Working to Fight Hitler

This story was submitted to the people’s war site by a volunteer from London on behalf of Mrs. Hilda Best and has been added to the site with her permission. Mrs. Hilda Best fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

“Working to fight Hitler”

Hilda Best was approximately in her 30’s when the Second World War broke out and she was situated in Oxford. Her father managed the local Co-op based in Cowley and this is where Hilda worked. Since the men were fighting, the women took over the occupations previously carried out by the men.

“Since my father was the manager it didn’t make any difference that I was his daughter and I was treated like all the other employees in the shop”.

They all had a good time together. The feeling of closeness between the employees and the customers was further strengthened because everyone hated Hitler

“Everyone was working to fight Hitler, all the terrible things he had done, spurred people on to work harder”.

Working in the Co-op during the war for Hilda was a very important job. Due to the rationing, it was up to Hilda and her colleagues to keep things going. Rationing was a central aspect of how the shop was run. Hilda and the others were given strict guidelines as to how much food there was to be given, and the customers knew exactly how much food they could have and exactly what there was to have.

“It wasn’t disheartening, because everyone was able to live happily with what they had…we had to make do and mend”.

Hilda loved working in the Co-op; she got on very well with the customers. Hilda recalled that there was a weighing machine to weigh up the groceries. The items were placed on scales, money was dropped into a slot and any change left rolled out of machine and was given back to the customer.

Making certain recipes, which required ingredients that were in shortage were difficult to produce. However, during desperate circumstances, recipes were altered to fit with what was available. Hilda managed and enjoyed creating new recipes. There were lots of ration recipes that came into view and Hilda and her family lived reasonably well.

“We didn’t starve, the rationing made us think how to make fancy food go farther, and someone would say ‘look I’ve made so and so’ and they would swap recipes”.

Hilda said that everyone had enough and made do with what they had. “It wasn’t fancy but it didn’t matter because the support between people kept everyone going”

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