Ingeborg Verdun

Daily life

Memorable Survival Tactics and Tools

To save money and ensure winter food supplies, families bought potatoes in bulk, sometimes 1000 kg at once, which were stored in specially prepared cellar bins lined with straw. To carry heavy water buckets from public pumps, people used a 'reep', a modified bicycle wheel without spokes that helped balance the weight and kept the buckets away from their legs.

What it cost

Decline in food budget share

By the late 1940s, food expenses accounted for approximately 45 percent of a worker household's budget, a significant decrease from about 58 percent in 1929.

What people wore

Frugal clothing maintenance habits

People often wore clothing until it was heavily mended; it was not considered shameful to wear a pant with a patch or a sweater with mended elbows. For special occasions, some men would still wear the black jacket and striped trousers they had first worn at their wedding twenty years earlier.

Getting around

Wartime travel and fuel costs

During World War II, strict fuel rationing forced civilians to rely on bicycles or overcrowded trams, and private car travel became extremely rare. Petrol for the few permitted vehicles cost between 30 and 50 francs per liter on the black market.

At the table

Coffee prices rose massively under occupation

Coffee prices skyrocketed during the occupation, jumping from 28 francs per kilogram in May 1940 to 2,320 francs by June 1944.