In 1915, due to World War I food restrictions and rationing, the German bureaucracy decided to regard pigs as co-eaters with humans and tried to preserve supplies. As a result, five million pigs were massacred in the so-called Schweinemord (English: “pig massacre”) to both make food and preserve grain. However it did little to increase the supply of grain, as officials did not take into account the use of pig manure as a fertilizer on small farms. Because of this, killing the pigs actually decreased crop yields in the region.
References
Categories:
- 1910s famines
- 1915 disasters in Germany
- 1915 animal deaths
- Famines during World War I
- German Empire in World War I
- Rationing by country
- Famines in Germany
- Agriculture in Germany
- Regulation in Germany
- Pigs
- German military history stubs
- World War I stubs