DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY PROPERTY OWNERS/CONDITIONS ON FARM/FARM STATISTICS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00047R000200430009-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 17, 2013
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: January 30, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

50X1 e /!j
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'Nit CLASS iFI0,00] ON COPJFTOENT-I L-Security In-Pnrma+inn
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCU AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
COUNTRY Germany (Sawiet Zone)
SUBJECT Difficulties Experienced by Property Owners/
Conditions on Farm/Pair, Statistics
PLACE
ACQUIRED
DATE
ACQUIRE
INFORMATION
TNIS DOCUY[NT CONTAINS I
THNFO RYATION AFFECTING TNf NATIONAL OLFLN S!
OF THE UNITF0 STA TL S~ SIIN TNf YEAH INS OF TITLE IS, SECTIONS 1.7
AND 754. OF THE U.S. CODE? AS AMENDED. ITS TRANSMISSION OR AEV!?
LOTION OF ITS CONTENTS TO OR RECEIIT SV AN UNAUT NONIEED ICRSON IS
?SONISITEO SV LAN. TOE AEIRODUI:TION CF THIN FORTS IS PROMISIT[D.
DATE DISTR. 30 Jan 53
NO. OF PAGES
NO. OF ENCLS.
(LISTED BELOW)
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
50X1
1. The following deals not with people in particularly bad condition (seen from
the Soviet Zone viewpoint); to the contrary, they belong to the "possessing"
who still own some private propet.y - moreover., they have the bad reputation
of formerly having been "capitalists", "exploiters" and"profiteerss" of their
employees.
2. The.owners of the property to be discussed here are a married couple: :nuaband,
68 - wife,, 66. To be correct there are two properties, the one in the city
of Neubrandenburg and the other in the country. The former does not yield
any profits but carries the burden of taxation. It was the main soiwce of
the couple's income until 1945? It was valued at 52 thousand marks and con-
sisted of (a)'home and storage buildings and (b) a somewhat larger building
for' a' Drell-e-quipped cabinetmaker- ? s shop. Part of the furniture sold was
manufactured in the shop. A motor truck business so called "licensed goods
transportation" was attached. It operated a three-ton truck and two
trailers which were lost without conpensation to the "Wehrmacht" and also a
new "Wanderer" passenger car. All of the buildings burned down to the
ground. The complete loss included valuable home furnishings.
Tne.property on which the couple is living now was originally only a week-end
lot, which, however, on account of a well-kept lake V.th good fishing and
also some hunting, did not require any expenses. To the contrary, it
brought some profit from the sale of fish and lobster. This property called
Hartwigsdorf am Kreuzsee was valued at three thousand marks. After the
property in the city had been lost, the couple naturally tried to use their
country property for both a home and a source of income.
4N There is one morgen (0.63 acre) under cultivation and also an area not
under cultivation, like roads and a yard. The house has a reed roof and no
basement. It contains a three square yard porch, one heated bedroom, one
unheated room, kitchen and toolroom. There is no bath, no toilet, no
electricity, no gas, no sewage disposal. The toilet is in the stable
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lrfoZ mation
enclosed by walls. When the authori_aes conducted a hygienic checkup, they
ccdmrmented favorably beeaa.se it h.:.c a iii. -
The stable i op_)ositc the living quarters and has room for two large
animals (horse or cattle), -which however are not kept at the time beia3_
They have now two goats, five pigs, 24 chickens and two geese. The stable
has a partial one-third basement. for :storage of feed. This building d _. .
not, exist in 1945 but was financed i aediately thereafter from the sale of
a diamond.
6. Like elsewhere, considerable looting by Soviet soldiers took place but they
did not find buried valuables like jewe l.ry, silver and furs.
7. There are the following dogs: one watch og and three cocker spaniels one of
them male) All dogs are very alert. Up to a year ago the cocker span:.e' s
were bred. However, this was discontinued partly because the breeding pair
became too old and partly because of thy:: change of conditions
8. Nourishing medicines for puppies are la,-..king and so is a market for good
dogs. They are no more allowed to be exported from the Soviet Zone. in-
side the zone there is no demand because of lack of money and because hcmnt-
ing is prohibited by the authorities. Formerly, feeding for a three-mouth
old dog amounted to 50 marks at the most and it sold for 500 marks, conee-
uently a breeding pair could bring as much as 1500 marks a year. Today
Lecember 19527 costs are higher than income because the ceiling is 50 marks
according to the motto "Dog is dog". The village curs can easily meet the
demands of the entire zone. More likely than not anyone wanting a dog can
get him for free.
9. The reasons for the continued keeping of the cockers are not only humane-
but also the alertness of these dogs. The farm is .very l ans o e the next
village is over one kilometer away. Registration of dog breeding has,
therefore, not been cancelled. For this reason four dogs cost as much in
taxes as one because of the taxation laws.
10. Eight years ago an orchard was sto-rted with approximately 100 trees yielding
now a relatively good and valuablf crop, but the famous "Dog is dog" translated
into "Fruit is fruit" prevents a fair return. There is a ceiling pr-ice or.
fruit which must not be overstepped in any case; as a result the most tI'ey
can get is 35 marks for 100 pounds. The state-owned stores sell much higher.
The state is the only one who may profiteer.
11. As mentioned before the lake bro?qg-ht considerable income until 19k5. It had
an abundance of lobsters which were in good demand, and paid for as a luxury
30 pfennigs a piece. In addition, the following kind of fish were found:
pike, tench and carp.
12. The lake was well-kept; it has a good hard rocky bottom, good water and good
vegetation. In 1941 a n d 1942, o and two year old tenches were put in,
also carp and one thousand trout. If this is done every four or five
years, uniform yield can be expected (warp need not be put in this frequently).
But in 1945 and 1946, the Soviets by means of bombs, bazookas and cluster
charges, made an end to the fishez in the lake, including the young ones and
the lobsters. To bring the lake back to product; ion it would be necessary to
(a) stop fishing entirely for some time, and (b) put in new fish again and
let the lake get enough time to get well,. However, means to buy young fish
are lacking, the bucks, bogs and large nets have been. stolen and replacements
of these tools is impossible and besides it would not make sense to catch a
young fish if there were any.
13. Disregarding the actual condition of the lake (counting on the size of the
lake only) the owners must deliver 10 owt of fish per year for which 20
pfennigs a pound is paid; 20 marks for a hundredweight. If the obligation
is not fulfilled, expropriat.on is threatened, not of the momentarily
worthless lake but of the whole property. Of course, the owners tried to
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3.4
point out to the authorities the eo.idition the lake is in, but were told
"bombs in the lake" was a lie,. The : rner because of lack of tools cannot
do fishin, ? +..imseif, if there was anything to be fished out of the lake, but
he can let somebody e3_se do the fishing for a wage which would be higher
than the yield. Consequently, the oni;r thing he can do is to buy the
fishes at, 30 marks per cwt and sell them for 20 marks. The master fisher
has refused to do the fishing for 300 marks wage because of the lake' s
rocky bottom which would tear up his large net valued at four thousand
marks. Regarding deliveries of fishes to the state stores, the same motto
"Dog is dog" or "Fruit is fruit" appears as "Fish is fish", except for the
fact that the state stores know luxury fish when selling them at a price of
six to ten marks a kilo (two pounds) for which they pay a maximxm c=? 40
pfennigs'per kilo.
To-the topic of putting in young fish, this might be added: One hurdredweight
of one-year old tench is priced at 110 marks; two-year old ones are corres-
pondingly higher. Transportation is 10% of the price on the averae, but
only the 'higher priced luxury fishes are actually available. Even if one
assumes that conditions will be better after five or six years, it would
still be impossible to restore the lake with fish because nobody in the
Soviet Zone can afford to tie down money without interest for five or six
years. Of course, the age of the earners has also something to do with this.
They will probably be unable to do the hard work five or six years from now
and will have to go to a home for the aged.
1;5. The following figures for expenses and income are of the last year (1951)
(first column) (second column,, green in German original is West Germany).
They are, therefore, partially incomplete for the year 1952 but prices have
remained unchanged. They should, therefore, represent a true picture of
this year provided no losses from diseases of the animals occur.
Expenses
Yearly property taxes
Yearly taxes - dogs
Feed to be bought: a) 80 cwt potatoes (black market
6 per cwt)
b) 30 cwt hay(Open market - per cvt)
c) Rent from meadow - mowing, handling and transporta-
tion of hay, vehicle to be rented
d) Chicken feed (black market 85 cwt at 20 each)
Pig feed (85 cwt at 20 each)
Purchase of seven farrows - 40 marks each
Repair material: nails, wi.re, boards, window glass
(mostly through black market)
Kerosene for lamps - home and stable
Expenses for soap, washing powAer, groceries (bread
and noodles are no mor. rationed)
Loss from delivery of fishes
Expenses for apparel - the most vital necessities can
be taken care of by the wife through mending
salable - no buyer with money for reconstruction is
found yet - practically no one would. take for free)
Property tax
72
Liability and street cleaning
92
East West
(in m x -
100 100
50 50
480 24 0
120 120
10 10
35 3:5
160 4O
1700 400
350 175
500 100
240 100
1+50 1450
100
and fixing garments given to them mostly from the US -
Expense for underwear - two paar-s of socks for the man jr,
2 pairs of stockings for the women. 8
Expense for shoes - one pair for the man - Iselite ersatz 80
No shoes bought for the wife, here came also from the US
Expense for the Neubrandenburg property )(property is un-
Interest on mortgage
TOTAL
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100
4
6
40
leather
5, 662 2,A370
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Eaa!
isosite is income as follows
Disability premium (for Instance for 70% disabled man)
90 0
Sales: 6 pigs at 600 marks each after transportation
3600
1500
Fish
200
:;_000
Fruit (delivered to state doors)
1t0
500
Fruit (private sales)
150
Private sale of one gold and diamond ring
1200
GROSS INCOME
771-1-50
350
Consequently, it almost looks like a profit of
6 2
~'r?
16. Under normal conditions the hard work done by these two old people would even
today bring its just reward. The property would be profitable since tie
animal s fed with normally priced feed provide good profits. Of Course . the
orchard was also started with gains from the sale of high quality fruit in
mind. The same could have been expected from the sale of lobsters and fishes
from a well-kept lake. If this property were located in Ttern Germany all
of the factors reducing its value would disappear. The had work done is
also very inconvenient in another respect. The next towns where bustriess
can be transacted are 10 and 12 kilometers from the property and unfortunate-
ly can be visited only by bicycle. Other occasional transportation being a
lucky exception.
17. Theoretically speaking, the couple ought to give up this tremendously hard
work without profit but there is no way for them to do so because they sm-
ply would not know where to go and disregarding the fact that they would not
get a permit to live in any of the cities of the Soviet Zone, they would
even less be able to cover the expenses of living in a city. For tizii;
reason, they try to keep their property by an occasional sale of their few
remaining pieces of Jewelry for another few years. of course, this :idea of
"holding out" is closely connected with their hope that one day this will
get better also in Eastern Germany. They hope that Soviet influence will
disappear and a free economy will automatically bring normal prices into
being.
18.
Following are some prevailing pr-e.ces in the Soviet Za-s oppos. to the
Federal Republic of Germane; East AR F=t
in rak::~.~
1 pair of leather shoes
Butter (one kilogram)
Rice (inferior quality) (1 kilogram)
Oats (1 kilogram)
120
20
360
106
t 7
l
1
Noodles (1 kilogram)
2,4o
100
Coffee (not sold in the Soviet Zone) (1 kilogram)
'to
Tea (bad) (50 grams)
1.38
io kg
Cocoa (not sold in Soviet Zone)
8 kg
J?aWer(not sold in Soviet Zone)
Vegetables (hard to get in Soviet zone, easily in Western
io kg
Germany at varying prices)
Flour (1 kilogram)
1.60
.80
Margarine
(1 kilogram)
14
2.40
Work pants
- men
44
25
Work dress
- women
50
20
Fabric for overcoat - men
18 to 30 8 (approx)
Knitting wool (unavailable in Soviet Zone)
io kg
19.. A great r-a?t,~;f the food, especially the food under rationing is of inferior
quality. Textiles and leather goods or substitutes for the latter are al-
ways of inferior fast outwearing quality.
20. It must not remain unmentioned that some items do not appear at all - for
instance, the important question of heating fuel. The embankment of the lake,
.a partly narrow and partly wide strip of land, is part of the property and
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i? ?NFIDENTXAL - 4 curity Information
contains a fair: 1,y large numb -ar of :6j-aes, some of which are cup, every year.
Expenses from cutting, transportati,?.;;m , splitting are mostly covered. wi thout
money, either by giving part of the mod, or by rendering other services. 50X1
which the couple is able to furnish. (a kind of mutual neighborly help) e
21. Expenses for medicine for man and, animal or other smaller items are covered
by earnings for carpenter work
22. Regarding income from the property, it might be added that income from farm
animals is a safe one as long as the animals remain healthy and usab .. The
small,size of the property is an advantage because no obligation to deli7er
meat is connected with it. This would be the case if there were only a few 50X1
more square meters of productive area.
23.
not in Berlin and the Soviet Zone-) me ey could be taken from private aa,c- 50X1
counts in banks and other monetary institutions. The limit was 300 marks
per month. Nobody who had savings needed to sell his last belongings if
he had no current earnings. In Eastern Germany all private accounts are
still looked today. There are no reports whatsoever that allied soldiers
of the West ever maliciously destroyed the fish life of a valuable lake.
Even if this had happened, the German owner would have been able to restock
the lake. According to this the lake would have been back to normal and
nobody in the West would have asked for impossible deliveries (in addition
damage caused by the occupation ~,,recognized and reimbursed) though not
by the occupying powers, but by the German authorities. Consequently after
1950 considerable income from thx lake could have been had. Quality fish
command a good price just as before the war.
2I. Taxes in the West are the same a.,, in the East but pensions are much higher
than in the East and partially a:'-so in Berlin. The average is 50% zmciri .
The Neubrandenburg property coul:t have been rebuilt or, at leant, sold.
There heavy private construction.; in the West, while the East the st;ai.e i
the only builder. In any case, it would have been possible to get rid of
any obligations from this property.
25. Construction of the stable from the sale of property would have been pos-
sible In the West after 1945 under approximately the same conditions as
in the East. Breeding of dogs is still profitable in the West, although
the prices for puppies are no more quite so high.
26. It had been planned formerly to convert part of the lake into a beaver farm.
Expenses for the plant are high, but so are profits. Credit is available
in the West in cases like this, but the couple would not have needed any
because they could have used the money from the sale of their jewelry for
this purpose.
27. Quality fruit: has its proper price in the West. At this time one kilogram
of good apples costs 1.20 marks to 1.50 masks.
28. Finally, regarding animals, farmers and breeders themselves are interested to
sell, their products in the West. They sell and buy3and prices for the most
part are determined by market conditions which in itself is sound. Of
course also in the West the last war is strongly felt by everybody and
nobody can accumulate sufficient working capital quickly due to the eager-
ness and tenacity of the tax collecting office.
29. Prices of hogs are lower in the West than in the East, but actual gains are
higher in the West because feed doe not cost black market prices. Also
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O
.
1F:IDENT.UL Security Xnformatl '7 ~r 50X1
al legal trade and not the black market is res
onsibl
p
e for supplying
nails, wire and other repair material. The gain-and-loss sheet would,
therefore, show an entirely different picture. Expenses would be lower and
gains hi
her
g
.
30. For this reason =have put the column "WPst 1t
r
original.) besides the colulm "East". It shows a
nice surplus. ~Of course,
one could lightheartedly dispense with primitive discomforts and have
higher expenses. again.
50X1
31? this comparison is not just pla
it i
i
y,
s
ntended
to shc,r
why people over there hold on.fi. Hope is too great th
t
a
one day the German
East will find contact again with culture and civilization.
32. Note: No gains are shown from the kee
the following: ping of chickens. This is e p:ai+ed by
a) The larger part of the chickens are too young.
b) Eggs obtained from laying hens are either used in the householt,
given instead of money for help received. Too few are sold for
pfennigs to play a role in the entire financial picture.
Assuming that dogs could be bred profitably in the West, the following wound
have to be added:
Expenses:
Breeding of three puppies
2870
150
Sale of three puppies
3020
k650
71.Q
00
Minus expenses of
3020
Profit
2380
Assuming and deducting 25% profit taxes
755
Would still leave profit of
(without sale of jewelry)
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