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looklook 84M
4553 posts
1/12/2018 4:48 am

Last Read:
7/4/2022 8:57 am

Down the memory lane and the Photos of Great Bengal Famine 1943

The town where I grew up and finished my graduation was not my birth place. I was born in the port city of Chittagong, in December 1939, nearly three months after Hitler attacked Poland that resulted the outbreak of World War II. Just to remind my readers that World War II began in the month of September 1939 when Britain and France declared war on Germany following Germany’s invasion of Poland.

Soon after Japan seized Burma in 1942 and bombed Chittagong and Calcutta, my father sent us to our ancestral village home in Barisal fearing that Chittagong would be under Japan’s control soon and also rice, which is the staple food of Bengalis, became a scarce commodity there. Because the then British Government bought up massive amounts of rice and hoarded it causing the great man made “Bengal Famine”. At least 3 million people died from starvation and malnutrition during this man made famine in 1943 that I witnessed as a . (See the black and white pictures).

The famine is also called “Churchill’s Secret War”. Churchill had worsened the starvation in Bengal by ordering a ship load of wheat sent from Australia for Bengalis by ordering the diversion of the ship elsewhere for British troops posted around the world!

“Dr. Gideon Poyla, an Australian biochemist, has called the Bengal famine a man made “holocaust”.

So it will not be wrong if anyone portraits me as a product of British India.
I did not came to live in my home town ‘Barisal’ until India was fragmented and divided and Burma was allowed to get detached from India by the then British Rulers. They left the Indian sub continent and Burma without bothering about the problems that were bound to crop up during the transition period and after that!

Unfortunately, a large number of people of divided sub-continent and Arakan State of Burma- are still suffering from the problems left unsolved by the British rulers!

Deaths and destruction followed soon after British left the sub continent divided and Arakan state detached from the sub-continent.
Millions of people of the sub continent suddenly found themselves as refugees due to partition of British India in to two independent countries!
The ethnic minority people of Arakan (Rakhine) State, known as Rohingyas, suddenly became Stateless and now being forced by the Military Junta of Burma to flee their homeland to save their lives!
An ethnic cleansing operation is now going on in modern Burma under the civilian leadership of Aung San Suu Kyi.

The purpose of posting the paragraphs at above is not for denouncing the questionable actions of the then colonial rulers as history has already taken care of analyzing the consequences of leaving the sub continent fragmented and divided by the British.
Churchill will be always remembered as the person responsible for the man made famine of 1943 which caused death of three million people of undivided Bengal (now Bangladesh and Indian State of West Bengal).

My intention to post the above paragraphs are to show my readers some pictures of the Great Bengal Famine Of 1943 and one picture ( Pic #1) of my home town where I grew up after the partition of the British India and where my parents and my little brother are now resting in peace!

Needless to mention here that I can’t identify the city where I grew up when I occasionally go there to pray at the graves of my parents and stay overnight in our Barisal town house that still remains livable!

My home town is now a crowded modern mega city almost unrecognizable to me.











looklook 84M
3925 posts
1/12/2018 6:26 am

Denial policies invite catastrophe….


Archer62 83F
7051 posts
1/12/2018 8:03 am

Very interesting and awful segment of your history. I have learned a lot so thank you for sharing.


dinty3 80M
3364 posts
1/12/2018 10:15 am

Some memories of the inhumanity of our times must live on to remind us not to let things like this happen again. Dr Gidion Poyla was correct.
Thank you looklook it must have been hard for you to post this.


MrsJoe 76F
17309 posts
1/12/2018 11:46 am

All countries have some dark and sad times in their past...... the key is to remember the lesson we should have learned and work to not make those same mistakes.
When I see pictures like this, I wonder again, why there is such a push for space exploration, when there are such great needs right here.


Be a prism, spreading God's light and love, not a mirror reflecting the world's hatred.


looklook 84M
3925 posts
1/12/2018 3:34 pm

    Quoting Archer62:
    Very interesting and awful segment of your history. I have learned a lot so thank you for sharing.
Archer..My intention to share this with people like you is only to remind ourselves the hardships and deaths that follows millions of innocent people after the outbreak of a senseless war like World War II. Even a war fought in a small area can bring catastrophe to the innocent Men, women and children of that area. Just think about what is happening in Yemen and Syria now!
Thanks for your kind understanding, Archer. Stay well and happy always.


Beth1949 75F
2715 posts
1/12/2018 9:30 pm

Looklook, good day to you. It took me some time to read your above blog last night as the front is small. I have re-read it this morning, it is so interesting for me to learn about all those fatalities, domination and unfortunate fate of those people during the colonialism period. I wasn't aware of those dark periods of your country and its people. As I wasn't born yet, I got to know about the WW11 much later during my teens. It is really heartbreaking to read about your above recollections and the photos speak for themselves, very poignant and vexatious. Though here, we were also colonised by the British but better treated as the location of my country was and is still a strategic point for those colonialists. But reading your blog with the photos as proofs, is truly hurtful and devastating. Thank you so much Looklook for this blog which has enlightened us and me in particular, about the ill-fated and doomed periods of your country. I wish you well and and all my best Looklook. Thank you again.
Lisa.


looklook 84M
3925 posts
1/13/2018 2:32 am

    Quoting dinty3:
    Some memories of the inhumanity of our times must live on to remind us not to let things like this happen again. Dr Gidion Poyla was correct.
    Thank you looklook it must have been hard for you to post this.
You are absolutely correct, dinty. I agree that some such memories must live on to remind us not to let things like this happen again. But does it help us not to repeat doing same things again and again? History does not say so. Thanks for stopping by my blog and for your thoughtful post. Stay well and cheerful.


looklook 84M
3925 posts
1/13/2018 2:53 am

    Quoting MrsJoe:
    All countries have some dark and sad times in their past...... the key is to remember the lesson we should have learned and work to not make those same mistakes.
    When I see pictures like this, I wonder again, why there is such a push for space exploration, when there are such great needs right here.
Mrs. Joe
I agree with you. But do we learn anything really from our past mistakes? History says repeatedly that we do not learn any thing positive from our mistakes. May I tell you why there is such push for space exploration? I believe that “Space exploration has often been used as a proxy competition for geopolitical rivalries”. The countries involved in such rivalries forget about other great needs right here on the planet we lovingly call Earth. Take care and stay happy.


looklook 84M
3925 posts
1/13/2018 3:49 am

    Quoting  :

Thank you so much for your meaningful comments left here on my blog page. MySeek. I wish your comments could get the attention of those who, according to you, make ‘decisions of life and death’ for their own interest while staying always at the safe side. I believe they do not have time to ponder on such beliefs because they don’t bother about us- the common people. Those who plan a war perhaps can not sleep at night at all because they can not be sure whether the plan would work successfully or not! May be, I am wrong. But I can not think nothing better about these people! They are real Predators and must not be allowed to control us under any pretext!
Thanks again for your thoughtful opinions. Stay well and happy. Be safe on road.


looklook 84M
3925 posts
1/13/2018 4:50 am

    Quoting Beth1949:
    Looklook, good day to you. It took me some time to read your above blog last night as the front is small. I have re-read it this morning, it is so interesting for me to learn about all those fatalities, domination and unfortunate fate of those people during the colonialism period. I wasn't aware of those dark periods of your country and its people. As I wasn't born yet, I got to know about the WW11 much later during my teens. It is really heartbreaking to read about your above recollections and the photos speak for themselves, very poignant and vexatious. Though here, we were also colonised by the British but better treated as the location of my country was and is still a strategic point for those colonialists. But reading your blog with the photos as proofs, is truly hurtful and devastating. Thank you so much Looklook for this blog which has enlightened us and me in particular, about the ill-fated and doomed periods of your country. I wish you well and and all my best Looklook. Thank you again.
    Lisa.
Good Evening, Lisa. I am glad to read from you here on my blog page once again. I don’t know why the fonts are small. My efforts to make it larger have so far failed. Though your country was colonized by the British, you should consider yourself lucky that you were not ruled by a commercial company like East India Company initially like the people of the Indian Sub-continent. The administration of India was taken over by the British Government much later. They ruled us by applying their much tested “divide and rule” policy. This policy kept the followers of the two most important religions in India apart from each other. My childhood period was most turbulent politically. I witnessed many things which you have surely not seen when you were growing up. The starving people shown in the photos were all Hindus mostly from West Bengal (now a state of India). The photos were shot by “LIFE” magazine photographer from Calcutta mostly. Perhaps, the photographer did not travel to East Bengal to take more such photos from the villages where Famine reigned supreme. I have seen these famine stricken people-both Muslims and Hindus While living in our Village home soon after we were sent to live there by my father who was a government officer. Thanks again for your sympathetic and thoughtful post. Take care. Stay Well and Happy. God bless you and Emily.


MrsJoe 76F
17309 posts
1/13/2018 5:47 am

    Quoting looklook:
    Mrs. Joe
    I agree with you. But do we learn anything really from our past mistakes? History says repeatedly that we do not learn any thing positive from our mistakes. May I tell you why there is such push for space exploration? I believe that “Space exploration has often been used as a proxy competition for geopolitical rivalries”. The countries involved in such rivalries forget about other great needs right here on the planet we lovingly call Earth. Take care and stay happy.


I totally agree with you on this! Have a great weekend.

Be a prism, spreading God's light and love, not a mirror reflecting the world's hatred.


looklook 84M
3925 posts
1/13/2018 6:46 am

    Quoting MrsJoe:
    I totally agree with you on this! Have a great weekend.
Thanks. Have a wonderful weekend too. Take care.


GLUMO 88F
9730 posts
1/13/2018 5:01 pm

Very bad memories, without a doubt, Looklook. I did not know the unfortunate participation of "Sir" Churchill in the 1943 Bengal famine. And that horrible quote of him shows the bad feelings and high degree of racism in that person. What a sad part of the history of World War II! War is terrible.
Thanks for the History class and for sharing that sad part of your childhood.
Blessings on your way!
(Sorry I can not enlarge the font size, either)


Trust in dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.(Khalil Gibran)


looklook 84M
3925 posts
1/13/2018 8:33 pm

    Quoting GLUMO:
    Very bad memories, without a doubt, Looklook. I did not know the unfortunate participation of "Sir" Churchill in the 1943 Bengal famine. And that horrible quote of him shows the bad feelings and high degree of racism in that person. What a sad part of the history of World War II! War is terrible.
    Thanks for the History class and for sharing that sad part of your childhood.
    Blessings on your way!
    (Sorry I can not enlarge the font size, either)
I always feel delighted to read from you here on my blog page,Glumo.

A large number of books have been published on the Bengal Famine of 1943 supported by black and white photos of the famine stricken people of the then Bengal.
When the Japanese seized Burma, and the British Army retreated, the rulers feared that they would proceed on into British India, through the eastern border of Bengal. To stop the impending Japanese attack, a two-pronged scorched-earth initiative was launched in eastern and coastal Bengal by the British Rulers that caused the famine. The objective of these "denial policies" was to prevent the invasion by denying access to food supplies, transport and other resources, mainly from Bengal. The British Rulers seized Rice crops in godowns, burnt the crops on field, destroyed the boats, and took many other destructive steps to stop the Japanese army. Churchill was then the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom . His comments on Gandhi are equally horrible.
Anyway, thanks for your feelings and your Comments. I appreciate.
Have a nice Week end. Take care.