Non-Holodomor: Russian cemetery in the winter of 1921-1922, with a large pile of frozen, unburied corpses in the foreground
Description
- Creator
- Nansen, Fridtjof, 1861-1930, Photographer
- Media Type
- Image
- Text
- Item Types
- Photographs
- Postcards
- Description
- This postcard presents one of the more frequently published views of this cemetery in Buzuluk in the Volga region of Russia. In each view we see a large number of frozen, partially clothed corpses piled high at the edge of the cemetery in mid-winter. There have been no authenticated photographs found to date portraying piles of unburied corpses at cemeteries in a winter setting during Ukraine's Holodomor. Photographs authenticated to date from the Holodomor show scenes from the spring and summer months - either mass burial graves sites or a single family grave site.
This photo was one of many used in newsletters, pamphlets, posters - and in this case, postcards, to raise awareness, garner sympathy, and raise funds, particularly in Western Europe, for the massive relief effort that was quickly organized in 1921 to help the starving regions of Russia and later, Ukraine. As part of the relief effort, food warehouses and temporary medical facilities were erected, transport logistics were developed and implemented and large numbers of outside volunteers came to train and support local residents in medical assistance and help in the distribution of food and medical supplies. All these efforts, including the conditions of the victims that were found, dead or alive, were carefully documented.
The main participants in the international relief effort were the American Relief Administration (ARA) chaired by Herbert Hoover and the International Committee for Russian Relief led by Fridtjof Nansen. The largest and most consequential by far was the ARA. Participants that coordinated with one or the other organization included, among others: the American Friends Service Committee and the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee from the US; and from Europe: the International Save the Children Union, Friends Emergency War Victims Relief Committee, and the International Red Cross.
- Notes
- Photo source: "La Famine en Russie" one of several postcards published to raise funds for famine relief. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Victims_of_the_1921_famine_in_Russia.jpg#/media/File:Victims_of_the_1921_famine_in_Russia_-_Nansen.jpg
For further evidence of the 1920s origins of this photograph, please see Related Features at right. - Inscriptions
- Caption: “Un coin de cimetière du pays dessèche. ‘Si les Gouvernements d'Europe avalent accorde les secours demandes en octobre 1921, tous les affamés auraient été sauvés.’ NANSEN.” [A corner of the parched country's cemetery. "If the European governments had taken up the rescue requests in October 1921, all the hungry people would have been saved." NANSEN.]
- Date of Original
- 1921-1922
- Subject(s)
- Local identifier
- PD825
- Collection
- Select 1920s famine photos from Ukraine and Russia
- Language of Item
- English; French
- Copyright Statement
- Public domain: Copyright has expired according to Canadian law. No restrictions on use.
- Recommended Citation
- "La Famine en Russie. Un coin de cimetière du pays dessèche." 1921-1922. (postcard) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Victims_of_the_1921_famine_in_Russia.jpg#/media/File:Victims_of_the_1921_famine_in_Russia_-_Nansen.jpg
Retrieved from: http://vitacollections.ca/HREC-holodomorphotodirectory/3636688/data - Location of Original
- Unknown
- Reproduction Notes
- Reproduced from Wikimedia Commons as cited above.
