The Swedish bread

The Swedish ships Dagmar Bratt and Noreg arrived in the port of Delfzijl on 28 January 1945. The holds of the ships bulged. The ships each carried two thousand tons of food and medicines. Two million kilos of flour per ship: enough for one loaf of bread for every Dutch citizen. But the holds of the ships also contained peas, margarine, cod liver oil, barley, milk powder and dried vegetables.

The dock workers set to work diligently. The German soldiers have never seen them work so hard. The work went on day and night. The food was transferred to barges. But the population of Delfzijl? They didn't get a crumb. There was no starvation in the port city. The ships of the Swedish Red Cross attracted a lot of attention.

"Of course their arrival was not announced, but everyone knew about it," recalls Dini Godlieb-Tjaden (1929-2010) from Delfzijl. “My father worked in the port at the time. Everyone knew what the cargo consisted of.” She took a look with her mother. ‘The harbor was closely guarded, but from a dike you had a good view of the harbor. The Swedish ships were docked at the so-called beam harbor, which was always used for unloading wood.'

The ships are an attraction. “You must remember that at night everything was darkened, no light was burning anywhere. But for these ships an exception was made. They were brightly lit, so you could clearly see the red cross on the deck.' This makes the neutral status of the ships also clearly visible to Allied bombers. Mrs. Godlieb didn't regret not getting any of the Swedish bread.

"We weren't hungry here. The food was perhaps a bit monotonous. We got milk and wheat from the farmers. We ground the wheat ourselves in the coffee grinder.” On February 6, the first convoy, consisting of ten ships, departed. Three days later another fourteen ships followed. Via the canals they sailed towards Harlingen and then they crossed the IJsselmeer. On 13 February posters hung in the windows of the western part of the Netherlands: '400 grams of bread, free to collect'. Specially selected bakeries received an extra ration of oil to light the ovens. On February 27, the time has finally come: the distribution of the first loaf of bread. On the return journey, Captain Nils Vesterling of the ship Dagmar Bratt takes a letter from two Amsterdam women to the Swedish king. The letter is written in Swedish.

As one of the happiest of thousands, I turn to You to express my sincere gratitude for the gift you and Your people have given us. We received two delicious loaves of bread and half a pound of butter. It was delicious. Your Majesty and the Swedish people! May God bless you for all that you have done for us, for the hunger and cold were terrible and so your gift was especially useful. Thanks, a thousand thanks. Thanks also to the Red Cross for their mediation. God bless this mediation in this perilous time. Sincerely and thank you very much. Ms. L. Koens and Ms. Cardinal, Amsterdam.