I think I read the story you are looking for in:
Raeburn, P. 1995. The Last Harvest. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln.
Six or seven Russian scientists died of starvation surrounded by tons of
food because they wouldn't destroy the seed bank. Not the type of
dedication we see very often.
Richard
At 05:18 PM 9/2/98 -0500, you wrote:
>Howdy, all--
>
>I'm looking for historical documentation for the following story. It
>was something I heard when I was in my teens, and I never forgot it.
>It accounts at least in part for my deciding to work in sustainable
>ag, starting in the late 70s.
>
>I may have some of the details wrong, but here's what I remember.
>During World War II, the Nazis held Leningrad under siege for three
>years. Half a million people died of starvation in that time, and
>much of Leningrad's food production was accomplished in small
>gardens. There was a seedbank near Leningrad, and one of the people
>responsible for it was the geneticist Nikolai Vaviloff. I seem to
>recall there being hundreds of thousands of species there, but that
>could be a distortion of memory.
>
>The story I recall is that when Allied soldiers found the facility
>after the siege, they found researchers and staff lying starved to
>death among sacks of grain, seeds, and potatoes. These people saw the
>collected genetic heritage of these seeds as more important than
>their own lives.
>
>Vaviloff was the geneticist whom Lysenko led Stalin to persecute,
>saying that Mendelian genetics didn't fit with Communist principles,
>and Vaviloff died in prison in...'43? Russian ag never has recovered
>from that.
>
>Anyway, if any of you has a lead on a source for this story, I'd
>appreciate it. It sounds like something Tolstoy would have written.
>I believe I most recently saw it referenced in the /New Yorker/ in
>the mid-80s when they serialized (no pun intended) the book by (WHO?
>I have it in a file at home) on the world's major grains and the
>disappearing biodiversity.
>
>
>peace
>misha
>
><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
>Michele Gale-Sinex, communications manager
>Center for Integrated Ag Systems
>UW-Madison College of Ag and Life Sciences
>Voice: (608) 262-8018 FAX: (608) 265-3020
>http://www.wisc.edu/cias/
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>In the end, they will lay their freedom at our feet
>and say to us, 'Make us your slaves, but feed us.'
>--the Grand Inquisitor, Dostoevsky
>
>
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Richard Olson
Center for Sustainable Agricultural Systems
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