The Dutch famine of 1944, also known as the Hongerwinter, was a famine that took place in the German-occupied part of the Netherlands, especially in the densely populated western provinces above the great rivers, during the winter of 1944-1945, near the end of World War II. A German blockade cut off food and fuel shipments from farm areas to punish the Dutch for their reluctance to aid the Nazi war effort. About 22,000 died because of the famine. Most vulnerable according to the death reports were elderly men.