APPENDIX IV

FOOD RATION SCALES

35th (Bed) Casualty Clearing Station

Distribution Revised Ration, Belsen Concentration Camp Issue effective 15th May 1945

Item	Scale 1	Scale 2	Scale 3
1. Bread, white yeast dough or biscuits	Nil	10 oz	3½ oz
		7½ oz
2. Meat, frozen or fresh or boneless or preserved	Nil	5 oz	3½ oz
	Nil	3¾ oz	2 oz
	Nil	3¾ oz	2 oz
3. Vegetables, fresh or tinned or dehydrated	Nil	8 oz	4 oz
	Nil	4 oz	2 oz
	Nil	[?] ½ oz	[?] ¼ oz
4. Onions, leeks or shallots	Nil	½ oz	½ oz
5. Potatoes, fresh Potatoes, dehydrated	Nil	20 oz	4 oz
	Nil	4½ oz	1 oz
6. Peas or beans or lentils	Nil	1 oz	½ oz
7. Cheese—skimmed milk	Nil	1 oz	Nil
8. Sausages (salami or mortadella)	Nil	2½ oz	Nil
9. Tea or coffee	Nil	[not legible]	[not legible]
	Nil
10. Sugar	1 oz	2 oz	1 oz
11. Salt	½ oz	½ oz	¼ oz
12 Jam or syrup or honey	Nil	¼ oz	½ oz
13. Fruit tinned, sulphated or preserved	Nil	1½ oz	Nil
14. Milk skimmed, fresh or skimmed, powdered	2 litres	½ litre	1½ litre
			4½ oz
15. Pepper or paprika	Nil	1/100 oz	Nil
	Nil	1/50 oz	Nil
16. Cone. liquid soup	Nil	Nil	½ oz
17. Flour	Nil	1 oz	½ oz
18. Oatmeal, spaghetti, macaroni or vermicelli	Nil	Nil	1½ oz
19. Oatmeal		[not legible]	[not legible]
20. Spaghetti, macaroni or vermicelli		[not legible]	[not legible]
21. Fish, tinned (excluding sardines)	Nil	4/9 oz	Nil
22. Butter or margarine	Nil	1 oz	1 oz
23. Cooking fat or oil	Nil	2/7 oz	Nil
24. Compound vitamin tablets	3 tabs	1 tab	3 tabs

Scale 1: For starvation and serious febrile cases in two hourly feeds Scale

2: Applies to hospital workers and patients fully convalescent Scale

3: Applies to hospital patients not fully convalescent

Doherty Collection, Yad Vashem Archives, Jerusalem, Israel, 0-70/36, volume 1, item 100A.

Belsen Camp Hospital

Ration Distribution Sheet

22 August 1945

Canteen No. Item	Used mostly Scale II	Staff (less a certain amount) Scale III	Total commodities
	Total oz Patients	Total oz Patients
1. Bread (white) yeast, dough or biscuits	15	5
	7½	3¾
2. Meat, frozen or fresh or boneless or preserved	5	3½
	3¾	2
	3¾	2
3. Vegetables, fresh	8	4
4. Onions, leeks or shallots	¾	½
5. Potatoes, fresh or dehydrated	20	4
	4¾	1
6. Peas, beans or lentils	1	½
7. Cheese, skimmed milk	1	-
8. Sausage, salami or mortadella	2½	-
9. Tea or coffee	¼	¼	(if short, some beans baked and ground as substitutes)
10. Sugar	2	1
11. Salt	¼	¼
12. Jam, syrup or honey	¾	½
13. Fruit, tinned, sulphated or preserved	1½	-
14. Milk, skimmed, fresh	½ litre	1½ litre	Adults skimmed milk. Children full or dried. Maternity full or dried.
15. Pepper or paprika	1/100	-
	1/50
16. Conc, soup liquid	-	½
17. Flour	1	½
18. Oatmeal, spagetti, macaroni or vermicelli		1½
19. Oatmeal	1½	-
20. Spagetti, macaroni or vermicelli	1½	-
21. Fish–tinned		-
22. Butter or margarine	1	1
23. Cooking fat or oil	2/7	-
24. Compound vitamin tablets	1	3

Cigarettes issued when available—two per person per day. German DP staff as well. Eggs and milk to be more severely rationed shortly.

Breakfast	7 am
Dinner	12 midday
Supper	7 pm

Doherty Collection, Yad Vashem Archives, Jerusalem, Israel, 0-70/36, volume 1, item 100B.

Daily scale for DPs/POW, Belsen In operation 1 November 1945

Commodity	Oz	Grams	Calories
1. Bread (f) or biscuits (a)	12	336	790
	7	196	817
2. Meat, fresh (a) or meat, tinned (c) or meat and vegetables (a)	2	56	114
	1½	42	102
	1½	42	102
3. Vegetables	4	112	17
4. Potatoes or bread and flour	14	392	255
	2	56	132
	¾	21	69
5. Peas or beans or lentils	1	28	85
6. Nutrition food	1	28	94
7. Coffee substitute or coffee (English)	½	14	-
	¾	21	-
8. Sugar	11/4	35	140
9. Milk Children (under five years) or milk, tinned or milk, powder Others milk, fresh or milk, tinned or milk, powder	½ litre
	7	143	46
	2	56	78
	2	-	-
	2/3	-	-
	-	-	-
10. Fish–tinned	4/7	16	27
11. Jam	½	14	35
12. Salt	3/8	10½	-
13. Margarine or butter	5/7	20	149
14. Cooking fat or lard		4	35
15. Soup, dehydrated or tinned meat	½	14	61
	½	14	30
16. Offal or sausage	15/7	48	182
17. Cheese (German)	1/3	10	11
18. Fruit fresh (d)	2	56	18
19. Flour	¾	21	69
TOTAL			2128

Notes: (a) twice a week; (b) once a week; (c) thrice a week; (d) when available; (e) children up to five years of age will get ½ litre of fresh milk or 7 oz tinned milk or 2 oz of milk powder; (f) 10 oz of bread and 1½ oz flour may be drawn in lieu.

Daily Scale C (additional to scales A & B)

Commodity	Grams	Calories
Meat	5	10
Fat	7.5	60
Flour	5	17
Nutrition food	7.5	26
Sugar	8.75	34
Cheese	5	15
Quark (sour milk made into cheese)	5	11
Eggs	5 to 6 per 28 days, when available
TOTAL		188 [sic]

Notes: 1. DPs and POW suffering from Tb will receive the following extra daily rations on the recommendation of the medical officer: 2 eggs, 1.136 litres milk (1¾ pints).

2. Pregnant and nursing mothers, daily after fourth month: ½ litre fresh milk, 100 grams nutritive food.

Daily Extra

Commodity	Grams	Calories
Meat	35	73
Fat	7	53
Bread	143	350
TOTAL		476

Scales A + C combined (adults and children)

Commodity	Oz	Grams	Calories
1. Bread	12	336	790
2. Meat, fresh or tinned or meat and vegetables	2	56 + 5	114+60
	1½	42	102
	1½	42	102
3. Vegetables	4	112	17
4. Potatoes or bread and flour	14	392	255
	2	56	132
	¾	21	69
5. Peas or beans or lentils	1	28	85
6. Nutrition Food	1	28 + 7/5	94 + 6
7. Coffee, substitute Coffee, English	½	14	-
	3/4	21	-
8. Sugar	11/4	35 + 8.75	140 + 60
9. Milk, fresh Milk, tinned Milk, powdered	5	0.143 litres	46
	2	56	78
	⅔	18	84
10. Fish, tinned	4/7	16	27
11. Jam or honey	½	14	35
12. Salt	3/8	10½	-
13. Quark (sour milk made into cheese)	-	5	11
14. Margarine or butter		20	149
15. Cooking fat or lard	1/5 + 71/2	4 + 7	35 + 60
16. Soup, dehydrated or tinned	½	14	61 or 30
17. Offal or sausage	15/7	48	182
18. Cheese (German)	1/3	10 + 5	11 + 15
19. Fruit, fresh	2	56	18
20. Flour	3/4	21+5	69 + 17
21. Eggs, 5 or 6 per 28 days, when available

Notes: 1. DPs and POW suffering from Tb will receive the following extra daily rations on the recommendation of the medical officer: 2 eggs, 1.136 litres milk (1¾ pints).

2. Pregnant and nursing mothers should receive dally after the fourth month: ½ litre fresh milk, 100 grams nutrative food

Doherty Collection, Yad Vashem Archives, Jerusalem, Israel, 0-79/36, volume 3, Items 334, 336.

Report on Feeding of Patients in Glyn Hughes Hospital, Belsen [Summarised]

Messing Officer,

Glyn Hughes Hospital,

Belsen

24th November 1945

Feeding is difficult for UNRRA staff Ration scale DPs, used by British Army—new scale November 1945—did not reduce calorie value—did cause dissatisfaction with patients…who were under the impression that they were being given less food because UNRRA had taken over the hospital! Not permitted to give same variety as formerly; now impossible to serve roast beef, meat loaf, etc. because each down—other items added to keep calorie value up viz. 2362 calories per day. Fresh meat two times a week, tinned meat other days. Patients complain not getting enough bread, milk, meat, or [any other] item or diet that they feel is not being given to them. Any complaint investigated—for Tb patients’ application has been made to DID Sub Depot for additional food.

Milk not always available—this being investigated. Eggs scarce—none received for six weeks—do have egg powder. Eggs are a necessity for those patients who are suffering from Tb and anaemia, the supply depot [doesn’t] have any.

Lack of variety a problem. Reduction in meat allowance—causing problems with cooking good meals.

Reduction in bread allowance 16 oz to 12 oz per person per day another point of dissension. Lack of rolled oats also a problem.

Fresh fruit—always on request. We are not in receipt of any dried fruit, etc. On the whole all patients are receiving an adequate diet, but rather a monotonous one—every effort is at all times being made to vary it as much as possible.

A sample menu is quoted hereunder:

Breakfast

Sausage, bread, butter, jam

Coffee or cocoa

Dinner

Full diet

Beef stew, boiled potatoes, creamed turnips, gravy, bread

Light diet

Milk soup, mashed potatoes, creamed vegs, gravy, bread, milk pudding with raisins

Supper

Bouillon soup with celery and parsley

Fish or cheese or quark

Bread, butter, jam

Coffee or cocoa

Stewed fruits

Special diets as ordered

Doherty Collection, Yad Vashem Archives, Jerusalem, Israel, 0-70/36, volume 3, p. 337.