While officials in southern Africa are thinking about twenty years from now, Mrs. Hessling, who lives in Munich, is worrying about the next dinner for her family.
In the second year after the outbreak of the World War, Germany began to implement food rationing. From bacon and ham at the beginning to cabbage and now potatoes, Mrs. Hessling received less and less food every day. Today Mrs. Hessling
After waiting in line for four hours, I only received ten potatoes. These ten potatoes were the entire food quota for Mrs. Heslin's family for the next week.
Don’t be too little, Mrs. Heslin’s husband is a professor at the University of Munich. If you think about the status of a “professor” in German academic circles, you will know how prominent Mr. Heslin is.
The famous "professor" only has ten potatoes a week, which ordinary people can imagine.
You know, Mrs. Heslin's family has six people.
No, there are only five of them now. Mr. Heslin's eldest son Carl died in the Battle of Verdun last year.
That's not right, maybe there are only four, because Mr. Heslin's second son Erwin was captured by the Allies in the second year after the outbreak of the World War, and there is no news until now. Mr. Heslin does not know whether his second son is still alive.
The past few years have been very difficult for Mr. Heslin. His eldest son died in battle, his second son was captured, his eldest daughter died of childbirth, his son-in-law married his second daughter, and now his second daughter is pregnant again, but the eldest daughter passed away.
The shadow of the epidemic shrouded this unfortunate family. The second daughter received a doctor's examination a month ago. The doctor recommended strengthening nutrition, otherwise the second daughter would also be in danger when giving birth.
But in this miserable era, nutrition is a very luxury. Even a professor cannot get enough nutrition for his daughter.
Well, needless to say enough, it is very difficult to survive.
Mrs. Heslin went home with her neighbor Mrs. Melk. Mrs. Melk's husband also taught at the University of Munich. Their family had a relatively small population, and both of their children died in the World War.
There were only an old couple left in the family, so Mrs. Melk only received three potatoes.
It hasn't snowed yet in Munich in October, but the weather is already very cold. The clothes Mrs. Hessling wore were bought before the outbreak of the world war. Since the outbreak of the world war, Mrs. Hessling has never bought any more clothes. At first, there were
Money couldn't buy it, and later the mark depreciated rapidly, and he was no longer qualified to enter the store.
Mrs. Heslin and Mrs. Melk were in heavy moods along the way. They were not in the mood to talk, and solemnly said goodbye at the door of their home.
Damn this world, no one knows what will happen tomorrow. Last month, an associate professor at the University of Munich and his wife committed suicide by burning charcoal at home. The body was discovered by a neighbor a week later.
When I got home, the house was deserted. During the World War, there was not only a shortage of food, but also a shortage of fuel. At this time in previous years, the fireplace should have been lit. Don't even think about it this year, unless you use Mr. Heslin's book collection to keep warm.
"Mom, you are finally back. Grete is so hungry that she keeps crying." Emma, the second daughter who is waiting for delivery at home, is due to give birth in three months. Grete is the daughter of the eldest daughter. Although the eldest daughter died on the delivery table, the baby
After surviving, Mr. Heslin let his granddaughter inherit the name of his eldest daughter, still called Gretel.
"Wait a minute, I'm going to cook." Mrs. Heslin tried to smile. No matter how difficult life was, she had to smile.
Before walking into the kitchen, Mrs. Heslin asked casually: "Where is your dad?"
Emma didn't answer and looked up at the attic.
Mrs. Heslin was not surprised at all. At this time, Mr. Heslin should still be studying his "great" quantum mechanics in the attic.
Clean the potatoes and cook them directly in the pot. Normally, you have to peel them, but potato skins are also very precious now. We don’t have much coal at home. The damn French are still asking for Germany’s largest coal producing area.
They wanted to freeze the Germans to death in this cold winter.
The small flame worked hard to dissipate heat. Mrs. Heslin took Gretel out of the room and warmed herself by the fire. Any waste of heat was shameful.
After packing everything, Mrs. Heslin held up the hem of her skirt and went up to the attic, banging open the wooden door of the attic.
"Please be quiet and close the door." Mr. Heslin was busy writing without raising his head. His desk was piled with documents, and the floor of the attic was piled with books. There were so many books that he opened a library.
That's enough.
"Mr. Heslin, can you put aside your damn quantum mechanics for a while and pay attention to your daughter and granddaughter's dinner? Can quantum mechanics be used as food?" Mrs. Heslin put her hands on her hips and walked over to Mr. Heslin in an imposing manner.
The ears shouted loudly.
"Can you please lower your voice? The more we are in darkness, the more we have to look up to the light. You were not like this before." Mr. Heslin did not dare to speak loudly, he only dared to whisper in a low voice.
"Of course I wasn't like this before, otherwise you wouldn't marry me, but life can drive a lady crazy. I'm going to be driven crazy by this damn life. I want to find a way to do something, even if it's with Hu
It's okay to go to the train station to work like Ge, but you can't let me, an old woman, carry bags at the train station!" Mrs. Heslin didn't want to solve the problem, she just wanted to vent her resentment.
Mr. Heslin is now 60 years old. It is obviously unrealistic for a 60-year-old man to do manual work at the dock, not to mention that Mr. Heslin is still a professor, the kind of professor who is very likely to win the Nobel Prize in Physics.
Hugo is Mr. Hessling's son-in-law, and he is now carrying bags at the Munich train station.
This job is not very respectable, but Hugo was once Mr. Heslin's most outstanding student, otherwise Mr. Heslin would not have married both of his daughters to Hugo.
If it hadn't been for this damn war, then Hugo would have been an outstanding scientific researcher, the kind of researcher who could be called a "scientist" in a few years.
"Old woman, can you give me a quiet environment and see what you have done? You have made a mess of my work." If it is just a simple complaint, then Mr. Heslin can endure it, but if it affects Heslin
Mr. Heslin will firmly resist Mr. Heslin's work.
"You have made a mess of my life! I just want my daughter and my granddaughter to have enough to eat. Is this very demanding?" Mrs. Heslin looked hysterical, but in fact Emma was not.
Lady Heslin's daughter.
Mr. Heslin's first wife died ten years ago. Now Mr. Heslin's four children are all born to Mr. Heslin and his first wife. Therefore, although Mrs. Heslin often disturbs Mr. Heslin's work,
But Mr. Heslin was grateful to Mrs. Heslin.
Mrs. Heslin treats Mr. Heslin's four children as her own, and treats Gretel like her own granddaughter. Heslin's children treat Mrs. Heslin as if they were their biological mothers.
"Old woman, give me a little more time. I have already discovered something. As long as I complete my current work, I can apply for the Nobel. By then we will have a large bonus and our lives will be improved." He
Mr. Slim explained patiently.
"Nobel, Nobel, you have been telling me about Nobel for four years, but where is Nobel? Nyasaland University is also going to award you the 'Star Prize', why don't you accept it?" Mrs. Heslin was aggressive.
The Star Award is an award set by Nyasaland University. The specific awards and selection criteria are similar to the Nobel Prize, but the prize money is much higher.
"The Star Award is an award for the British, and I am German." Mr. Heslin has simple values. Germans will oppose anything British.
Regardless of whether this statement is correct or not, in Germany in 1917, this statement was correct, and it could even be extended to everything the Allied Powers did. As long as it was anything the Allied Powers did, the Germans would oppose it.
"Mr. Abu, who recommended you to win the Starry Sky Award, is German and has died in Germany, but Mr. Rudolf Diesel, who is still alive in southern Africa, is also German. The potatoes I brought back today were also shipped from southern Africa.
Yes, do you want to eat later?" Mrs. Heslin transformed into Gatling and sprayed Mr. Heslin unable to reply.
"You still have to eat." Mr. Heslin immediately lost his spine. Where are his simple values at this moment?
"Eat* you!" Mrs. Heslin transformed into a certain singing god. This is the German version of "Those who don't work must not eat."
Just before dinner, Hu Ge finally came back after a busy day at the train station.
"Honey, look what I brought back." Hu Ge was beaming and carefully took out a paper package from his pocket. Inside the paper package was a sausage and a box of chocolates.
"God, where did this come from?" Emma's serious surprise suddenly burst out, making Hugo feel that the day's hard work was worth it.
"Meat sausage! Chocolate! That's great Hugo, you are such a good boy." Mrs. Heslin was also pleasantly surprised. Then she looked at Little Gretel, who was staring at the potatoes. Mrs. Heslin's eyes were immediately filled with tears.
: "Poor little Grete, she hasn't eaten chocolate yet"
Chocolate is something that has disappeared from ordinary families in Germany since the outbreak of the World War. As a professor at the University of Munich, Mr. Heslin was able to find a way to get some back in the two years before the outbreak of the World War. In the past two years, even
Mr. Heslin could not obtain such luxuries.
"Today the train brought a lot of food and daily necessities. I helped a southern African officer solve a problem. The sausage and chocolate were given to me by the southern African officer. He also asked me to go to him tomorrow and said he would help me.
Find a job." Hugo was very happy. Any job opportunity now is very valuable, especially working for Southern Africa. It is simply a good job. Even if there is no pay, there are many Germans who are willing to take it.
ps: Although it is water, I also try to make it more exciting. I originally wanted to write a new book, but after talking with the editor, I found that it is not practical to write a new book now. I don’t know whether I can write about foreign modern history next time.
