The Great Famine is a well-known low point in Irish history. The 19th-century famine, which arose as a result of a potato blight, caused a million deaths and led to the emigration of another million Irish people. Much less known is that the same potato blight raged in other countries, including the Netherlands and Belgium. In the Flemish canon, ‘the Potato Crisis’ still has a place, but in the Netherlands, few know about the famine that killed 20,000 people, especially in the Betuwe, let alone remember it.
A famine is quickly forgotten, even one in the Netherlands
Famines are the order of the day in 2025, but you hardly read about hunger in Europe. Yet this does not mean that we can feel safe: famines have taken place all over Europe in recent centuries, and if we do not remember, it could happen to us again. The Heritages of Hunger research project illustrates this. ‘Famines are often caused by human action.’
Why does a food crisis with thousands of deaths in one country have an emphatic place in historiography, while other countries ignore it? ‘The scale of the crisis plays a role, of course, but also how a famine fits into the narrative that countries create about themselves,’ says Lotte Jensen, professor of Dutch Literary and Cultural History. ‘In the story of the Netherlands, the emphasis is on our struggle against water, leaving less room for memory of famines.’
‘You see something similar in Finland,’ says Marguérite Corporaal, professor of Irish Literature in Transnational Contexts. ‘There, the famine of 1866-1868 did not fit into the narrative of Finnish independence so very little is known about it today, despite the fact that over 250,000 Finns died.’
Human action causes famines
In the NWA project Heritages of Hunger, Jensen and Corporaal, together with Ingrid de Zwarte of Wageningen University, and colleagues and consortium partners from Ukraine, Finland, Greece and Spain, among others, spent five years researching famines. Corporaal: ‘Through this international, comparative perspective, you discover things you wouldn't discover when studying famines at the regional or national level.’
The comparative research not only offers insights about the culture of remembrance in different countries, but also draws attention to some of the characteristics of famines. ‘While crop failures and natural disasters certainly contribute to food shortages, it is mainly human actions that cause famines.’
The researchers share these and other insights in a variety of ways. 'In NWA research, there is a lot of focus on disseminating scientific knowledge to a wider audience. One way we have done this is by collaborating with people from the museum world and education'. This has already led to a major conference in Canada, a digital exhibition and educational materials that can be used in several countries. As the final piece of five years of research, the scientists developed an accessible policy document, which they presented earlier this month to Kathleen Ferrier, president of UNESCO Netherlands. The paper, available in both Dutch and English, includes insights from the research and concrete recommendations for specific target groups, such as teachers and policymakers.
Overtaken by current events
During the project, the researchers were regularly overtaken by current events. Corporaal: ‘Initially, we collaborated with an institute from St Petersburg, but the invasion of Ukraine forced us to sever those ties. It would have enriched our picture on the Holodomor, the Ukrainian famine in 1932 and 1933, if we could also use Russian sources. In that sense, we lost a valuable partner.'
In addition, during the five years of research, media coverage of famines outside Europe increased considerably. ‘Think of the crises in Gaza, Sudan and Yemen,’ says Jensen. Europe currently remains unaffected, but that does not mean that famines cannot occur here. ‘If our research into historical famines has taught us anything, it is that famines can occur anywhere, including here in Europe.’
Contact information
- Organizational unit
- Faculty of Arts, Radboud Institute for Culture and History
- Theme
- History, Art & Culture