Mass Starvation Led to Cannibalism
Many of the deaths that occurred during the siege were due to starvation. The city had not been prepared for a lengthy siege or even any siege at all. The city only had supplies for 1 to 2 months and therefore rationing of food started even before the siege did. The siege officially began on September 8th, but the city had been under heavy bombing since August with the Red Army fighting to save the city and evacuate civilians.
During the bombs that fell from August to October 1941 all food storage facilities were destroyed. The food literally burned in front of the eyes of starving people. After one bomb sugar melted into the ground and desperate citizens dug up the earth and tried to separate the sugar and earth to be able to eat the sugar. Others just mixed the sweetened dirt with flour and cooked with it. Food rations continued to drop through 1941 and by November 1941, the rations were for 250 grams daily for manual workers and 150 grams for all other civilians. The bread that was given was made with what little food could be found and then mixed with sawdust or other fillers to make the bread seem filling, even if it was not nutritious. All animals in the city were killed for meat and people went as far as to eat dirt or wallpaper paste. By 1942 the citizens were so desperate for food that they turned to the unthinkable and were willing to do anything to get food to survive. The 125 grams was not enough to survive the freezing temperatures, especially when there was so little heat to be found. There were numerous reports of people eating the bodies of those who had starved to death or worse, killing people to eat them.