England, "but that, of course, is nonsense." "With 12,000,00-0 inhabitants— 3336 per square kilometre— this is the most thiekly populated area in Europe. Food available in our zone cannot possihly feed more than one third of the population, About 1,000,000 starved after the last war. If no help comes from outside this time it will be more." The Minister-President, who lived for eight months in overcrowded underground bunkers, claimed the next generatiom of children would "die like flies" because their mothers had poor nourishment during pregnancy. He admitted that sohie measure of criticism against the German authorities handling the food administration was justifiable. "The shortage 'in bread distribution in the 'North Rhine province reeently can definitely be traced to failure in the organisation of the responsible authorities. During that time there were in several parts of the area socalled 'bread boundaries.' For example,. in Botrop you could buy enough bread', • while in Essen, 10 kilometres away, yoia could not get any. We have now made good these failures..of organisation," he claimed. With the temperature down to 28 degrees of frost in the latest cold spell, and threatening to become even lower, "steal or die" has become a simple . f act of lif e for • hundreds of Germans in Hamhurg. The number arrested for coal pilfering is rising steadily. In one period of 24 hours 255 persons were held by police on this charge. Along train lines through the city children, some of them mites of five, loiter in wait for passing coal trains. When lumps fall they fight among themselves for the prize, It is no uncommon sight to see middle-class men and women walking with a few small bits of coal carefully wrapped in sheets of newspaper they have "acquired" somewhere or other. The authorities have been doing what they can to relieve the sufferings of Hamburg, but there is little they can do. More coal from the Ruhr is impossible because of the freeze-up. _ To conserve fuel, electricity in onethird of the city is cut oflf from 7 a.m.until 110 p.m., all cinemas and theatres are closed, all non-food shops are closed four days a week, and train, and tram services are reduced.