What is particularly striking in the surviving lists ofseed yields is that while the total harvest in kilos in1945 is very low, Rijk Zwaan still has many differentvarieties of which he sometimes has just a fewdozen grams in stock. Apparently, during that lastdifficult winter of the war he managed to hang onto small quantities of a large number of varietiesfor seed production. His seed breeder’s heartmust have triumphed over his empty stomach,even during this difficult period.TobaccoRijk Zwaan is very concerned about the Germanoccupation, and as the war drags on, conditionsbecome increasingly dire. The cataloguepublished in January 1944 is printed on paper thatillustrates the scarcity of good paper (it wouldtake until 1948 before the catalogue regained itspre-war appearance). At the end of 1943, the seedharvest is better than in previous years, partlythanks to the ‘mild’ winter.However, due to the lack of raw materials, meansof production and energy in the West, there issoon a shortage of many seed varieties. Rijk Zwaancomplains in January 1944 that he cannot supplyany type of endive or leeks. He can only includea few varieties of pole and stem runner beans inhis catalogue too, and there are still a number ofseeds he cannot get hold of despite the hugedemand. One good illustration of the hard timesin the final years of occupation is the thicknessof that catalogue. It contains only ten pages forthe 1943-1944 season, while it was still 32 pagesthick in 1940-1941. In the last year of the war, duringwhich the hunger winter costs many lives in thewest, there is no printed catalogue at all. However,a typed copy of a few pages has thankfully beenpreserved.1944-1945Liberation celebrations, may 1945.1940-1945 | World War II33TurnoverFTE15720
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