All prisoners dreaded the months during which the Soviets took command; the Soviets were much stricter in their enforcement of prison regulations and offered poorer quality meals. Each nation in charge would bring its own chef; during the American, French, and British months, the prisoners were fed better than regulations called for. The Soviets, in contrast, would offer an unchanging diet of coffee, bread, soup, and potatoes. This rigidity was primarily due to the much-loathed Soviet director, who perpetually enforced these measures and whom Soviet and Western guards alike feared and despised. This director was suddenly removed in the early 1960s. Afterward, matters, including diet, were improved.