Historian Elena Osokina concluded the regime opened the stores to its own people specifically to extract wealth from the famine.

Stalin turned starvation into a profit center.

When millions were dying in the 1932-33 famine, his government let people trade wedding rings, family heirlooms, and tsarist gold coins for bread at Torgsin shops.
The shops paid far below world rates for the gold and charged more… https://t.co/nAFydf4hja pic.twitter.com/4gbm4C2PtZ

— Rothmus 🏴 (@Rothmus) October 17, 2026