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Graphic Warning
DESPERATE MEASURES

Harrowing pics show starving Russians selling human body parts as MEAT during 1920s famine as desperate families become cannibals to survive

An estimated five to ten million people died as a result of food shortages largely caused by civil war and drought

STARVING people sell human body parts including severed heads in a desperate bid to feed their families.

These disturbing pictures show the horrors of the Russian famine in the 1920s which hit around 25million people in the Volga and Ural River region of the vast country.

 A couple sell body parts, including a human head and the corpse of a child, during the Russian famine
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A couple sell body parts, including a human head and the corpse of a child, during the Russian famineCredit: Getty Images
 Three naked children pictured swelled stomachs
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Three naked children pictured swelled stomachsCredit: Getty Images
 A family in the Volga region pose beside human remains
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A family in the Volga region pose beside human remainsCredit: Getty Images
 A starving woman fed her dead daughter to her surviving children to keep them alive in the Chelyabinsk province
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A starving woman fed her dead daughter to her surviving children to keep them alive in the Chelyabinsk provinceCredit: Alamy
 A malnourished nine-year-old girl pictured during the famine
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A malnourished nine-year-old girl pictured during the famineCredit: Alamy
 A woman watches her partner slowly starving to death
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A woman watches her partner slowly starving to deathCredit: Getty Images
 A family suffering from severe hunger poses for the camera
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A family suffering from severe hunger poses for the cameraCredit: Getty Images
 Women walk past people dying of starvation during the great Ukrainian famine of early 1930s.
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Women walk past people dying of starvation during the great Ukrainian famine of early 1930s.Credit: Getty Images
 An emaciated boy pictured in 1933 during the Ukrainian famine
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An emaciated boy pictured in 1933 during the Ukrainian famineCredit: Getty Images

From 1921 until the end of 1922, an estimated five to ten million people lost their lives.

After the end of the First World War, Russia was blighted by a civil war, drought and inept government resulting in food shortages.

The harrowing images of children screaming in hunger and people dying on the street give a glimpse into the terrifying period in Russian history.

People were forced to eat grass, dirt, dogs, cats and leather horse harnesses.

There were reports of parents killing and eating their own children with rampant starvation making people take unimaginable measures to survive.

Despite reports of cannibalism, the police took no action as it was deemed a legitimate method of survival.

One picture shows a couple selling human remains, including the corpse of a young boy, in a degrading bid to feed themselves.

As news of the famine spread around the world, the United States and some western European countries stepped in to provide food and relief workers which saved million of lives.

In the early 1930s, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin inflicted a man-made famine on Ukraine which claimed the lives of up to 7.5 million people.

Considered a genocide by historians, Stalin inflicted the famine in a savage bid to wipe out the Ukrainian independence movement.

 A starving little girl stands naked against a wall in 1921 at the height of the famine
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A starving little girl stands naked against a wall in 1921 at the height of the famineCredit: Getty Images
 A child dying of hunger in the Volga region
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A child dying of hunger in the Volga regionCredit: Getty Images
 A starving Chuvash family near their tent in Samara
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A starving Chuvash family near their tent in SamaraCredit: Getty Images
 Children from famine stricken Chuvashia being given shoes upon arrival in Moscow during the Russian Civil War in 1921
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Children from famine stricken Chuvashia being given shoes upon arrival in Moscow during the Russian Civil War in 1921Credit: Getty Images
 Two small coffins being carried on stretchers to a cemetery in the Volga famine district of Bolshevist Russia
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Two small coffins being carried on stretchers to a cemetery in the Volga famine district of Bolshevist RussiaCredit: Getty Images
 Ragged and barefoot, starving Russian families in the Volga region
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Ragged and barefoot, starving Russian families in the Volga regionCredit: Getty Images
 A victim of the famine pictured lying dead on the ground
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A victim of the famine pictured lying dead on the groundCredit: Getty Images
 A child looks almost skeletal during the famine which claimed millions of lives
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A child looks almost skeletal during the famine which claimed millions of livesCredit: Rex Features
 A family try to huddle together for warmth as starvation takes hold
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A family try to huddle together for warmth as starvation takes holdCredit: Rex Features
 Dead bodies are carried by cart through the city of Samara
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Dead bodies are carried by cart through the city of SamaraCredit: Rex Features
 A family including two children lie dying in the street in 1922
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A family including two children lie dying in the street in 1922Credit: Getty Images
 A child in a hospital bed screaming for food
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A child in a hospital bed screaming for foodCredit: Rex Features
 Three small children pictured cold and hungry during the devastating famine
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Three small children pictured cold and hungry during the devastating famineCredit: Getty Images


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