In the summer of 1941, in the middle of World War II, German forces invaded The Nazis completed the siege of the city of Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) in the Soviet Union. The siege lasted until complete liberation in the winter of 1943. During much of the siege the city was completely isolated, resulting in widespread famine. The siege resulted in the deaths of approximately 750,000 civilians. Hunger became a daily enemy: cases of consumption of domestic animals and even episodes of cannibalism were recorded. The siege not only tested the physical and moral resistance of the civilian population, but also brought to light exceptional cases of heroism. One of the most outstanding was that of the botanists of the Institute of Plant Industry.
The institute was founded in 1921 by the famous botanist and explorer Nikolai Vavilov. During the siege, Vavilov was a political prisoner in a gulag far from Leningrad, where he died in 1943. The institute housed about 250,000 samples of seeds, tubers and fruits from more than 60 countries that Vavilov visited. This collection, the world’s first “seed bank,” represented decades of botanical expeditions, systematic classifications, and breeding studies. Its value lay not only in its preserved biodiversity, but also in its potential to address future food crises, pests, diseases and climate change. Protecting this biological treasure was tantamount to protecting future food security.
These botanists risked and in many cases gave their lives during the siege to protect the collection. Food was scarce and the seeds, tubers and fruits around them were edible. Paradoxically, some of them starved to death surrounded by rice, wheat, nuts, potatoes and legumes that they did not touch. This decision, projected into the future, makes his sacrifice an unprecedented act of generational altruism. Thanks to their sacrifice, much of the collection was preserved. But this sacrifice also included their loved ones, turning this decision into what German thinker Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) called “the invention of the guilt of the innocent” by totalitarian regimes.
Arendt emphasizes that totalitarianisms are not just about committing atrocitiesbut to transform the individual into a guilty subject, even if he or she is completely innocent. Arendt’s idea is reflected in a novel, Sophie’s decision (1979) by William Styron and a film (1982) by Alan Pakula based on the novel. It tells the story of Sophie, a survivor of Auschwitz. The title refers to a devastating decision that Sophie had to make in the concentration camp: she decided which of her two children would survive and which would be sent to die. If she doesn’t choose to do so, both of them will be killed. By choosing to have one of her children, Sophie condemns herself to a life of fear and guilt.
Somehow the Leningrad botanists were also subjugated to the agonizing dilemma where both options were disastrous. On the one hand, your own life and that of your loved ones, and on the other, future generations. And it was much crueler not to make a decision. An interesting exercise is to ask yourself: When faced with the “loving” dilemma against future generations” What would I do? The answer will give an idea of the emotional price these botanists paid. The seed bank of the Institute of Plant Industry (now the Nikolai Vavilov Institute) is one of the largest in the world and a global reference for studies of agricultural biodiversity, food security and genetic improvement.
Professor Emeritus of the National University of La Plata, Full Academician of the National Academy of Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine
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