History Extra podcast History behind the headlines: the Bengal famine
Apr 8, 2024
Award-winning journalist and producer Kavita Puri joins to discuss the history and challenges of addressing the 1943 Bengal Famine. They explore the complexities of famine, the methodological hurdles in reconstructing narratives, the absence of survivor accounts, and the lasting impact on individuals and families. The discussion delves into the depiction of the famine in art, compares it to other historical famines, and highlights the nuances of historical events beyond statistics.
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Human Cost Behind Three Million
- The Bengal famine of 1943 killed an estimated three million people, one of the largest Allied civilian losses in WWII.
- Kavita Puri reconstructs the event through eyewitness accounts to humanize the statistic and reveal neglected history.
No Definitive Famine Narrative
- There is no single definitive account of the famine because experiences vary across millions of lives.
- Memory, silence, and political complexity have left the event under-acknowledged in Britain, India, and Bangladesh.
Art Carries Early Remembrance
- Cultural memory often appears first through art and literature rather than survivor testimony.
- For the Bengal famine, films, photography, and art carry much of the remembrance while survivor archives remain sparse.