# Liberated Holocaust survivors dying when given food **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 26, 2010, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberated-holocaust-survivors-dying-when-given-food/526453 "2010-01-26T01:19:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberated-holocaust-survivors-dying-when-given-food/526453/1 "2010-01-26T01:19:44Z")
[SIZE=2]Untold thousands of the liberated starved prisoners from the Nazi concentration camps[SIZE=1]\* died in agony immediately after liberation, after having been given some food by well-meaning soldiers. According to an oral testimony I heard, a woman died after eating just a few sugar packets.[/SIZE] Why was this? If for some reason you have never seen an example of what I’m talking about, go here (you must copy the URL by hand and run it in the browser): [http://z.about.com/d/history1900s/1/0/g/A/prisoner1.jpg[/SIZE]](http://z.about.com/d/history1900s/1/0/g/A/prisoner1.jpg%5B/SIZE%5D) ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberated-holocaust-survivors-dying-when-given-food/526453/2 "2010-01-26T01:45:08Z")
I have never heard of this: survivors were eating and had some food, just not _much_. For the most part any who survived were in work camps designed to weaken and slowly kill while extracting some utility for the Nazis. It’s possible that feeding too much too quickly could cause them to vomit, and in their weakened state they might die, but just having some food wouldn’t do it. In order to bring a full recovery, IIRC experiments in America showed that they needed about _4000_ calories a day. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberated-holocaust-survivors-dying-when-given-food/526453/3 "2010-01-26T02:18:36Z")
I have heard of this my entire life, and it’s always explained that their bodies went into shock, especially from things like candy bars. ---
**Author:** ![brossa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brossa/32/3040_2.png) [@brossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brossa)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberated-holocaust-survivors-dying-when-given-food/526453/4 "2010-01-26T02:25:30Z")
[Refeeding syndrome](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC390152/) is a real complication, but it does not take place over a timespan of minutes, or with so small a stimulus as a few sugar packets. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberated-holocaust-survivors-dying-when-given-food/526453/5 "2010-01-26T04:22:44Z")
Thank you for the info. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberated-holocaust-survivors-dying-when-given-food/526453/6 "2010-01-26T15:22:15Z")
One thing I heard a survival expert saying was that if you’re severly dehydrated, it’s a bad idea to eat because the act of digestion requires a lot of water from an already source (your body). Don’t know how accurate that is, though, since it didn’t come from a medical type. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2010, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberated-holocaust-survivors-dying-when-given-food/526453/7 "2010-01-27T01:20:20Z")
So, are there any actual historical records that indicate this occurred after the Holocaust? ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2010, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberated-holocaust-survivors-dying-when-given-food/526453/8 "2010-01-27T01:30:17Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > So, are there any actual historical records that indicate this occurred after the Holocaust? I have definitely a first hand account (or at least a recording if it) of that, I believe from World At War. ---
**Author:** ![boilercake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@boilercake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boilercake)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2010, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberated-holocaust-survivors-dying-when-given-food/526453/9 "2010-01-27T01:58:23Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > I have definitely a first hand account (or at least a recording if it) of that, I believe from World At War. In other words, no. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2010, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberated-holocaust-survivors-dying-when-given-food/526453/10 "2010-01-27T02:07:16Z")
My parents, both camp survivors, wittnessed this. I heard the stories from when I was a little girl. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2010, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberated-holocaust-survivors-dying-when-given-food/526453/11 "2010-01-27T02:10:49Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > So, are there any actual historical records that indicate this occurred after the Holocaust? There are many. I am not going to dig out the cites/sites for you, but they are there. Here is one to get you started, albeit from a “Japanese concentration camp”: [http://archive.student.bmj.com/issues/09/01/education/24.php](http://archive.student.bmj.com/issues/09/01/education/24.php) ETA: Look at the last paragraph here: [Hypophosphatemia - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypophosphatemia) ETA (Again): That took me 2 minutes. It’s easy if you look/try. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2010, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberated-holocaust-survivors-dying-when-given-food/526453/12 "2010-01-27T02:14:37Z")
I apologize for my tone. I thought, but have since discarded the notion, that I detected a whiff of Holocaust denial. But clearly no. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2010, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberated-holocaust-survivors-dying-when-given-food/526453/13 "2010-01-27T02:37:11Z")
> [@boilercake](#): > > In other words, no. My aunt, for one. Are you trolling? I hope not. ---
**Author:** ![ivn1188](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e480ec/32.png) [@ivn1188](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivn1188)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2010, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberated-holocaust-survivors-dying-when-given-food/526453/14 "2010-01-27T02:38:57Z")
Still, neither of those cites addresses people dying immediately after being fed tiny amounts of food. I’m certain some or even many people suffered from symptoms or died, but the number and severity of cases asked about in the OP seems exaggerated, and almost all of the evidence of actual cases is anecdotal. It shouldn’t be too hard to find a reputable cite that talks about specific instances. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2010, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberated-holocaust-survivors-dying-when-given-food/526453/15 "2010-01-27T02:43:18Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > My aunt, for one. Are you trolling? I hope not. Your aunt has a recording in Call of Duty: World At War? The guy you are replying to was replying to a guy talking about that being where he heard about it from. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2010, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberated-holocaust-survivors-dying-when-given-food/526453/16 "2010-01-27T02:51:17Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > I apologize for my tone. I thought, but have since discarded the notion, that I detected a whiff of Holocaust denial. But clearly no. Sorry. Ditto. There is only one person alive in my wife and my parents’ generation; they all went up in smoke. We have only one aunt out of 20 uncles and aunts, no grandparents, weirded-out parents, etc., (that aunt ate string in Auschwitz to keep her stomach full, and upon liberation had to have an emergency operation to remove the bolus). Hence the sensitivity of my nostrils to Holocaust denial. Sorry for jumping down your throat. Holocaust denial is a massively egregious act for a number of reasons, and an accusation of it better be made with damn good reason. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2010, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberated-holocaust-survivors-dying-when-given-food/526453/17 "2010-01-27T03:09:47Z")
Leo, we should talk someday. Our stories are remarkably similar, as children of survivors. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2010, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberated-holocaust-survivors-dying-when-given-food/526453/18 "2010-01-27T03:26:08Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > Your aunt has a recording in Call of Duty: World At War? The guy you are replying to was replying to a guy talking about that being where he heard about it from. Huh? Who in this thread mentioned Call of Duty: World at War? ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2010, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberated-holocaust-survivors-dying-when-given-food/526453/19 "2010-01-27T04:09:05Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Huh? Who in this thread mentioned Call of Duty: World at War? I thuoght **griffin1977** had, but it occurs to me that he might have been talking about something else called “World at War” ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2010, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberated-holocaust-survivors-dying-when-given-food/526453/20 "2010-01-27T07:23:10Z")
Presumably he was referring to the series (technically called [The World at War](http://www.amazon.com/World-War-30th-Anniversary/dp/B0002F6AH0).) There’s no reason that such a thing didn’t happen - someone dying immediately upon being given food. It’s just unlikely that the food was the cause. Many survivors were quite sick, and it was probably rather difficult to determine a cause of death under some circumstances. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberated-holocaust-survivors-dying-when-given-food/526453.md?page=2)