Alexa Narayan
Professor Humphreys
History 371
13 November 2018
The Dutch Hunger Winter
With increasing rates of obesity throughout the Western world, a 20th century European famine may sound surprising. However, the Dutch famine of 1944-45, better known as the Dutch Hunger Winter, was a very serious and tragic event that resulted in the death of at least 20,000 people. The rare circumstances of this famine’s duration and location have provided a unique opportunity for scientists to study the epigenetic effects of famine on prenatal development. While tragedy of this famine will not be forgotten, it leaves us with important data to better understand human health.
In September 1944, trains stopped arriving in the Netherlands (Zimmer). This was a result of the Dutch railroad workers striking in hopes of stopping the transportation of Nazi troops (Zimmer). This strike quickly failed and the German administration retaliated by placing an embargo on all food transports to the Western Netherlands (Dirkdeklein). Six weeks later, the ban was uplifted, but it was too late (Dirkdeklein). Due to the the fall of the railroad network and German commandeer of goods, the food supply remained dismantled (Dirkdeklein). Food stocks and rations in the cities were the first to run out, and with the river already frozen there was no hope of import (Dirkdeklein). People journeyed from the city to the countryside and traded their valuables with the farmers for food, but soon they had nothing left to give (Dirkdeklein). The ration in Amsterdam that had begun at 1000 calories per day in November, had rapidly dropped to 580 calories per day by the end of February (Dirkdeklein). This low level of calorie consumption was equivalent to that of some of the worst concentration camps (Harrison). Eventually, the people became so desperate that they used tulip bulbs as an onion substitute (Dirkdeklein).
Although the famine was started by the Germans, the abnormally harsh winter made the situation far worse. Electricity and heat were turned off, making the people not only hungry but very cold (Dirkdeklein). Furniture and houses were dismantled to provide fuel for heating, but the effort was unsustainable (Dirkdeklein).
Being surrounded by wealthy Western countries certainly helped in terms of relief efforts. At the end of January 1945, the Red Cross imported flour by barge from Sweden, but it took until February to distribute this Swedish white bread (Dirkdeklein). In April, with the permission of the Germans, Allied planes were able to drop food parcels over the Netherlands and by May, allied troops brought in food by foot (Dirkdeklein). However, organizing a fair distribution posed a great challenge (Dirkdeklein). An Amsterdam resident wrote, “… today again the engines of the heavy bombers could be heard over a jubilant Amsterdam, when will this food be distributed” (Dirkdeklein). This quote shows that the process of distribution was dysfunctional and resulted in not only frustration, but also led to many avoidable deaths.
Beyond the international support, the people of less affected regions of Netherland did what they could to help those who were worse off. Specifically, the North was far better off than the West. Primarily through churches, around 50,000 children from the west were sent to the north to be cared for (Dirkdeklein). Without this support, thousands more would have likely died. A major and well documented relief effort was that of Princess Margriet whom started a Babyhuis (Baby House) in Gronigen. A group of ladies supported this initiative to help the infants and the people of Groningen contributed money and food (Dirkdeklein). The mothers of these babies faced a difficult choice of whether to watch their child starve or to send them across the country with complete strangers. However, the program made it easier by sending a letter back to the mothers each week with updates on their child with things such as first words and teething progress (Dirkdeklein).
Recent studies have brought to light to some interesting epigenetic observations that resulted from the Dutch Hunger Winter. In the early 1980s, David Barker, English epidemiologist, noticed a paradox: although overall rates of cardiovascular disease increase with rising national prosperity, the least prosperous residents of a wealthy nation suffer at the highest rates (Schulz). After a series of studies, he proposed that an adverse fetal environment followed by plentiful food in adulthood may be a recipe for adult chronic disease (Schulz). This theory is now referred to as the Barker Hypothesis (Schulz). A key test of this hypothesis comes from ongoing studies on the children of the Dutch Hunger Winter. Although a tragic event, the Dutch Hunger Winter provided perfect conditions for study of the effects of intrauterine deprivation on subsequent adult health as it lasted about a year, affected people of all social classes, and was followed by a period of plenty.(Schulz). The first conclusion of this hypothesis was that reduced birth rate is not a good indicator of later adult disease (Schulz). Women exposed to the famine during late gestation had babies with significantly reduced weights, yet women exposed to the famine during early gestation had normal birth weights (Schulz). However, only the babies with normal birth weights were found to be predisposed to chronic adult diseases (Schulz). The second conclusion of the hypothesis, was that a critical window of development exists (Schulz). Those who were exposed to the famine late in gestation were born small, yet had lower rates of obesity than those who were exposed to the famine during early gestation (Schulz). The third conclusion was that fetal adaptations to scarcity only become maladaptive when they are abruptly shifted back to a lifestyle of plenty (Schulz). This was seen when comparing the Dutch to the people of the U.S.S.R. The people of the U.S.S.R faced a similar famine, however, the shortages lasted longer into the beginning stages of the children’s lives and they did not exhibit higher rates of adult obesity (Schulz). Although tragic, the Dutch Hunger Winter provided an environment for groundbreaking study and discovery in the field of prenatal epigenetic that would have been otherwise unattainable due to ethical reasons.