Famine in Russia, 1921-1922

1921-1922Volga region and southern Urals, Russia

W–065

During the famine of 1921-1922, people in the southern Urals stripped bark from trees to use as food. A Chelyabinsk album from the early 1920s includes a photograph of one such trunk, with a caption explaining the damage. Other pictures show queues at feeding stations.

The catastrophe affected the Volga region, the southern Urals and other parts of Soviet Russia. Civil war had devastated farming, reduced cultivation and disrupted supplies. Grain requisitions depleted village reserves; drought and the failed harvest of 1921 intensified an existing crisis. Historian Igor Narsky’s study of the Chelyabinsk album cites the contemporary official estimate that 22 million people in the Russian Soviet republic were recognized as suffering from famine.

Malnutrition came with epidemics and mass mortality. People left villages, and children without parents gathered at railway stations. Local relief commissions organized feeding, medical care, public works and the movement of children. Food and institutional accommodation remained insufficient. Archival records also contain accounts of the consumption of human remains.

A photograph of two people beside human remains was later published as evidence of cannibalism in Samara province in 1921. The available reproduction comes from Eric Baschet’s historical picture book. Their identities, the exact location and the circumstances in which the remains were placed there are unknown. The later caption establishes neither their guilt nor a relationship with the dead. This photograph has a different provenance from the Chelyabinsk album.

The American Relief Administration, or ARA, began operating in Russia in August 1921. It supplied food and medicines and supported kitchens and medical facilities. Its photographer Floyd Traynham worked in affected districts in 1922 and returned in 1923. His pictures record the famine and relief operations, but were also made for reports and fundraising.

Photographer Nikolai Sheludyakov compiled the Chelyabinsk album. Its ten leaves contain 92 photographs of lodging houses, hospitals, feeding stations, gardening work and material associated with criminal cases. The authorship of every individual picture cannot be established. The provincial famine-relief commission transferred the album to the museum in 1922. Narsky notes that it omits foreign organizations’ contribution, although they were working in the region.

Relief continued beyond the worst famine season. Traynham’s 1923 photographs show a hospital, a children’s home and dormitories. Some institutions bore the name of ARA worker Harold Blandy, who died of typhus in May 1922. Traynham attended his funeral in Moscow. The American mission ended in July 1923; the hospitals and children’s homes photographed that year belonged to the recovery from the famine.

Photographs and documents

Two people behind a table with human remains. A later caption places the photograph in Samara province in 1921; identities and exact location are unknown.Photographer unknown / reproduction via Wikimedia Commons

Sources and provenance for frame 1

Matches the submitted frame. A modern reproduction from Eric Baschet, Russia 1904-1924: The Revolutionary Years; the uploader describes cropping and perspective/contrast adjustment. Not a negative scan. The caption does not establish either person’s guilt.

The source identifies the historical image as public domain.

File: 2199 × 2990 px. Downloaded bytes preserved unchanged; separate uncropped WebP preview. Source file.

Photographer unknown / reproduction via Wikimedia Commons File on WITNESS · 2199 × 2990

Cover of History of the Famine in Chelyabinsk Province, transferred to the museum in 1922.Государственный исторический музей Южного Урала

Sources and provenance for frame 2

From Nikolai Sheludyakov’s album. The museum does not establish individual authorship for every photograph; it may include reproductions of other agencies’ material.

The source states no open licence; an available copy does not document acquired rights.

File: 1296 × 927 px. Downloaded bytes preserved unchanged; separate uncropped WebP preview. Source file.

Государственный исторический музей Южного Урала File on WITNESS · 1296 × 927

Women and children outside a Chelyabinsk lodging house. Album caption: “After sleep”. 1921-1922.Государственный исторический музей Южного Урала

Sources and provenance for frame 3

From Nikolai Sheludyakov’s album. The museum does not establish individual authorship for every photograph; it may include reproductions of other agencies’ material.

The source states no open licence; an available copy does not document acquired rights.

File: 1296 × 954 px. Downloaded bytes preserved unchanged; separate uncropped WebP preview. Source file.

Государственный исторический музей Южного Урала File on WITNESS · 1296 × 954

A group beside human remains. The Chelyabinsk album identifies them as people recording a crime. 1921-1922.Государственный исторический музей Южного Урала

Sources and provenance for frame 4

From Nikolai Sheludyakov’s album. The museum does not establish individual authorship for every photograph; it may include reproductions of other agencies’ material.

The source states no open licence; an available copy does not document acquired rights.

File: 1296 × 864 px. Downloaded bytes preserved unchanged; separate uncropped WebP preview. Source file.

Государственный исторический музей Южного Урала File on WITNESS · 1296 × 864

Work to establish a garden on Aloe Pole in Chelyabinsk. 1921-1922.Государственный исторический музей Южного Урала

Sources and provenance for frame 5

From Nikolai Sheludyakov’s album. The museum does not establish individual authorship for every photograph; it may include reproductions of other agencies’ material.

The source states no open licence; an available copy does not document acquired rights.

File: 1296 × 864 px. Downloaded bytes preserved unchanged; separate uncropped WebP preview. Source file.

Государственный исторический музей Южного Урала File on WITNESS · 1296 × 864

A tree stripped of bark. The album caption states that local people used it as food. Chelyabinsk province, 1921-1922.Государственный исторический музей Южного Урала

Sources and provenance for frame 6

From Nikolai Sheludyakov’s album. The museum does not establish individual authorship for every photograph; it may include reproductions of other agencies’ material.

The source states no open licence; an available copy does not document acquired rights.

File: 918 × 1296 px. Downloaded bytes preserved unchanged; separate uncropped WebP preview. Source file.

Государственный исторический музей Южного Урала File on WITNESS · 918 × 1296

Children being prepared for evacuation in an isolation ward. The catalogue states the destination as Bashkiria. Chelyabinsk, 1922.История России в фотографиях / Музей Южного Урала

Sources and provenance for frame 7

Catalogue date and description. Individual photographer unestablished.

The source states no open licence; an available copy does not document acquired rights.

File: 1024 × 661 px. Downloaded bytes preserved unchanged; separate uncropped WebP preview. Source file.

История России в фотографиях / Музей Южного Урала File on WITNESS · 1024 × 661

People beside a train used for evacuating children. Chelyabinsk, 1922.История России в фотографиях / Музей Южного Урала

Sources and provenance for frame 8

Catalogue date and description. Individual photographer unestablished.

The source states no open licence; an available copy does not document acquired rights.

File: 1024 × 430 px. Downloaded bytes preserved unchanged; separate uncropped WebP preview. Source file.

История России в фотографиях / Музей Южного Урала File on WITNESS · 1024 × 430

People queue at a feeding station. Russia, 1922.Hoover Institution Library & Archives / ARA Russian operational records

Sources and provenance for frame 9

Copy from the Hoover Institution exhibition; the largest successfully obtained variant is used. Historical inscriptions and the source reproduction’s boundaries are retained.