This volume looks at the causes, scale and consequences of the 1946-1947 famine. The influences of war, drought, state purchases, tax campaigns and other economic sanctions are addressed and staggering losses in population caused by famine and illness are analyzed. The study is base on previously unavailable materials from the state and party archives - secret documents, correspondence, memoirs and books and papers on this secret topic. The important decrees, resolutions and orders signed by J.Stalin, V.Molotov, N.Shervnik and other officials are chronologically analyzed.