History of Baden-Württemberg

It was what most concerned the population. In the Spring of 1948, the official distributions in the American Zone fell to a new low point of 1397 calories per day. According to today's thinking, the "person who was under strict bed-rest" needed about 1500 calories, an office worker between 2000 and 2400 calories. The word 'calories' had a different meaning than in our time. As many calories as possible were needed for survival! After six years of wartime and three years of the post-war period, many people were undernourished.

These rations had to suffice for an adult who did not have to do physical labor: office workers, housewives, etc. Laborers received supplements, each according to requirements. They tried to distribute food fairly (Hoover-Supply for school kids).

A fair distribution was hard to achieve for a number of reasons. It was not possible to control the food producers, called "self-suppliers" completely. They were able to give food out of their surpluses to their relatives and friends, who went out "hoarding" into the countryside. Mostly this happened by bartering items of real value. So those city-dwellers who had not lost their property in bombardments brought items that they could do without (bed linens, rugs, etc.) to the farmers. Such bartering was really forbidden; it was part of the black market, which, despite high penalties, was never entirely suppressed. There one could, until shortly after the currency reform, buy a great deal (1 kilogram of lard at 200 - 400 Reichsmark, 1 kilogram of coffee beans 450 - 600 Reichsmark, an entire ration card for 150 -200 RM). Even among school children an American cigarette was sold for 5 Reichsmark. Ration cards were a type of currency that you could exchange, just like today you can exchange D-Marks at the border for foreign money.
Besides the black market, there was already in 1945 a permitted barter system, as shown in the clipping from the "Nachrichtenblatt der Militärregierung für den Stadtkreis Stuttgart" ("News Sheet of the Military Government for the City of Stuttgart") of 1 November 1945.

Only the changeover to the Deutsche Mark on 20 June 1948 gradually produced a normal market. Then everybody had those great advantages who had goods available and who had held them back until they could be bought with a D-Mark that was worth something.