The post-war winter of 1946/47 was one of the coldest ever recorded and became known as the 'Hungry Winter' in Germany.

General Lucius Clay said about the bitter winter of 1946/47: "I feel that the Germans should suffer from hunger and from cold, as I believe such suffering is necessary to make them realize the consequences of a war which they caused."

There are touching stories too. Imgard Schulz (then 11) remembered she had 'never seen anything to beautiful as the snow-white bread' a British soldier offered her with corned beef. She refused, as her mum had told her to, but the Engländer insisted until her hunger triumphed.

Many Germans remember the 1947 winter as something that brought out the best and the worst in people.