Entrepreneurs, Speculators, or Silent Heroes? Body Size of Food Smugglers

Abstract:Variation in the height and weight of food smugglers during World War II is examined in relation to socioeconomic and environmental factors acting both during the war and earlier in life—during fetal development, infancy, childhood, and adolescence. Height might have reflected long-term effects of conditions during critical periods of development. During the war, access to food through the illegal market shaped the weight status of food smugglers. Knowledge of the German language may have contributed to “success in the smuggling business,” and, consequently, may have made life easier during the Nazi occupation.