'It was a bridge from life to death': Hospitals during the Food Crisis, Greece 1941-1944.

The famine in occupied Greece between 1941 and 1943 was a deadly one with important short- and long-term effects on society at large. This paper focuses on the effect the famine had on the operation of two hospitals, those of Hios and Hermoupolis. The unique availability of patients' registers for both hospitals means that questions relating to the hospital's role and how they were utilised by the population during the famine can be addressed. Thus the paper examines the identity of patients, how long they stayed in the hospital, the outcomes of their stay and the diseases from which they suffered. Comparisons are made with the pre-famine period in an attempt to establish whether any of the parameters changed during the famine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]