Famine
-
The Holodomor comes from the term moryty holodom which translates as “death inflicted by starvation.” A man-made famine that convulsed the Soviet Republic of Ukraine from 1932 to 1933, peaking in the late spring of 1933. Millions of Ukrainians were killed in the Holodomor, engineered by the Soviet government of Joseph Stalin. The primary victims…
-
The 1943 Bengal Famine, also known as the Great Bengal Famine, was a catastrophic event that resulted in the deaths of an estimated 2 to 3 million people in the Bengal province of British India. This famine was one of the most devastating famines in the region’s history and had profound social, economic, and political…
-
The Dutch Hunger Winter, also known as the Hongerwinter, was a devastating famine that gripped the Netherlands during the final months of World War II, from November 1944 to April 1945. This period of extreme hardship left a profound mark on Dutch society, shaped the collective memory of the war, and offered critical insights into…
-
One might be forgiven for thinking the photo above is from a very impoverished country, but it is not. In fact, it is a photo of a family living in one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Even during World War II, the Netherlands was a country of wealth—albeit not all the wealth was…
-
Operation Market Garden was a failed operation by the Allied forces, which would have dire consequences for the Netherlands in the following winter. Irish journalist and author Cornelius Ryan wrote the book A Bridge Too Far about the operation. Market Garden was divided into two parts.Market: Airborne forces (of Lieutenant General Lewis H. Brereton’s First Allied Airborne…
-
On 5 September 1944, exiled representatives of the three countries, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg signed the London Customs Convention, the treaty that established the Benelux. A politico-economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of the three neighbouring nations. However, that is not why 5 September 1944 would become known as Dolle Dinsdag or Mad Tuesday. Many…
-
During the winter of 1944/45 approximately 20,000 citizens died in the so-called Hunger Winter, the Dutch famine. A German blockade cut off food and fuel shipments from farm towns. Some 4.5 million were affected and survived thanks to soup kitchens. As the war was wrapping up in April of 1945, in an effort to alleviate…
-
Before you ask, I know absolutely nothing about fashion. Then why do a piece on fashion in World War II? I hear you say. There is no particular reason, but after all the heavy subjects I usually explore, I decided to go with a more lighthearted one for a change, while still staying on the…
History of Sorts 