Senate Reserve

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The Senate Reserve was a legally mandated supply of the Senate of Berlin in case of a second blockade of West Berlin .

history

After the Berlin blockade in 1948/1949, the three city ​​commanders of West Berlin commissioned the Senate to set up storage facilities for basic food , medicines, coal, fuels, raw materials for industry and many other everyday items. The intention was that in the event of a new blockade in Berlin, a "normal" life in the western part of the city would be secured for at least 180 days, i.e. six months, and a blockade would no longer make sense.

In 1953 it was decided to enlarge the Senate reserve; On this occasion, Eleanor Lansing Dulles came to the city as Berlin manager of the US State Department and witnessed the unrest of the June 17 uprising .

For decades, around four million tons of goods were stored in the Senate Reserve. At times there were over 700 camps in West Berlin and relatively few people had detailed knowledge of them.

With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the end of the Cold War , the Senate Reserve was dissolved. 90,000 tons of food, medicines and other goods were given to the Soviet Union free of charge as humanitarian aid in 1990/1991 .

The coal stocks were burned in the Berlin power plants.

Stocks

The value of the goods in store was around two billion D-Marks (adjusted for purchasing power in today's currency: around 1.82 billion euros), and the permanent exchange of goods for fresh products, the so-called "rolling", cost several million marks a year.

The high costs of the stocks and the constant exchange were paid for with financial aid from the federal government .

The Senate sold the old stock to the population at a low price; Recipes were found in cookbooks that included goods from Senate reserves in the list of ingredients, for example, canned beef was called “Senate Reserve” or “Schütz meat” - after the mayor of the time , Klaus Schütz .

Stocking (selection) for around two million West Berliners:

Grocery cards and reference cards

In order to be able to deliver goods to the population in an orderly manner in an emergency, reference cards and food stamps were produced in the Berlin Federal Printing Office :

  • Infants up to 1 year of age: baby card, milk card A (see photo), special reference card, soap card
  • 1–3 years: children's menu, potato menu 200, milk menu B, special purchase card, soap menu
  • 4–5 years: children's card, supplement card C, potato card 200, milk card B, special purchase card, soap card
  • 6–8 years: children's card, supplement card D, potato card 300, special reference card, soap card
  • 9–13 years: basic card, supplement card B, potato card 500, special reference card, soap card
  • 14–19 years female: basic card, bonus card B, potato card 500, special reference card, soap card
  • 14–19 years male: basic card, supplement card A, potato card 500, special reference card, soap card
  • From 20 years: basic card, potato card 500, special reference card, soap card
  • Adults and young people from 16 years of age: smoking card
  • Adults and young people aged 18 and over: reference card A
  • Children, adolescents and adults: authorization to send postal parcels (12 parcel stamps, see photo)

  • Infant card from the Berlin Senate Reserve

  • Parcel stamps from the Berlin Senate Reserve

Senate reserve camp (selection)

Memorial plaque on the former barracks area in Berlin-Tempelhof

literature

Web links

Commons : Senate Reserve  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files