The Irish Famine, also known as the Great Famine or the Potato Famine, happened between 1845 and 1852. It mainly occurred because the potato crop failed across the country, which was the staple food of the Irish population. A disease called late blight destroyed the potato harvests for several years in a row, not just in Ireland, but also in Scotland, Flanders, the Netherlands and Germany. British colonial policies made things worse in Ireland, by increasing poverty and dependence on the potato crop prior to the famine, and by not providing sufficient relief during the crisis. As a result of the famine,about one million people died from hunger and sickness, and more than a million people emigrated from Ireland in search of survival and a better life elsewhere.

In Finland, a series of bad harvests due to poor weather led to the ‘Great Years of Hunger’ from 1866 to 1868. However, these followed a period of already ongoing food shortage. Crop failures led to a shortage of food supplies, particularly grains like rye, which was a staple in the Finnish diet. The government’s slow response and insufficient relief measures resulted in the devastating famine. About 8-9% of the people in Finland at that time, estimated at around 150,000 in total, died from hunger and related illnesses.

During and after World War I, Germany experienced food insecurity due to economic warfare, including a blockade. Agriculture suffered because there were not enough workers, animals for farming, land to grow crops, and coal for moving and processing food. On top of that, hyperinflation made money worth less, so buying basic things became really hard. All these problems combined led to hundreds of thousands of civilians dying from diseases related to hunger and malnutrition.

Due to agricultural reforms and economic policies implemented under Joseph Stalin, in 1932 there was famine in parts of the Soviet Union, including parts of Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. In late 1932 and early 1933, policies specifically directed at Soviet Ukraine were put in place: unrealistically high food quotas, forced food requisitions and the restriction of (internal) movement, for example. As a result, the famine in Ukraine became much worse. Estimates of how many people died vary widely, but scholars generally agree that about 4 million people in Ukraine lost their lives due to starvation and related causes. The Holodomor has been recognized as a genocide by several states including Ukraine, Canada, the US, as well as the European Parliament.

After the civil war in Spain, from 1939 to 1952, there was a long period of hunger, hitting the poorest people in the south especially hard. The worst “hunger years” (1939–42 and 1946) were a real famine, comparable to those in other European contexts during the 19th and 20th century. Franco’s dictatorship blamed it on the previous Republican government and damages from the civil war, along with Spain being isolated internationally and the occurrence of continuous drought. However, studies show the true cause was Franco’s very strict economic policies that lasted a long time. The consequences for the impoverished population were malnutrition, starvation, disease and poor housing conditions. To survive, people came up with new ways to make food and sometimes did illegal things like black market trading, stealing, and smuggling.

During World War II, from 1941 to 1944, the city of Leningrad (now called Saint Petersburg) in the Soviet Union was surrounded and almost completely cut off by German military forces. This siege stopped all supplies from reaching the city and trapped its residents, causing extreme shortages of food, heating fuel, and other essential items. The severe winters made the situation even more desperate, leading to a lot of people suffering and dying from hunger, cold, and disease. Estimates suggest around one million people died from starvation, disease, and the brutal conditions of the blockade, making it one of the deadliest sieges in history.

During the final months of World War II, the German-occupied western Netherlands went through a severe famine known as the ‘Hunger Winter’. The famine resulted from several transportation and distribution difficulties linked to the Allied liberation of the southern Netherlands, including a national railway strike, a German embargo on inland shipping, severe fuel shortage and a heavy frost period. Over 20,000 people died during the famine.

The famine in Greece during World War II was caused by a combination of factors. These include the occupation by Axis powers, disruption of food supplies, inflation, communication break-down and the Allied blockade that prevented food and resources from entering the country. The number of people who died during this famine is thought to be between 100,000 and 450,000.

After World War II, Germany faced hunger and food insecurity mainly due to the widespread destruction of its infrastructure, farms, and cities during the war. The extensive Allied bombings and combat inflicted widespread destruction on the country, making it hard to produce and move food around. This situation caused hunger not only for people living in Germany but also for various groups on the move, such as displaced persons, refugees, individuals who fled the former eastern part of Germany, and former concentration camp prisoners.

During the Berlin Airlift of 1948-49, food was transported by air to West Berlin because the Soviets had blocked off the roads.

The black market refers to an illegal or underground network where goods or services are traded or exchanged, often evading government regulations, taxes, or restrictions.

A blockade is when a military or government tries to stop things like goods, supplies or people from getting into or out of a certain area controlled by an enemy, to apply economic pressure.

Diaspora communities are groups of people who have moved away from their original homeland and now live in different parts of the world. They maintain connections to their culture and identity while also contributing to the cultural diversity and growth of the places they now call home.

There are many different definitions of famine. In this exhibition, we have chosen to refer to famines using the definition as employed by the UNHCR. Namely, a famine is a situation in which a substantial proportion of the population of a country or region are unable to access adequate food, resulting in widespread acute malnutrition and loss of life by starvation and disease. This and similar definitions of famine highlight that famines are not caused by a lack of food, but the inaccessibility of food.

Being food insecure, means that one does not have access to sufficient or adequate food to meet one’s basic needs.

Food substitutes, also known as food surrogates, are cheap and available food items that replace more expensive or unavailable food during times of famine. These alternative foods are often called ‘famine foods’.

A kolkhoz was a type of collective farm that existed in the Soviet Union.

Propaganda is the dissemination of biased or misleading information, often through various forms of media, aiming to influence public opinion and promote a particular agenda or ideology.

A ration card (also known as a ration coupon or ration stamp) is a card issued by a government to allow the holder to obtain food or other goods that are in short supply during wartime or other emergency situations when rationing is in force.