Other items sometimes included in the Red Cross parcel were a package of cigarettes, a little can of jelly, or occasionally, peanut butter. Peanut butter was considered a delicacy. You could trade it for anything, a chocolate bar, or even cigarettes. A Red Cross parcel was a gift from heaven.
Black Bread - What’s In It? The broth and the black bread, on the other hand, were not a gift from heaven. It was barely enough to sustain us. After the war the contents of the bread were checked. It was found to be 55 percent sawdust. This is what we ate, it was filling. As far as taste was concerned, there may have been a taste to it, but it wasn’t a taste that I remember. It was food, so it was great. But when we got the Red Cross parcels, that was memorable. The barracks were built up on stilts about three feet high. So this notion that prisoners could dig tunnels and link barracks or escape couldn’t be done. The barracks were up in the air. At night the guards would turn the dogs loose. We could hear them running around. We were told we were not to attempt to escape. There were stories of retribution, that for one man escaping, ten prisoners would be shot. And, it was believed that the war would probably be over by Christmas. At about that time, the Germans started their advance (the Battle of the Bulge) towards the American lines. The word came back that the Americans had been pushed to the seas. The notion of the war ending by Christmas went by the wayside. Sergeant Shultz, bless his heart, came in one time with a picture. It showed just rubble and in the middle of the picture was the Empire State Building. He told the prisoner who could understand German that the Germans had bombed New York City. But the Empire State Building in the picture was still there. It was propaganda, promoting the fact that they were bombing the United States. Obviously, if New York City had been bombed, the Empire State Building would not still be standing. This propaganda attempt 35