Pinkley: Conditions in Europe today (1946)

1

The Pittsburgh Press (July 29, 1946)

Millions hungry and gloomy…
Tired Europeans seek religion or escape in theater and sports

They are sick of being pushed around, disappointed at slow recovery
By Virgil M. Pinkley, United Press vice president for Europe

Post-war Europe is tired and disillusioned, Virgil M. Pinkley, United Press vice president in charge of Europe, writes in the following dispatch from his headquarters in London. In recent weeks Mr. Pinkley has traveled thousands of miles through Europe, visiting practically every continental capital. This dispatch is the first of a series.

LONDON (UP) – Europe is tired, hungry and gloomy.

Thousands of miles of travel in many countries during recent weeks show that 14 months after V-E Day people want food, clothes, houses and relief from power politics and tension. They simply want to be let alone.

This dispatch and the following ones are designed to be impartial, careful surveys. Some situations reported may not please all quarters and they may startle some. But they mirror the mood of Europe today.

People everywhere in Britain and Europe are sick to death of queues and they are becoming tired of regimentation and being pushed around by the state or anyone else.

Most people are disappointed about recovery being a slow, laborious process. They long for the so-called carefree days of the early ‘30s. Many want holidays and to loaf in the sunshine.

Increased numbers want to garden. Still others want to read and study books, magazines and newspapers that have been denied them for years.

Millions are turning to religion. Religious newspapers and publications have tripled in pre-war numbers. Many churches are packed, including those in Russia and Germany.

There is a terrific boom in sports.

Amusements and theaters are piling up all-time records in attendance. Motion picture houses are filled to the rafters. Many London theaters are sold out solidly for two to four months in advance.

Second-rate pictures bring forth early “sold out” signs. Just an average play is assured a long-time run. Everyone screams for recent American films. Many countries are showing pictures that Hollywood made five and even 10 years ago.

People seek escape

People seek escape everywhere.

The average European doesn’t think in terms of high-level diplomacy beyond being disappointed in the lack of Big Power co-operation. World politics leave most people cold.

People think rather in terms of their stomachs, shoes on their feet and of bread, meat, and potatoes for themselves and their families. Their political thinking is related to those things.

People on trains, in buses, standing in long lines or working in factories or offices all complain bitterly that rationing continues; that there are greater shortages in some commodities than during even the darkest war months; that so little progress has been made in building houses, producing clothes and making available even the simplest luxuries.

Appalled by prices

They have gone without or had only the smallest quantities for periods as long as seven years. They are appalled by the ever-soaring prices and the continuation of heavy taxes.

In Holland, for example, official wholesale prices presently average 250 as compared with 100 prewar. The reader can imagine what this means to retail prices.

In Prague most clothes cost three or four times prewar prices with qualities poor, selection limited and all sharply rationed on points.

The need for courage and hard work increases in most places. Yes, there are surface signs of better living, even gaiety, in some cities or countries. But frequently these are overtones.

Get false impression

American visitors who stay briefly at the best hotels, eat at black market restaurants, and ride black market cars using black market gasoline, tires and oil arrive and depart without any real knowledge of how the masses live and suffer.

They are given a more false impression of Europe than would be given a Greek or Belgian who visited New York, stayed at the Waldorf Astoria, ate at the best restaurants and attended the Diamond Horseshoe.

The foregoing generally reflects the unhappy situation in Europe. How does it stack up with what was expected a year ago?

Firstly, famine was feared then. There’s still a danger, but prospects of international food co-operation and bumper crops in some countries have lessened the immediate menace.

To date there has been no postwar famine although countries such as Greece, Poland and parts of Holland, France, Belgium, Finland and Norway during the war faced and suffered from varying degrees of starvation.

Tuberculosis increases

There is an accumulative effect of six war years. Tuberculosis has shot up at an alarming rate. There are many more illnesses among children and mortality rates have risen sharply.

Many believed a year ago that epidemics would sweep Europe. Modern medical science and rapid preventative measures thus far have averted any such disaster.

Most forecasters a year ago expected more violence in Europe during the past winer and spring. This largely has been avoided. Many believed revolt and civil strife would render even more prostrate an already sick, beaten up and feeble Europe.

Bloodshed was feared. Widespread strikes were anticipated. To date, Europe has been remarkably free of major calamities of that nature.

Weighing the pros and cons, the situation on the whole has been better than generally expected.

2

The Pittsburgh Press (July 30, 1946)

Long hangover from war…
People in Prague try to forget ‘bad dream’ by playing, loafing

They don’t want another conflict because ‘we’d be right in the middle of things’
By Virgil M. Pinkley, United Press vice president for Europe

Following is the second of a series on conditions in Europe.

PRAGUE (UP) – The neon signs are ablaze all along Wenceslas Square.

More cars, some of them snazzy new raindrop-shaped Tatras, are in the streets. thick throngs of strollers in the soft Summer evening pass people sipping wine, beer and vermouth at sidewalk tables in front of hotels and coffee houses.

Others dance in kavarni, or coffee houses where one music program I saw lists “Alexander’s Ragtime Band.”

On the Moldau River people are rowing. Nearby tennis courts are crowded. All along the main streets long queues form before the movies.

Many new Russian films, some heavy with propaganda, are being shown plus a few French and British and some very old American productions indeed, including such as Al Jolson’s “The Singing Fool.”

There are some Doug Fairbanks Sr. thrillers. One house advertises Norma Shearer’s “Smiling Through.”

Everywhere soldiers by the hundreds are seen in uniforms. Many are courting girls, especially in the Square of the Republic where they have a garrison.

Some rather skinny kids are leaping about, shouting in the streets. Their legs are spindly. Their complexions, as frequently in Europe, are sallow.

Scenes seem artificial

They show the effects of undernourishment or semi-starvation.

These are the overtones. Somehow most scenes seem artificial – thin veneer.

What about the undertones?

The Prague man in the street has the sign in his face of a long hangover from the war seven years of Germans with their Butcher Heydrich and the notorious crime of Lidice.

This stair of the eyes, the tightness of the mouth, the droop of the shoulder and the unusual tenseness is notably slow in wearing off. A study of many faces makes it seem as if the people are coming out of a bad dream, they want to forget but somehow can’t.

Many shun work

The effects are ingrained now in his thinking. The worker under the present system is king – but officials are finding it hard to get him really to work. He throngs to any kind of parade or celebration. At his present rate he will have taken more than 100 general holidays by the end of this year.

He reacts uneasily to any suggestion there may be another war soon. He doesn’t want to believe it’s possible.

“Czechoslovakia would be the loser,” officials say. “We would be right in the middle of things no matter who started the war.”

He looks to his geographical positions – 190 million Russians on one side and Germany, which twice occupied and fought over his countryside in 25 years, with 70-odd millions on the other side.

If he could, he would transplant his country geographically into the middle of the Atlantic or Pacific.

Hear praise for Reds

But the average person here isn’t aware of international events one way or another. His four-page tabloid size newspaper doesn’t have room for much and like the people in many parts of the United States he is preoccupied with domestic happenings.

He never reads anything outrightly critical of Russia – the subject is taboo. On the contrary he hears praise for Russia on every side. He gets the good with the bad about Western Europe and America.

His favorite jokes at the moment deal with official red tape, especially the complications of the nationalization of almost everything but the smallest businesses. He is surprised if anything goes rapidly anywhere. He expects to wait weeks to get a government document or to get his shoes repaired.

They’re behind 8-ball

He expected things would be better much quicker after the end of the war. But he tries patiently to understand that conditions everywhere are tough. Generally speaking, his pay has been increased.

If he drives a car, he receives 7000 crowns a month in Prague where full army colonels draw 5000. A crown is worth two cents. But prices he pays for everything have skyrocketed so he can’t buy much anyway.

His income as compared with the cost of living leaves him behind the eight-ball.

“The price is impossible,” the wife of a garage worker says, looking at goods priced 300 percent higher than pre-war. With a sigh she turns away.

People poorly clothed

Talking to a waiter in a coffee house one notices his shoes are not too sturdy. If they are new, they probably are canvas-topped or have wooden soles. This in a land where the vast Bata shoe concern – before the war – turned out many hundreds of thousands of pairs of food strong shoes sold throughout Europe.

His wife, he says, wore knee-high boots during the Winter. She wears a utility dress and a hat that looks suspiciously like the dresses and hats worn by many other women. His wife can’t wear an upswept hair-do because the Germans did. His own clothes, if new, likely are made of synthetic wool and if fashionable will have padded shoulders and a long drape remindful of a zoot suit.

Your average man in Prague hears that his apartment house garage porter who voted Communist is looking for a cook. If he isn’t a Communist or near Communist, he probably worried a little or a great deal about how things shape up.

Face cold Winter

He probably faces another cold Winter because of the coal shortage, but the coming Winter won’t be anything near as bad as the last one when for weeks his diet dropped as low as 80 calories daily and consisted chiefly of potatoes.

His life changes slowly back toward the 1939 patterns. He’s puzzled like the shoe shop owner who said “I am hung up somewhere between Heaven and Hell and I can’t tell which way is Heaven.”

3

The Pittsburgh Press (July 31, 1946)

After loggerheading for years…
France and Italy face issues that may lead to cementing of ties

Nations, like most of Europe, having many Communists, food shortages, high prices
By Virgil M. Pinkley, United Press vice president for Europe

Following is the third of a series on conditions in Europe.

PARIS (UP) – France and Italy, at loggerheads for half a century, today face many common problems, solution of which paradoxically may lead to friendship and co-operation between these nations.

It is in these two countries with roughly 42 million persons each that the Catholic Church and Communism are having a grueling daily battle.

The contest extends to many other European countries, but the issue is perhaps more sharply drawn in these neighboring Western European powers.

During recent weeks, as evidenced by elections, Communism either was checked or lost ground.

But France as well as Italy must obtain genuine assistance from Communist parties, one of three leading political groups in both countries. The Communists through strikes and non-participation in national governments could sabotage the entire recovery effort.

Italy and France in common with many parts of Europe face food shortages, fantastically high prices, lack of clothes and houses and inadequate transport.

France, like Italy, seeks a stable government to permit the application of recovery programs. Both countries suffered heavy ravages of war. Communications and transport were hard hit. Both countries lack highly efficient modern industrial setups.

Of the two nations France, in raw materials, territorial and colonial possessions and agricultural production, was vastly more wealthy but suffers from the effects of a drift toward near bankruptcy in pre-war years, plus the corruption of feeble French governments almost continuously between the two World Wars.

France and Italy, probably more so France, show clearly the effects of the madness of war. Europeans spent 10 of the last 30 years killing each other, preparing to kill or trying to overcome the destruction, dislocation or exhaustion war causes. France three times in 70 years became a European battlefield.

France and Italy both have gigantic black markets in operation. Both have currencies which still are far from stable and which many of their own citizens’ distrust.

Both nations more nationalistic

Both countries have become highly nationalistic. This tendency in Italy is expected to become more pronounced if the peace conference enforces a treaty on Italy which virtually prevents recovery and lowers still more the standard of living.

As a result of recent elections in both countries liberals and the center are winning new power, and confidence is returning, even if slowly. In France there appears some will to work – a will lacking for so many years.

But France urgently needs modern methods and up-to-date machinery which the recent American loan is expected to provide to some degree.

The average worker in France produces only about one-fourth of that produced by his counterpart in the United States. Italian agriculture, due to the poor soil, lack of machinery and fertilizers, returns a yield of one-fourth to one-sixth that of U.S. agriculture.

Sitting over a watery glass of beer in a cafe near the Gare St. Lazare a middle-aged metallurgical engineer clamped his pipe between his teeth and said, “All France needs to become a leading power again is courage, lots of hard work and time.”

As he blew out the smoke from his bad mixture of tobacco and dried leaves, he mentioned the American loan and France’s participation in the discussion of the Council of Foreign Ministers.

The fact that the peace conference is being held in Paris seems to indicate to him and his countrymen that France is on the way back.

This man, like many others aside from the militant Communist, does not want Communism nor does he think a Communist revolution threatens. Most French are small property owners or having savings accounts. Many own homes. Such people are not specially fertile fields for Communism which champions the “have nots.”

The French, like the Italians, prefer an independent course for their country in world affairs.

They would like to avoid joining up with the West or East but if forced would select the West and specially if they felt Americans would maintain a lively interest in Europe and champion the principles of free independent nations and democratic institutions in something more tangible than mere words. The French fear getting caught in the crossfire.

Respect for law declines

France and Italy have avoided one-party governments or one-man dictatorships such as rule rigidly in Russia, Spain, Portugal or Yugoslavia.

Italy, by voting down the monarchy to become a republic, has moved far and fast to restore liberties to the people and wipe out the remnants of dictatorships left by Mussolini.

The question now is, without the stabilizing influence of the monarchy, can Italy govern well and wisely through a republic? Are its people ready to assume the responsibilities of a republic and carry them out?

In international politics France and Italy are concerned chiefly with Germany and Russia. They are little interested in Japan which is true of most of Europe generally with the exception of Holland and limited circles in Britain.

France and to a somewhat lesser degree Italy is outwardly gay, especially in Paris, along the Riviera, or in Milan, Venice and Rome. But this is chiefly due to surface flashes which cover the plight of the great masses.

Most visitors, who stay a few days in the leading hotels of Rome or Paris and spend considerable sums in premium value dollars or sterling can’t possibly see or know how people live generally.

Most people in both countries who can find the extra francs or lire spend them in the black market to augment the meager rations.

During recent weeks the black markets have become a little more free and slightly less expensive. They tend to spread and become more numerous.

But the black-market operations tend to break down respect for the law. They weaken morale and spiritual resistance at a time when those virtues are greatly needed. They caused distrust and a rift in the national effort for unity.

Good meals in Rome or Paris cost today roughly $5 to $20 each at the official rate of exchange. Prices in France probably are a little cheaper than in Italy due to the greater shortages in Italy and the fact that France is naturally a much richer country, especially in foodstuffs.

The cost of even a poor quality of shoes in Paris is $20 to $60. A man’s suit made of questionable material sells for $100 to $300. Eggs sell for 30 to 50 cents each and sugar is $2 a pound.

4

The Pittsburgh Press (August 1, 1946)

Russia loses popularity in Europe

Doubts, fear grow; war discussed
By Virgil M. Pinkley, United Press vice president for Europe

Following is the fourth in a series of dispatches on conditions in Europe today.

VIENNA (UP) – A year ago Russia was extremely popular in most European countries. The Soviets enjoyed enormous prestige, the highest since the Bolshevik revolution swept the present government into power.

But this correspondent who has traveled extensively in Western and Central Europe and Scandinavia the past 12 months must report that this attitude largely has passed and the old feeling of doubt has increased.

In some cases, doubt has developed into fear. Today one hears frequently in many quarters lively discussions on how Russia can be defeated in the coming war which seems to many people inevitable.

Source of mistrust

In the case of Britain, France and the United States mistrust or failure to understand the Soviets stems chiefly from Russian policy in Germany and Austria and at the conference table of the United Nations and meetings of the foreign ministers.

People of many European countries have seen Communist activity accelerated locally and rightly or wrongly they believe Moscow responsible.

They have noted that in countries which have come under the influence of Moscow Communists hold key governmental positions in the interior, armed forces, education and press and propaganda.

These bodies tend to prevent uprisings and protect governments despite popular feelings.

The ministries of education formulate what youth shall be taught and tend to groove thinking.

Stalin photographs

The minister of education in the first Czechoslovak government after liberation can be cited as a case in point. He ordered that large photographs of Stalin must be exhibited in every little red schoolhouse in the country although no pictures of national heroes were mandatory. I saw more photographs of Stalin in Prague than any other person a year ago.

That’s no longer true.

What has Russia gained from practices criticized by many? From Moscow’s standpoint a wide protective belt of land has been obtained.

Russia has taken over all three former Baltic states and incorporated parts of Finland, Poland, Germany, Czechoslovakia and Rumania.

What may happen to Austrian, Hungarian and Bulgarian territory from the standpoint of Russia is still not decided. Many point out that Russia is the sole Allied country to gain an extension of territory as a result of the war against the Axis.

Russia also has won economic control over large areas in Central Europe and the Balkans.

Economic control

Russia’s action in Iran and the recognition of the Argentine are listed by some who doubt Russia’s sincerity to keep the peace and avoid meddling in the affairs of other nations and promote the world-wide democratic brotherhood of man.

As an example of what one hears now but not a year ago are statements to the effect that Russia never fired a shot in the world war until invaded frontally by Germany. The fact that Russia made a pact with Germany on the eve of Hitler’s plunge into Poland at a time when Moscow was dealing with France and Britain is being discussed.

A year ago, such comment simply would not have been voiced. But today it grows.

5

The Pittsburgh Press (August 2, 1946)

Strained relationship…
Bitter anti-Russian feeling harbored by Yanks now overseas

Nerves on edge, trigger fingers itchy after arrests and firing on U.S. planes
By Virgil Pinkley, United Press vice president for Europe

Following is the fifth in a series of dispatches on conditions in Europe today.

MUNICH (AP) – Some of the bitterest anti-Russian feeling in Europe is to be found among American officers and soldiers in Germany and Austria. This situation doesn’t make pleasant reading, but it’s true.

Recent shootings, arrests and the firing on American planes by Red army soldiers have put nerves more on edge. Trigger fingers are becoming a bit more itchy. Close contact with Russian soldiers in the occupational zones has not caused a growing admiration on the part of American Doughboys, British Tommies or French Poilus.

American and British officers have made a fair share of attempts to understand and work with Red army officers.

Recent visits of American parties in Austria serve as an example of what American officers are up against. Before one party of newspaper editors and publishers traveled by train from Vienna to Saltzburg, Gen. Mark Clark told the Russian commanding officers, “I don’t want any incidents, either,” but to make doubly certain he sent an engine carrying armed troops on the ready ahead of the train.

This sort of situation among so-called Allies and friends 15 months after the great victory of Allied arms in Europe is indeed surprising, but many similar situations exist. Anglo-American and French officers complain that normal Four-Power negotiations are slowed up or made almost impossible by virtue of most matters having to be referred to Moscow by Russian generals and even field marshals.

They find that the Russian mentality is not that of Western Europe or America. They have discovered that the Russians can be exasperatingly slow.

Americans barred from Red zones

They know that Russia pursues different foreign policies with various countries. Furthermore they have observed that Moscow follows one line as long as it is productive but shifts when the returns fall off. These conclusions have come after actual daily physical contact with the Red army.

Whereas the British, American and French zones are fairly easy to enter and leave for Allied officers and troops on business or correspondents assigned to Germany and Austria, the same is not true of the Russian zones.

American and British pilots give the Russian zones wide berths because if they fly over them or even close along the zone borders they are apt to be shot at by anti-aircraft or attacked by Russian fighters. And there have been incidents of over-zealous Russian pilots buzzing Allied airfields and zones and engaging in a little free gun play, too. Of course these incidents fortunately are isolated and should not be permitted to exaggerate the situation.

But Anglo-American troops and pilots ask “Why should the Russians do this? There is no war on. They must know no German or Austrian military planes are flying.”

To the fighting men who came to believe Russia was a gallant ally in time of war it is difficult to explain this strained relationship in time of peace. As one British second lieutenant told the writer:

“What do these fellows want? Until the recent speeches and statements by Bevin, Churchill and Byrnes I felt our countries were practicing open appeasement with the Reds. Thank God our policy is tougher and more realistic. We don’t want anything from Russia except friendship and decent treatment. We have permitted the Russians to have a good go. But we don’t like being pushed around by the Soviets any more than by Nazis or anyone else.”

Scores stubborn Moscow attitude

One top-ranking American general said:

“Russia is Russia’s worst enemy. The stubborn Moscow attitude as we see it here in Germany makes the work of those of us who strive for understanding and co-operation between the East and the West virtually impossible. Usually if we reach a compromise it is due to one-sided contribution. As a soldier and one of considerable battle experience I trust Russia and the West never will clash in arms.

“It would finish the job which the war just concluded started of wrecking civilization and destroying a large section of the human race. But Russia can’t expect others to always agree or back down. Russia has no more right to play power politics than Germany had nor should Russia overplay the belief that the British, Americans, French and others can’t or won’t fight. Hitler and most of that gang in the dock down at Nuernberg thought this, too.

“If Russia ever were to fight in Western Europe most of the problems which confronted, baffled and defeated Hitler’s Germany would exist in a vastly greater degree for the Red armies. I don’t often pray, but if I did it would be for Russia to be given greater understanding and a willingness to trust us just a bit and not regard every proposal or move we make with suspicion.”

6

The Pittsburgh Press (August 3, 1946)

With shortages, high costs, etc.
British beefing louder now than during war because of conditions

Restrictions longer, more numerous; goods either scarce or nonexistent
By Virgil Pinkley, United Press vice president for Europe

Following is the sixth in a series of dispatches on conditions in Europe today.

LONDON (UP) – The British grumble and grouse far more today than ever they did during the war.

Why?

Greater shortages of food and clothes. Decreases in beer, spirits and cigarettes. Larger and longer queues. Extra red tape such as the hated new bread rationing with its complicated system of coupons. Housing and fuel shortages. Rising costs. Longer and more numerous restrictions.

Today the black market operates in Britain, although it is a tame affair in most respects compared with the black markets in full swing throughout continental Europe. Transportation difficulties grow worse. Consumer goods are scarce or nonexistent.

The mood of Britain today was mirrored this morning by fellow travelers in a local train running from delightful Harrow On The Hill where Winston Churchill attended school, flunking maths and languages but shining in English which one day was to help make him world famous, to Wembley and Baker Sts.

“I saved coupons and materials for three years to obtain curtains even though they don’t match for four rooms whenever we can find them,” said a slender young blond with big blue eyes speaking with a slight Yorkshire accent.

Housing situation same as in U.S.

She and a lady friend were seated opposite me in the compartment of a suburban train which before the war was bult to seat three on each side but now seats five on either side and today there were six of us standing, making a total of 16 in a space originally planned for six.

After several stations she observed I was reading the Times and Telegraph which carry more for rent advertisements than all the other London newspapers combined.

“May I see your Times for a moment,” the blond asked quietly. Seldom do British people address strangers. But she had an impelling reason.

“My husband is due home next month from Singapore and Burma,” she added with a proud toss of her head.

“I am trying to find furnished rooms,” she continued, “since I have given up hopes of ever finding a house.” She thumbed through eight pages which make up today’s Times although other London newspapers have only four pages.

Later I heard her tell her friend, “I haven’t seen my husband for four years and nearly two months. We were bombed out shortly after we were married in 1941. We had a cottage near York where a stream and the trees along its banks sang us to sleep a night. That was a long time ago and I am so tired. I have stood in queues so much and so long lately during the lunch hour and before and after work trying to get things Phil will like. But most of the things I can’t get. Poor dear.”

Further along the compartment I heard a man mumble with a pipe clinched in his teeth, “So 500 million pounds (about two million dollars) were bet last year. I don’t have a go often on anything except the Derby and Grand National, but I don’t blame the people for putting a bob (slang for a shilling or about 20 cents) on the horses, dogs or in football pools. There’s little else to do. You can hardly travel anywhere and when you get there you wonder why you came with no food and no beer and poor services.”

People have bally queueitis

A big red-faced man on his right added: “There’s not much fun left in life, is there. As I left my missus was leaving to join the food queues just as she does every day. She won’t be home from shopping until after midday. I’ll swear the people in this country have got the bally queueitis.”

Three persons away a little old lady whose face and hands show the accumulative effects of seven years of ration shortages, six years of total war plus housework, civil defense duties and family responsibilities said:

“I can’t get enough boot polish to keep our boys going. And what I shall do for soap, I don’t know. Of all these recent cuts in rations, the soap and milk ones hurt most.”

A man working in the city said and loud enough so all could hear, “Vote Labor in. Labor gets the job done. What false campaign slogans. You should have heard the working men complaining last night at the local about no beer. Serves them jolly well right.”

Right back came a road worker standing next to the door wearing a gray cloth cap, “Give labor a chance. After all our party has only been in office for a year. Aren’t houses starting to be built? Haven’t pensions been increased? Give labor a chance.”

Just as we were pulling into the station a gentleman next to me on the right told a friend, “This new bread rationing has been passed largely to create more civil servants. Today we have nearly one million civil servants and three times as many as at the beginning of the war. Before long there will be two classes. Those of us who support civil servants and the civil servants. I am not a Socialist, Liberal or Conservative but a Democrat.”