In the years 1920-21, the Soviet Union was hit hard by famine. Civil war had wiped out grain stores, and drought affected harvests. Struggling peasants and Gulag prisoners alike fell victim to starvation. Hungry individuals ate what they could find – the last of their livestock, cats and dogs, and then finally, fellow human beings. Cannibalism in Soviet Russia and elsewhere in the Soviet Union manifested itself in prisons camps, in urban settings, and in the countryside. The practice of cannibalism was seen as a survival measure rather than acrime by those who had nothing else to eat. Cannibalism in the Soviet Union – Crime or Compassion? It goes without saying that cannibalism in the Soviet Union was outlawed. Those who were caught cannibalizing their fellow citizens were sent to prisons, even though cannibalism was practiced in the Gulag, as well. Parents of starving children might cook and serve the bodies of strangers, neighbors, or relatives who had died in order to give their offspring a chance at survival. While some acts of cannibalism certainly occurred because of psychotic hunger, other acts of cannibalism were undertaken as practicalities due to lack of available food. Cannibalism in the Soviet Union – Cannibalistic MurderWhile some individuals ate the bodies of the already dead, others murdered for the purpose of providing themselves with food. Gangs of children would kill adults, while adults would find children to murder and eat. Escaped prisoners might take along fellow inmates to serve as future meals – unbeknownst to the escapees' companions themselves . Cannibalism in the Soviet Union – Cannibalism for RevengeCannibalism in the Soviet Union was sometimes a result of an individual or individuals seeking revenge. Those who worked and lived together might suspect one of their company of withholding goods, of lying to authorities, or of other actions that were detrimental to one or more starving persons. The offending person might then be killed and cooked. Cannibalism in the Soviet Union – The Secret IngredientWhen food supply was low, meat pies might be filled with the innards of the dead. While sales were stopped if officials caught wind of such actions, undoubtedly many hungry individuals became cannibals unawares. Cannibalism in the Soviet Union – Bodies as a ResourceCemeteries had to be guarded against cannibals during this period in Soviet history - hungry peasants would steal bodies for food. Guards at prisons would feed live prisoners with the bodies of those who had died. Students would sell corpses to the hungry to raise funds. Livers, lungs, and other body parts were stolen from dissection rooms to be cooked and served for meals. The practice of cannibalism in the Soviet Union is certainly one indication of how dire circumstances were on a most basic level. However, the Soviet government pretended both the famine and the practice of cannibalism were fiction, so few real measures were taken taken to ease the suffering of the people. A People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891-1924. New York: Penguin Books, 1996. Alexander Solzhenitsyn: A Century in His Life. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998. Vardy, Steven Bela and Vardy, Agnes Huszar. "Cannibalism in Stalin's Russia and Mao's China."East European Quarterly41 (2007): 224-238.