‘I’ve eaten my children,’ said the villager

daughters of neighbours, disappeared. Their brother Misha, aged six, ran away from home. He roamed the village, begging and stealing. When asked why he had left home he said he was afraid: “Father will cut me up.” The police searched the house, found the evidence and arrested the parents. Police also arrested a man in Mariia Davydenko’s village in Sumy province. After his wife died, he had gone mad from hunger and eaten first his daughter and then his son. A neighbour noticed that the father was less swollen from hunger than others and asked him why. “I have eaten my children,” he replied, “and if you talk too much, I will eat you.”

Ukrainian authorities knew about many of the incidents: police reports contained great detail, even though the Ukrainian secret police boss warned his subordinates against putting too much information about the famine into writing: “This is to ensure that written notes on the subject do not circulate among the officials where they might cause rumours.”

Nevertheless, officials did keep records, not least because they were concerned that stories of cannibalism could spread and have a political impact. One policeman listed 69 cases of cannibalism between January 9 and March 12, but explained: “These numbers are, obviously, not exact, because in reality there are many more such incidents.”

But if Kharkiv, then the Ukrainian capital, or Moscow provided instructions on how to deal with cannibalism, or reflected more deeply on its causes, they haven’t been uncovered. There is no evidence any action was taken. The reports were made, the officials received them, and they were filed away and forgotten.