In July of 1946, Herbert Oliver Brayer found himself as a civilian in American occupied Germany. He arrived in Frankfurt where he was shocked by the devastation. American and British bombs had left the city in shambles. The city’s cathedral was roofless and blackened. In a letter home, Brayer described people “living like rats in basements that survived in otherwise demolished apartment buildings.”
In the countryside, he saw thousands of people in a field where grain had been cut. They were on their hands and knees, gleaning from the cut stalks of wheat and oats. Hunger was an ever-present problem. Old people dug through building debris looking for items that might be salvaged, traded, or hocked on the black market.
In Berlin, the destruction was even worse. But the black market was thriving. American cigarettes had become the medium of exchange. American soldiers could purchase a pack for 5 cents at the military PX and easily trade them for goods and services worth as much as 12 dollars.
For more information see the Herbert Oliver Brayer papers at UW’s American Heritage Center