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posted by martyb on Tuesday August 21 2018, @09:22AM   Printer-friendly
from the do-the-right-thing-at-all-costs dept.

A story of heroism and the ultimate sacrifice during the the 900-day Siege of Leningrad during the Second World War. I think it is safe to say we all benefit from the sacrifice these men made.

https://www.amusingplanet.com/2018/08/the-scientists-who-starved-to-death.html

As the invading German army poured into the city looting and destroying anything of value, a group of Russian botanists holed up inside the vault of the Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry with a precious collection of seeds and edible plants. This collection, containing seeds from nearly 200,000 varieties of plants of which about a quarter was edible, constituted one of the world's largest repositories of the genetic diversity of food crops. Among them were plenty of rice, wheat, corn, beans and potatoes, enough to sustain the botanists and see them through the worst days of the siege.

But the scientists hadn't barricaded themselves in the vault with food grains to save their lives, but rather to protect these seeds from the Nazis as well as from the starving people plundering through the streets in search for anything to eat.

The collection filled 16 rooms, in which no one was allowed to remain alone. Workers guarded the storage in shifts all round the clock, numb with cold and emaciated from hunger. As the siege dragged out, one by one these heroic men started dying of hunger, but not a single grain was eaten. In January 1942, Alexander Stchukin, a peanut specialist, died at his writing table. Botanist Dmitri Ivanov also died of starvation while surrounded by several thousand packs of rice that he was guarding. By the end of the siege in the Spring of 1944, nine of them had starved to death watching over all that food. Many of the crops that we eat today came from cross-breeding with varieties the scientists saved from destruction.


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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Tuesday August 21 2018, @10:16AM (3 children)

    by Rosco P. Coltrane (4757) on Tuesday August 21 2018, @10:16AM (#724097)

    Well it's not Russia in this case, it's the Soviet Union. All news from the Soviet Union was definitely real.

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  • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @10:48AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @10:48AM (#724108)

    Well it's not Russia in this case, it's the Soviet Union. All news from the Soviet Union was definitely real.

    Of course it was comrade, these days we have the NYT, CBC and BBC to give us the peoples truth. [thenation.com]

    Sing along now; United forever in friendship and labor, Our mighty Republics will ever endure...

  • (Score: 0, Offtopic) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday August 21 2018, @07:34PM (1 child)

    by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Tuesday August 21 2018, @07:34PM (#724327) Homepage Journal

    Leningrad was in the Russian part of Soviet Union. Beautiful city and used to be the capital of Russia. When they had kings and a HUGE empire. But, get this, the Palace is only three stories tall. I took a look at it, I said, I can do much better. Because I'd done much better in America. My hotel was going to be the tallest in the city, with tremendous views!!!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @10:26PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @10:26PM (#724419)

      rDT: Are you a bot?
      Also, do you know ELIZA? She speaks very much as you do. Maybe you share the same ancestral line?