I was trying to think of the kinds of toys, books etc available for children during the war, and remembered the shortage of books. I found this interesting link: Typography versus Hitler—The Book Production War Economy Agreement Books became precious, and if we were given one for a birthday etc it was passed around carefully among a group of friends. There was always the library, but they were short too. As for toys, nothing much except for skipping ropes, balls etc.
In late 1944 and 1945 my father (who had been medically discharged from the RAF) and my grandfather (his father in law) made toys in their spare time. I believe these were mostly wooden toys such as scooters and rocking horses (very basic designs) Noel
At school,exercise books were used on both sides in pencil,then after the book was finished,the exercise book was used again using an ink nib pen....no shortage of ink in the ink wells as I remember. But as regards newspapers,in the absence of toilet paper,a use was found for newspapers....cannot recall any blocked sewage drains at the time....unlike the problems reported now.. The Germans suffered from a lack of cotton but found a solution in developing paper for medical bandages.I would think that there was an abundance of forestry in Germany so they must have possessed ample timber feedstock. Cannot remember many books available in general circulation at school but my mother's eldest sister always bought me aircraft books for my birthday....pity that they were lost over the years.Our neighbour's son who was from the RAF BEF contingent gave me an official AM pack of enemy aircraft cards which were used to acquaint RAF personnel with enemy aircraft identification purposes....a treasured possession at the time.
PAPER ECONOMY. HC Deb 23 July 1940 vol 363 c574574 §7. Lieut.-Colonel Sir Thomas Moore asked the Secretary of State for War whether he will issue instructions that the use of paper will be confined to a minimum in transmitting orders to, or demanding reports from, units of the Local Defence Volunteers? §The Secretary of State for War (Mr. Eden) Instructions have recently been issued for all possible economy in the use of paper and in the volume of returns called for in respect of all Army units and establishments. These instructions will apply to Local Defence Volunteers. §Sir T. Moore Will my right hon. Friend bear in mind that Local Defence units have neither typewriters, typists, pens, ink, nor paper except those supplied by themselves, and that therefore this suggestion particularly applies to those units? §Mr. Eden The hon. and gallant Member cannot be more anxious than I am to reduce the amount of paper that the Army is called upon to use. §Mr. Stokes Is the Minister aware that an ordinary Regular battery has to make no fewer than 25 returns per day? PAPER ECONOMY. (Hansard, 23 July 1940)
Newspapers - torn into little squares and hung on a string next to the toilet - not many people had mains drainage so it didn't matter. My Grandma used to call that place the netty. I expect newsprint in general had some priority, to keep people informed . I have one from 1944 which is densely printed, nothing frivolous like the current DM. I wonder how the Germans managed, they were notorious for keeping detailed records and accounts.
Don't try it with this book - the pages are far too shiny: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Print-Vict...preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch
Oh dear - I had an inkling at the back of my mind that I'd asked this before. Thanks Idler (blush). It's old age - I'll be 21 next Saturday.
Tricia. The NSDP controlled the press,therefore the German population did not have genuine information on the state of the war.The German population only had access to the Volkskischer Beobachter,the NSDAP newspaper which was published in Munich and available in the late afternoon in Berlin.The medium was used to declare the Nazi ideology and victories,such as those of 1940 but as the tide of the war turned against Germany,it was used to attempt to maintain the morale of the Germans.The other newspaper published was Goebbels's own Der Angriff which also came on to the streets in the afternoon.Both newspapers may have found other practical uses before reading,certainly afterwards,I would think.Alfred Rosenberg,an early editor of the Volkskischer Beobachter published a monthly magazine called the National Socialist Monthly.I'm not ware of the form it took. There was also another publication, Signal which had widespread print language editions.There was one English edition aimed at the US before December 1941 and the Channel Islands.I am not aware of the layout of the publication if it was in news sheet form or not. From the extensive German forest timber feedstock, I do not think the Germans would have a raw paper shortage but would cut back on what they would see as unnecessary production of a domestic commodity such as toilet paper.
Plenty of War Diaries I have looked at, especially 1940, are not on the official army forms but are typed or written on blank papers or even using the backs of notices taken off the noticeboards in the Admin Office. Some of these were even up at Divisional level.
Germany had lots of timber sources but the wrong kind of timber for wood pulp in many cases. They got a lot of this sort of timber from Axis allies and occupied territories as well as neutral Sweden. Massive paper production does require quite a bit of energy input and lots of water. Energy was an increasing problem in the Reich With regard to toys. Tin plate toys had been popular in both Germany and Britain before the war (and indeed was a significant German export) but production effectively ceased during the war because tin was needed for so many other things. Britain (the company) had their lead soldier production diverted into making other products but in Germany production of Elastolin figures made from a vegetable oil based plastic composite continued until 1943.At this stage most toy makers whose workshops had survived the RAFs city bombing campaign were absorbed into the total war plans and switched to producing other things. In Britain board games increased in popularity and not just amongst children - Ludo became very popular in the submarine service. Card games also flourished. Making simple toys became a useful money making sideline for some Italian POWs in Britain. Wooden toys that were still manufactured in Britain were no longer painted, as lead based paints had been common this was actually a safety improvement.
Have in my collection two original GERMANY 1:50,000 maps published by the War Office in 1945, one is of ISERLOHN, on the reverse side is: Großbritannien und Ireland 1:200 000 of SKEGNESS printed in 1942 The other is of HAMELN on the reverse side is: Irland 1:50 000 of MARYBOROUGH printed in 1940 Clearly there was a shortage of paper and the British Liberation Army seized stocks of paper/maps so these maps could be produced.
Firstly by 1945 there was a lack of paper production facilities but secondly if those are the maps I think they might be, there was a lack of linen or canvas reinforced map paper
