The Siege of Leningrad

1. The Siege of Leningrad

900 days …

2. …in June 1941, the population of Leningrad was about 2,500,000.

• a further 100,000 refugees entered the city.
• on September 12th, those in charge of the
city estimated that they had the following
supplies:
• flour for 35 days
• cereals for 30 days
• meat for 33 days
• fats for 45 days
• sugar for 60 days

3. In November 1941, while the siege was in its early stages, 11,000 people died of what the authorities called 'alimentary

dystrophy' (starvation) - over 350 a
day. However, this number greatly increased as the winter took a hold on the city.
"I watched my father and
mother die - I knew
perfectly well they were
starving. But I wanted
their bread more than I
wanted them to stay
alive. And they knew that
about me too. That's
what I remember about
the blockade: that feeling
that you wanted your
parents to die because
you wanted their bread."

4. Rations were down to half a pound of bread a day, and very little else.

'Bread' baked by bakers even in the first few months of the siege contained only 50%
rye flour. To boost the loaf, soya, barley and oats were used. However, the oats were
meant to feed horses and malt was used as an alternate substitute. Even cellulose
and cottonseed were tried in an effort to produce bread. Both had little nutritional
value but there was plenty of both in Leningrad.

5. отруби, опилки, торф, жмых и др. компоненты

6. In the city …

Winters in Leningrad are invariably
extremely cold.
The winter of 1941-42 was no
exception.
Lack of fuel meant that the use of
electricity in homes was banned industry and the military took
priority.
Kerosene for oil lamps was
unobtainable.
Wood became the major source of
heat in homes with furniture and
floor boards being burned in most
homes.
While the city had a rail network of sorts,
Stalin ordered that all vital goods in the
city that could help defend Moscow be
moved out of Leningrad and to the
capital.

7. People collapsed in factories and on the streets - and died.

food remained in very short supply and people were only getting
10% of the required daily calorific intake - despite the fact that most
of their work was labour intensive.

8. When people died in the street, there was a scramble for their ration card.

125 grams of bread for the whole day …
• “Jenia died on
December 28, 1941, at
12.30 a.m.
• Grandmother died on
January 25, 1941.
• Lena died on March
17, 1942.
• Uncle Lesha died on
May 10, at 4.00 p.m.
• May 13, at 7.30 a.m.,
darling Mama died.
• The Savichevs are
dead, they all died.”
…

9. Tanya Savicheva’s Dairy

10. No one is forgotten Nothing is forgotten

• Russia will never forget the valour of those who worked
on the Way of Life during the heroic defence of
Leningrad.
• On December 26, 1941, the bread ration in Leningrad
was increased.

11. 2016 – the 72 anniversary of the end of the siege of Leningrad

• There are no photographs of that day
because all the cameras were
confiscated at the beginning of the
siege
• The memory of the people survived in
the siege keeps vivid picture and
dramatic stories of that time …

12. Internet Resources

http://tourbina.ru/common/photo/4934/memo/0/
http://balancer.ru/society/2010/05/t59633,2--18yanvarya-1943-goda-proryv-blokady-leningrada.9417.html
http://shibrey-shool.3dn.ru/photo/8-0-185-3
http://900igr.net/prezentatsii/istorija/Blokada-Leningrada.files/048-Vgljadis-v-etifotografii-i-ty-pojmjosh-kak-zhili-leningradtsy-pervoj.html