Tussen ons volk en de honger : de voedselvoorziening, 1940 - 1945

On the eve of the German occupation of 1940-1945, The Netherlands was one of the most densely populated countries in the World. How can we account for the fact that, without any imports from overseas, the general standard of health amongst the population remained at a reasonable level, until after the rail strike in September 1944, when the 'Dutch hunger-winter' set in. Explanations are sought in discussions of following issues: economic preparations for defence, the unity of German and Dutch interests in keeping the Dutch people fed, the setting up and functioning of food provision organizations, the radical changes in agricultural production, and the equitable division of the available food. Exports to Germany remained limited. Calculations are made of the quantity of food that was available, through the black market apart from distribution by official channels. In order to achieve this, and because of falsification during the occupation, it has been necessary tot reassemble most of the existing statistical data on agriculture. Finally the results of the calculations regarding the availability of food are compared with those on public health.