Today, on the 27th January we celebrate one of the most important days for locals. This day , 72 years ago, the siege of Leningrad* was fully lifted. City and suburban areas were freed from Nazi occupation. The siege of Leningrad is one of the longest, most destructive and costliest sieges in the history. Economic destruction and human losses in Leningrad exceeded those of the Battle of Stalingrad or the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The siege of Leningrad is the most lethal siege in our world history, and some historians speak of the siege operations in terms of genocide, as a "racially motivated starvation policy" that became an integral part of the unprecedented German war of extermination against populations of the Soviet Union generally. The defeat of Leningrad was one of three main strategic goals in the German Operation Barbarossa and the main target of Army Group North. The strategy was motivated by Leningrad's political status - the symbolic capital of the Russian Revolution, its military importance as a main base of the Soviet Baltic Fleet and its industrial strength. In 1941 Nazi troops got close to Leningrad and started to form a ring around the city and on the 8th of September, 1941, when the last road leading to Leningrad was blocked, the hell started. People were completely not ready for the war, they didn't have any food supplies, factories were not ready for producing enough weapons and tanks. The siege caused extreme famine in the Leningrad region through disruption of utilities, water, energy and food supplies. During the 900 days of the siege about 1.5 million people died, this comes up to 45% of the population of the city! Corpses of adults and children were everywhere, people were not strong enough to move bodies away and bury them. Civilians in the city suffered from extreme starvation, especially in the winter of 1941–42. From November 1941 to February 1942 the only food available to the citizen was 125 grams of bread, of which 50–60% consisted of sawdust and other inedible admixtures. 97% of all deaths in the city were caused not by bombardments but by the terrible starvation. In conditions of extreme temperatures, down to −30 °C (−22 °F), and city transport being out of service, even a distance of a few kilometers to a food distributing kiosk created an insurmountable obstacle for many citizens. Deaths peaked in January–February 1942 at 100,000 per month. Cases of the severe muscle atrophy started to be called Leningrad illness. The only way to bring supplies to the city and to evacuate women and children was to use the Ladoga lake as a road. In winter 1941, when the water froze, the lake route was opened. There was the risk of vehicles becoming stuck in the snow or sinking through broken ice caused by the constant German bombardment. This route was called The Road of Life. This road helped Leningrad to survive and according to data, 700 000 people were evacuated by Ladoga lake. Not only Leningrad was facing losses: all suburban towns and villages, Czar's palaces and mansions, everything was destroyed. Such famous places as the Czars Village, Peterhof palace, Gatchina and Pavlovsk were blown up. People living in villages were taken to Germany and occupied regions as a cheap labor. When my grandmother was 5, she and ger mother as well as many other people from the village were taken to Lithuania where they were working on a farm of one of the nazis. Even though the situation was terrible, people tried to believe in future. Some schools, museums, concert halls kept working even though 40% of the employees disappeared forever. On 9 August 1942, the Symphony No. 7 "Leningrad" by Dmitri Shostakovich was performed by the Leningrad Radio Orchestra. The concert was broadcast on loudspeakers placed in all the city and also aimed towards the enemy lines. The same day had been previously designated by Hitler to celebrate the fall of the city with a lavish banquet at Leningrad's Astoria Hotel.
The siege continued until 27 January 1944, when the Soviet Leningrad-Novgorod Strategic Offensive expelled German forces from the southern outskirts of the city. This day, day of liberation of the city we celebrate every year. In may, 1945 Leningrad was given a special honorary title of the Hero City awarded for outstanding heroism during World War II. People never gave up. And today we celebrate the spirit of the brave citizens and we remember all those victims: soldiers fighting for their country, women and children, working 14 hours at factories, doctors and policemen, all of them, who gave their lives for our bright future. Siege of Leningrad will always stay in minds of locals, their families and all Russians. We, living people are in charge of the future of the world, not only our country and not only our nation, but the whole world. And I hope that lessons of the past will help us to prevent the same mistakes and avoid the same victims. * (St. Petersburg was called Leningrad after the death of Lenin in 1924, up to 1991)
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AuthorHi there! My name is Mila, I have been working as a local guide for six years and I've decided to share with you essential information about St. Petersburg, life in Russia and Russian culture. I hope you will enjoy! Archives
January 2018
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