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History > Famine 1891-1892

Famine 1891-1892

The famine of 1891 and 1892 was one of the most severe agricultural crises to strike Russia during the nineteenth century. In the spring of 1891 a serious drought caused crops to fail along the Volga and in many other grain-producing provinces. The disaster came on the heels of a series of poor harvests, its impact worsened by endemic peasant poverty and low productivity. The population of the affected areas had few reserves of food and faced the prospect of mass starvation.

The provinces of Samara and Saratov were hit hard by the famine. It was reported that in Samara more than half of the population was destitute. Maps of the famine zone show that the area around Norka experienced total crop failure.

Jonas Stadling reported the following in an article titled "The Famine in Russia" written for The Century in 1893:
...in the winter of 1892 the mortality rate in the Volga German colonies was about five times the normal rate or 200 in 1,000... Persons who try to ameliorate the condition of the masses are suspected persons, and are lucky if they do not see the inside of a prison, or even Siberia.
Map of Russia showing 1891-1892 famine area
Source: "The Graphic" (January 9, 1892): 45.
Reports by Rudolph Blankenberg, an American in charge of the relief efforts, describe grim scenes where many houses were closed, thatch roofs had been uncovered and fed to the stock, one-third of the horses were dead and sickness was everywhere in the Volga German colonies. Brayley Hodgetts provides first hand reports about the conditions in the German colonies in his book titled "In the Track of the Russian Famine". Hodgetts states that Russian government was in the process of removing all of the privileges originally granted to the colonists by Catherine's Manifesto of 1763 and had virtually abandoned the German settlements during the famine.

The United States responded to the crisis by forming the Russian Famine Relief Committee of the United States. Help poured in from the western states in which Russian Germans had settled in large numbers. Relief supplies from the United States filled an important role in saving lives. 
Picture
Source: HathiTrust Digital Library.
Picture
Source: HathiTrust Digital Library.
Many Volga Germans dreamed of escaping Russia and immigrating to America. Hundreds of friends and family were already in the "land of plenty" where the relief had come from. Letters from those already in America were positive about life there. Pre-paid tickets arrived from America as sharp competition between the steamship companies and railroads drove down fares. A passenger could travel from a seaport on the east coast to Lincoln by rail for $8.00. As a result of these conditions, many people from Norka immigrated to the United States between 1890 and 1893.

Sources

Blankenburg, Rudolph. Philadelphia and the Russian Famine of 1891 and 1892: Letters from Russia to the Philadelphia "Ledger", "Times" and "Inquirer." Philadelphia: Russian Famine Relief Committee, 1892. Print.

Hodgetts, Edward Arthur Brayley. "The Story of the German Colonists." In the Track of the Russian Famine. London: T. Fischer Unwin, 1892. 159-77. Print.
Lilly, David P. The Russian Famine of 1891-92. Loyola University, 1995. Web. 29 Nov. 2014. <http://www.loyno.edu/~history/journal/1994-5/Lilly.htm>.

Reeves, Francis Brewster. Russia Then and Now: 1892-1917 ; My Mission to Russia during the Famine of 1891-92. New York: Knickerbocker, 1917. Print. <https://books.google.com/books?id=bHdBAAAAIAAJ>.

Robbins, Richard G. Famine in Russia: 1891-1892 ; the Imperial Government Responds to a Crisis. New York: Columbia U Pr., 1975. Print. <https://books.google.com/books?id=ijY_i3QMkE4C>.

Stadling, Jonas. "The Famine in Russia." The Century 46.4 (Aug 1893). Print.

Stadling, Jonas Jonsson, and Will Reason. In the Land of Tolstoi; Experiences of Famine and Misrule in Russia. New York: T. Whittaker, 1897. Print. <https://books.google.com/books?id=PiAEAAAAYAAJ&>.

"Starving on the Volga." New York Times 8 Mar. 1892. Print.

Williams, Hattie Plum. The Czar's Germans: With Particular Reference to the Volga Germans. Ed. Emma S. Haynes, Phillip B. Legler, and Gerda Stroh. Walker. Lincoln, Neb.: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1975. Print.​
Last updated August 6, 2020.
Copyright © 2002-2023 Steven H. Schreiber
  • Home
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    • Contact
  • People
    • Founders
    • Personal Histories
    • Notable Norkans
    • Stories
    • Photo Identification
    • Photo Gallery
  • Community
    • Village Life
    • Entertainment
    • Agriculture
    • Climate
    • Homesites
    • Geographical Description
    • Government
    • Social Structure
    • Health
    • Education
    • A Land of Ethnic Diversity
    • Cottage Industries >
      • Sarpinka
      • Mills
    • Language
    • Population
    • Military Service
    • Crime and Punishment
  • History
    • Timeline
    • Origins of the Colonists
    • Catherine's Manifesto 1763
    • Why go to Russia?
    • Recruitment 1766
    • Planning 1764-1766
    • Marriages Prior To Emigration 1766
    • Voyage to Russia 1766 >
      • Ship Transport 1766
    • Journey 1766-1767
    • Founding of Norka 1767
    • Early Years 1767-1769
    • Norka 1769
    • Pallas Report 1773
    • Pugachev Raid 1774
    • Norka 1775
    • Norka 1798
    • Norka 1811
    • Napoleons Soldiers
    • Norka 1834
    • Daughter Colonies 1850s >
      • Neu-Norka
      • Oberdorf
      • Brunnental
      • Rosenfeld (am Jeruslan)
      • Neu Hussenbach (Gaschon)
    • Privileges Lost 1871-1874
    • Immigration 1875-1924 >
      • To the United States >
        • Colorado
        • Ft Collins Colorado
        • Globeville Colorado
        • Mason City, Iowa
        • Culbertson, Nebraska
        • Lincoln, Nebraska
        • Sutton, Nebraska
        • Burlington, Oklahoma
        • Weatherford, Oklahoma
        • Canby, Oregon
        • Portland, Oregon
      • To Canada >
        • Duffield, Alberta
        • Ponoka, Alberta
        • Spruce Grove, Alberta
        • Stony Plain, Alberta
        • Vegreville, Alberta
        • Arcola, Saskatchewan
      • To Germany
      • To South America
    • Famine 1891-1892
    • Norka 1898
    • War & Turnoil 1904-1906
    • World War 1914-1918
    • Revolution & War 1917-1922
    • Soviet Rule 1918-1941
    • Famine 1921-1924
    • Famine 1932-1933
    • The Great Terror 1936-1938
    • Deportation 1941
    • Repression 1941-1956
    • Cultural Loss 1957-2006
    • A Culture in Peril
    • Recent Times
  • Traditions
    • Food and Drink
    • Clothing
    • Holidays >
      • New Year
      • Fastnacht
      • Lent
      • Easter
      • Ascension Day
      • Pentecost
      • Founder's Day
      • Harvest Festival
      • Jahrmarkt
      • Christmas
      • Anniversaries & Birthdays
    • Crafts
    • Games
    • Folk Medicine
    • Superstitions
    • Nicknames
    • Folk Music
    • Church Music
    • Prayers
    • Baptism
    • Confirmation
    • Communion
    • Weddings
    • Funerals and Burials
  • Religion
    • Planning and History >
      • Norka Reformed Church 1767-1864
      • 1909 Norka Parish Report
    • Pastors >
      • Johann Heinrich Fuchs
      • Johann Georg Herwig
      • Johannes Baptista Cattaneo
      • Lukas Cattaneo
      • Emanuel Grunauer
      • Friedrich Börner
      • Christian Gottlieb Hegele
      • Christoph H Bonwetsch
      • Gottlieb N Bonwetsch
      • Wilhelm Staerkel
      • Woldemar Sibbul
      • David Weigum
      • Friedrich Alexander Wacker
      • Emil Pfeiffer
    • Church Practices >
      • Parochial Certificates
    • Church Buildings
    • Church Organs
    • Bell Tower
    • Brethren Movement
  • Resources
    • Family Research
    • Research Resources >
      • Arrival Records 1766
      • Descendant Charts
      • German EWZ Records
      • Soviet Gulag Records
    • Maps
    • Glossary
    • Bibliography
    • Periodicals >
      • Die Welt-Post Letters
    • Related Links