The Diaries of Besieged Leningraders (1941-1944): Representations of a Mass Famine during World War II.

Abstract

During the siege of Leningrad by the Nazis and their allies between 1941 and 1944 (one of the most deadliest events of World War II), famine caused hundreds of thousands of deaths among the civilian population. How did people react to malnourishment and its impact on the body and mind? The diaries kept by hundreds of ordinary men and women provide an insight into the intimate perception of the famine as these events were unfolding. While the extent of food deprivation is heavily downplayed (even concealed) in Soviet propaganda, it is absolutely central in the diaries. At the crossroads of history and literature, this article examines the challenges of addressing the experience of hunger: the search for resources (linguistic, literary, historical), the attempts at verbalization, and the limits of language. Ultimately, the diarists furnish us with an invaluable testimony of unmitigated malnourishment, giving us the unique opportunity to it see through the eyes of the starving.