Home Fires Burning: Food, Politics, and Everyday Life in World War I Berlin » (1st Edition)

Belinda J. Davis is associate professor of history at Rutgers University.

Challenging assumptions about the separation of politics and everyday life, Davis uncovers the important influence of poorer women on German domestic policy during World War I.

Acknowledgments Introduction
1 Germany from Peace to War
2 Bread, Cake, and Just Deserts
3 Women of Lesser Means
4 Battles over Butter
5 One View of How Politics Worked in World War I Berlin
6 A Food Dictatorship
7 Soup, Stew, and Eating German
8 Food for the Weak, Food for the Strong
9 The End of Faith
10 Germany from War to Peace?
Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

Illustrations

Caricature of Berlin policeman in Wilhelmine Germany Bread line, 1915
"Don't get excited, Mr. Secretary"
Franz Stassen postcard, 1915
"The Inner Enemy"
"'Care of Youth'"
Women digging a subway line, 1915
"Her Majesty, the Saleswoman"
"They promise you cards"
Children fill the streets for a stew cannon
"Those in possession of milk cards will be taken care of first!"
State weapons factory, 1916
Fantasy postcard, 1917
Searching through garbage for heating fuel, 1917
"The Nightmare of the War Profiteer"
Police bring suspects for questioning about hoarding and reselling
"It's a sham, so I can hoard eggs and butter"
Butchering a horse cadaver in the street, 1918
Munitions workers strike, 1918
Demonstration of revolutionary workers and soldiers, 1918
German Democratic Party election poster, 1919

Maps

Greater Berlin, 1914-1918
Butter Riots, 14-16 October 1915

Figures

2.1 Grain and Potato Harvests, 1914-1918
2.2 Population by Sex, City of Berlin, 1913-1918
3.1 Average Cost of Food per Month, 1914 and 1915
7.1 Capacity and Use of Public Kitchens in Greater Berlin, October 1918
7.2 Capacity and Use of Public Kitchens in Germany, October 1918
8.1 Daily Delivery of Milk to Berlin, Prewar-1920
8.2 Wages of Unskilled Workers as a Percentage of 1914 Wages, 1914-1918
8.3 Rations as a Percentage of Peacetime Consumption, 1916-1918
8.4 Rationed and Average Actually Received Food in Germany, Winter 1916-1917
8.5 Civilian and Military Mortality Rates, 1914-1918
9.1 Black Market Prices in Greater Berlin, Prewar-1918
9.2 Monthly Worker Expenditures for Food, 1914-1918
10.1 Convictions of Women for Crimes in Germany, 1913-1920