Postdoctoral Fellow publishes two new articles

For Victims of Communism, Dr. Johnson wrote about “The Forgotten Famine of 1946-1948.” In the article, he writes that after the Allied victory in World War Two, the Soviet Union experienced two years of sustained famine, resulting in the loss of over 1.2 million lives. Dr. Johnson found that “the famine began in July 1946 with food shortages in Ukraine and Moldova, initially driven by drought. But these initial grain deficits were relatively small. The death toll only began to swell when the state continued its grain confiscations and refused to distribute emergency supplies to affected populations.” He argues that during the famine, Soviet leaders prioritized urban industrial workers over the rural poor. Read the full article here.

For Orbis, Dr. Johnson reviews Hans Kundnani’s new book The Paradox of German Power and Stephen F. Szabo’s new book Germany, Russia and the Rise of Geo-Economics. While both explore current political issues in Germany, Dr. Johnson finds that “where [Stephen] Szabo centers his analysis in the present, citing opinion polls and interviews with policymakers, Hans Kundnani’s work is grounded in the past.” Read his full review here.