Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
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The Siege of Leningrad
Nearly everyone in St. Petersburg today has a family member who lived
through the 900-day siege of the city by Nazi forces, and mere mention of the
humanity-crushing blockade still brings tears to the eyes of those who sur-
vived it. About one million people died during the siege of the city then known
as Leningrad, most of them civilians who wasted away of hunger, cold, and
disease. From September 1941 to January 1944, residents of this former impe-
rial capital were reduced to eating leather belts, stray dogs, and even human
corpses to survive. Antique furniture was stuffed into stoves to survive three
winters without heat or electricity. All the while, shells from German aircraft
rained down on the city's monuments, accompanying Leningraders' descent
into desperation. The only source of supplies to the city was the Road of Life, a
rough and remote ice road cut across Lake Ladoga during the first winter of the
siege. Though Russians credit Stalin with breaking the back of Nazi forces, the
Soviet dictator is also blamed for prolonging Leningrad's suffering by not
doing more to end the blockade or to boost supplies to the city.
Today the politics of this period are largely forgotten, and the siege is
viewed as evidence of the city's resilience and endurance. St. Petersburg has
several museums about the
blokad,
as Russians refer to it, and monuments
to victims of the siege; three are listed in this chapter. Even if you don't visit
one (they're not for the weak-kneed), keep an eye out for shell wounds on
city monuments such as St. Isaac's Cathedral, or for plaques around town
showing residents which sides of city streets to favor to avoid shelling. Har-
rison Salisbury's book
The 900 Days
remains the most vivid and respected
chronicle of the blockade in English, 40 years after it was first published.
I did not on this day forget
The bitter years of oppression and of evil
But in a blinding flash I understood
It was not I, but you who suffered and waited
…
My Motherland with the wreath of thorns
And the dark rainbow over your head
I love you—I cannot otherwise—
And you and I are one again, as before.
-Olga Berggolts, St. Petersburg poet, writing on the day of the
German invasion, June 22, 1941, of her love for her country
despite being imprisoned in Stalin's purges of the 1930s
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you. The Pavilion Hall, with mosaic tables and floors, marble fountains, engineering
marvels, and a wraparound view, is a favorite for the whole family. The Impressionist and
more recent works, including two rooms of early Picasso, are a must-see, though they're
in plainer rooms on the third floor, which can be stuffy and crowded in summer. Crowds
are thinner in the Antiquities halls on the ground floor, which include relics from early,
