Excerpt

Saturday, November 6,1943

"There are great shortages, potatoes are not coming in. In these difficult days, one can observe people, equipped with bags and knapsacks, who suddenly appear. They are looking for something to eat, for anything that the owner forgot to harvest or did not consider worth harvesting: unappealing leek stalks or unsuccessful onions, small, stunted cabbage or shriveled kohlrabi. The hungry stomach is not fastidious, it wants to be filled. It does not covet lovely, highly nutritious fruits; the late harvest will do, no matter how scant it may be. Even a few beet leaves can keep one alive for an hour or two."