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Description: | piece design : women, forlorn group of full-length standing figures wearing shawls and long skirts, holding bags. At the
extreme right of the group stands a young girl, facing right, wearing a shawl and holding a bag
piece exergue : "DIE GROSSE NOT 1917"
The First World War Allied economic blockade of Germany resulted in extremely serious shortages of essential
commodities, notably foodstuffs, for the German civilian population. The consequences of this complex policy included malnutrition,
starvation and damage to German civilian morale, all combining to reduce the will to fight on. The impoverished diet of German civilians in
1917 and 1918 pre-disposed them to the ravages of the 1918-19 influenza pandemic. In this 1917 work Ludwig Gies (1887-1966) commemorates
the plight of the women left at home, burdened with the trials of survival. Pre-occupation with food, essential for existence, necessitated
endless queuing for the distribution of miserably inadequate rations. The text is translated as 'The great hunger, 1917'. | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Subjects: | civilian suffering German Home Front & Food Shortages & 1917 commemorative | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Gies, Ludwig | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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