"The best history podcast I've heard in years." - The Sunday Times "Three million is great radio... and needs to be heard." - The Observer. During the Second World War, at least three million Indian people, who were British subjects, died in the Bengal Famine. It was one of the largest losses of civilian life on the Allied side. But there is no memorial to them anywhere in the world - not even a plaque. Can three million people disappear from public memory? From the award-winning creator and presenter of Partition Voices and Three Pounds in My Pocket, this is the story of the 1943 Bengal Famine in British India - the forgotten story of World War Two. For the first time it is told by those who were there - farmers and fishermen, artists and writers, colonial British and everyday citizens. Nearly all of the testimony in the series has never been broadcast before. Eighty years on, those who lived through it are a vanishing generation. Time is running out to record their memories.
"The best history podcast I've heard in years." - The Sunday Times "Three million is great radio... and needs to be heard." - The Observer. During the Second World War, at least three million Indian people, who were British subjects, died in the Bengal Famine. It was one of the largest losses of civilian life on the Allied side. But there is no memorial to them anywhere in the world - not even a plaque. Can three million people disappear from public memory? From the award-winning creator and presenter of Partition Voices and Three Pounds in My Pocket, this is the story of the 1943 Bengal Famine in British India - the forgotten story of World War Two. For the first time it is told by those who were there - farmers and fishermen, artists and writers, colonial British and everyday citizens. Nearly all of the testimony in the series has never been broadcast before. Eighty years on, those who lived through it are a vanishing generation. Time is running out to record their memories.
The Bengal Famine, particularly the experiences of people in the rural areas who suffered the most, is not well remembered today. There is no memorial, museum, or plaque to the victims or survivors anywhere in the world.
One man has made it his life’s work to record their testimonies with paper and pen. Kavita hears from him - and tries to understand more about why the three million people who perished aren’t better remembered or memorialised in India, Bangladesh and Britain.
Presenter Kavita Puri Series Producer: Ant Adeane Editor: Emma Rippon Sound design and mix: Eloise Whitmore Production Coordinators: Maria Ogundele and Sabine Schereck Original music: Felix Taylor
With thanks to Dr Janam Mukherjee, Professor Joya Chatterji and Dr Diya Gupta.
