Defend Leningrad |
...I came in and said: Papa i won't eat my bread ration. If i will stay alive i want to saw
to post generations what kind of bread we had to eat during the siege. My father said
"You 'll die". I said if i eat it, i still may die and perhaps even if i don't eat it i may still
stay alive. It was so terrible. That's why i wanted to keep that bread, so the children
could see and know how we lived. It's hard to imagine now what we had to endured
during the block period to survive...
...Above all when you recall it you are astonished by the strong belief people had in
their victory. At the time when things were so harsh there were no ground at all for
such a relief. Take evacuation for instance. It was a much more difficult problem than
trying to get supplies to the front line. It was hard to persuade people to leave the
city, they just wouldn't move, they said: "we 'll win, we 'll beat the enemy soon, i am
not moving any place" Even today i can't really understand some things...
Youth of the City of Lenin!Let our selfless work help the Red Army to crush and destroy the enemy! |
... In those days you needed greater courage to live than to die! People worked long
shifts. 16, 20 hours per day despite the hunger and cold. As Leningrad's history put it: at
night the occasional flicker of fires and the red flash of exploding artillery shells were
the only source of light into the darkness! But Leningrad was seemed to possessive
an indestructible will to survive...
Leningrad is not afraid of death they said. Death is afraid of Leningrad!
872 days under siege, the city of Lenin never surrendered. It was 27th of January 1944 when the Soviet Red Army managed to lift the blockade (started 8th of September 1941) and push back the Nazi forces.