§ 9. Mr. Evelyn Walkdenasked the Minister of Economic Warfare whether he has any official information about deaths from starvation in German-controlled Europe?
§ Mr. DaltonAs I stated last week, the worst conditions in German-controlled Europe prevail in Greece, in some parts of Poland, and in occupied Russia. While I should not be prepared to say what proportion of the death rate is due to lack of food, there can be no doubt that deaths from starvation are occurring in these territories. In other occupied countries, reports do not indicate any deaths directly attributable to food shortage, though in Belgium and Occupied France, some part of the increase in the mortality of certain diseases, notably pneumonia, is probably due to insufficient nutrition. In Norway, the Netherlands and Czechoslovakia the diet, though well below pre-war standards, has not been so inadequate as to cause any marked increase in the death-rate.