Not only was there no place to hide food, but there was little possibility to hide having had any food. Anything other than increasing gauntness was an indication that a person was, somehow, providing for themselves. One glance at a face told the activists everything they needed to know. If a person somehow managed to find and conceal food, that only forestalled the inevitable. Their own body would betray them. Starvation was not simply a consequence: it was the goal, and it was the law. Stalin intended to break the Ukrainians once and for all.
