The Bread of Affliction
The Food Supply in the USSR during World War II

This book tells how the Soviet Union fed itself after the invasion in 1941.

William Moskoff (Author)

9780521522830, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 8 August 2002

276 pages, 40 tables
22.9 x 15.5 x 1.7 cm, 0.41 kg

"William Moskoff has produced a very informative, logically organized, and carefully written account of a topic that is important....The Bread of Affiction is a major contribution to our understanding of the social and economic crises confronting the USSR during the war with Germany." Richard Bidlack, The Russian Review

This book tells how the Soviet Union fed itself after the invasion by the Germans during World War II. The author argues that central planning became much less important in feeding the population, and civilians were thereby forced to become considerably more self reliant in feeding themselves. A rationing system was instituted soon after the war began, but quickly became irrelevant because of the chronic food shortages. The breakdown in central supplies of food was accompanied by the diminished importance of the rouble, which in many places was replaced by bread and clothing as the medium of exchange. Although the Soviet army was given high precedence over civilians, the author also shows that the population living under German occupation was much worse off than were Soviet civilians living in the rear. In addition to extensive use of American and German archives from the war period, the author interviewed more than thirty Soviet emigres who survived the war.

Acknowledgement
Abbreviations
Introduction
1. On the eve of the War
2. The desperate months of 1941: invasion and evacuation
3. The German Occupation
4. Producing food for the Unoccupied USSR: the factors of production
5. Local food sources
6. The first priority: feeding the armed forces
7. Feeding the cities and towns: civilian rationing
8. White and Black Markets: the safety valve for civilian food supply
9. Crime and privilege
10. Death's dominion: the Siege of Leningrad
11. The newly liberated areas: restoring the food supply
12. The wages of hunger: direct and indirect consequences of wartime food shortages
Conclusion
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Second World War [HBWQ], European history [HBJD]