Russia remembers siege that took a million lives

Public loudspeakers in St Petersburg – which reverted to its original name in 1990 – along with radio and television stations, broadcast the warnings as well as the sounds of a metronome used during the Second World War siege to tell residents of the raids and the all-clear announcements.

The 872-day-long siege of Leningrad – the “Blokada Leningrada” – is one of the darkest moments of Russia’s participation in the war. A million residents of the city are believed to have died – of hunger, in bombings and while defending the city’s outskirts.

Hitler designated Leningrad as one of his major objectives during the invasion of Russia, which was codenamed Operation Barbarossa, and from August 1941 the German’s Army Group North set about tightening the noose on the key Baltic port.

The blockade began on 8 September, 1941, when German troops occupied the city of Shlisselburg, thus severing the last connection to Leningrad, cutting off the city’s supply of food and military equipment.

With all land routes to the city cut off, the only way to get aid to Leningrad was across Lake Ladoga.

During the short summer months boats were used, but in winter the frozen lake became a makeshift highway known as “the Road of Life” – although others called it the “Road of Death” because of the frequent German attacks on it.

Nina Dmitriyeva, 80, was in the city during the whole siege. She says that like most Leningrad residents, she and her mother lived on rations of bread and glue, which they used to cook soup.

“I remember that it tasted delicious back then,” she said.

Ms Dmitriyeva has fond memories of aid from the Allies, including canned ham and fish, that began trickling into the city via a perilous route through Lake Ladoga in 1943.

“I liked that ham so much, and I’ve been trying to find ham like it ever since, but I never did,” she said.

St Petersburg residents gathered in Nevsky Prospekt, where one building still bears a painted Second World War sign warning people: “Stay off this side of the street during air raids.” Hundreds of people laid flowers under the sign in the pouring rain.

“There were days when I would step outside my house and see dead people lying in the snow, with their buttocks severed for meat,” Viktor Vilner told Russian broadcaster RT. “This isn’t something we should try to cover up with heroic stories. That would be unfair to the history of the siege, and the people who endured it.”

Some of the survivors have toured schools this month to tell young people of the horrifying experience.

Irina Skripacheva, who was in primary school during the siege, said people grew tired of constant bombings, but everyone, including children, did their best to stay sane.

“Air-raid sirens were driving everyone mad,” she said. “But even small children, unaware of what was happening, tried not to cry.”

Although the Soviets managed to open a narrow land corridor to the city on 18 January 1943, the lifting of the siege was not until 27 January 1944.

Many of those who survived went straight to fight the Germans, their experiences during the siege spurring them on.

“We joined the army to take revenge for what the Nazis had done to our people in this city. So many civilians lost their lives through hunger and shelling,” said Ivan Selyugan, another survivor of the siege.