1 9 4 6:
The First Year
After the War

Here is an anonymous opinion piece that appeared among the closing pages of the August 24, 1946 issue of Collier’s Magazine in which the writer expressed his surprise in finding that peacetime, after such a hard-fought victory, should seem so anti-climactic:

“How is the world doing a year after VJ-Day?

The most optimistic answer one can make is: Hopefully, thanks, but not too well.

Hunger is prowling large areas of the earth. The United States, as in the first years following World War I, is carrying most of the burden of famine relief. It looks like a long pull, though it is hoped the worst may be over next month.”

“Consumers goods are so scarce everywhere that all major countries are suffering more or less inflation. A wave of big strikes in this country earlier this year slowed production badly, so that it seems impossible for us to freeze our own relatively mild inflation at its present point.”

Read about American censorship in Occupied-Japan…

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Additional articles about the daily hardships in post-war Germany can be read by clicking here.