STORIES OF CHILDREN OF BLOCKAD LENINGRAD

On November 22, 1941, during the blockade of Leningrad, an ice route through Lake Ladoga began to operate. Thanks to her, many children were able to go to evacuation. Before that, some of them went through orphanages: some relatives died, and some disappeared at work all day long.

“At the beginning of the war, we probably didn’t realize that our childhood, our family, and our happiness would one day collapse. But we felt it almost immediately,” says Valentina Trofimovna Gershunina, who was taken out from orphanage in Siberia. Listening to the stories of the blockade people who grew up, you understand: having managed to save their lives, they lost their childhood. Too many "adult" things these guys had to do while real adults were fighting - at the front or at the machines.

Several women, whom they once managed to take out of the besieged Leningrad, told us their stories. Stories of stolen childhood, loss and life - against all odds.

"We saw grass and started eating it like cows."

The story of Irina Konstantinovna Potravnova

Little Ira lost her mother, brother and gift during the war. “I had perfect pitch. I managed to study at a music school,” says Irina Konstantinovna. “They wanted to take me to the school at the conservatory without exams, they told me to come in September.

Irina Konstantinovna was born into an Orthodox family: dad was the choir director in the church, and mom sang in the choir. In the late 1930s, my father began working as chief accountant at the Institute of Technology. We lived in two-story wooden houses on the outskirts of the city. The family had three children, Ira is the youngest, she was called a stump. Dad died a year before the start of the war. And before he died, he said to his wife: "Only take care of your son." The son died first - back in March. The wooden houses were burned down in the bombing, and the family went to stay with relatives. “Dad had an amazing library, and we could only take the most necessary things. We packed two large suitcases,” says Irina Konstantinovna. “It was cold April. on the way our cards were stolen. "

April 5, 1942 was Easter, and Irina Konstantinovna's mother went to the market to buy at least duranda, the pulp of sunflower seeds left over after pressing the oil. She returned with a fever and never got up.

So the sisters of eleven and fourteen were left alone. To get at least some cards, they had to go to the city center - otherwise no one would have believed that they were still alive. On foot - transport has not been running for a long time. And slowly - because there was no strength. It took three days to get there. And their cards were stolen again - all but one. The girls gave her away in order to somehow bury their mother. After the funeral, the elder sister went to work: fourteen-year-old children were considered "adults". Irina came to the orphanage, and from there to the orphanage. “We parted on the street and didn't know anything about each other for a year and a half,” she says.

Irina Konstantinovna remembers the feeling of constant hunger and weakness. Children, ordinary children who wanted to jump, run and play, could hardly move - like old women.

“Once, while walking, I saw painted“ classics, ”she says. tears flow. She told me: "Don't cry, little paw, then you jump." We were so weak. "

In the Yaroslavl region, where the children were evacuated, the collective farmers were ready to give them whatever they wanted - it was so painful to look at the bony, emaciated children. Only there was nothing special to give. “We saw grass and began to eat it like cows. We ate everything we could,” says Irina Konstantinovna. “By the way, no one got sick with anything.” Then little Ira learned that she had lost her hearing due to the bombing and stress. Forever and ever.

Irina Konstantinovna



There was a piano in the school. I ran up to him and I understand - I can't play. The teacher came. She says: "What are you doing, girl?" I answer: here the piano is upset. She told me: "Yes, you do not understand anything!" I'm in tears. I don’t understand, I know everything, I have an absolute ear for music ...

Irina Konstantinovna

There were not enough adults, it was difficult to look after the children, and Irina, as a diligent and intelligent girl, was made a teacher. She took the guys out to the fields to earn workdays. “We spread flax, we had to fulfill the norm - 12 acres per person. It was easier to spread flax, but after fiber flax all our hands festered,” Irina Konstantinovna recalls. “Because the little hands were still weak, scratched.” So - in work, hunger, but security - she lived for more than three years.

At the age of 14, Irina was sent to the restoration of Leningrad. But she had no documents, and during the physical examination, the doctors noted that she was 11 - the girl looked so undeveloped outwardly. So already in her hometown, she almost ended up in an orphanage again. But she managed to find a sister, who by that time was studying at a technical school.

Irina Konstantinovna



They didn’t take me to work, because I was supposedly 11 years old. Do you need something? I went to the dining room to wash the dishes, peel the potatoes. Then they made my documents, went through the archives. Within a year got a job

Irina Konstantinovna

Then there were eight years of work at a confectionery factory. In the post-war city, this made it possible to sometimes eat off defective, broken sweets. Irina Konstantinovna fled from there when they decided to promote her along the party line. "I had an excellent leader, he said:" Look, you are being prepared for the head of the shop. "I say:" Help me to get away. "I thought that I should mature before the party."

Irina Konstantinovna "washed away" at the Geological Institute, and then went on a lot of expeditions to Chukotka and Yakutia. "On the way" I managed to get married. She has more than half a century behind her shoulders happy marriage... “I am very happy with my life,” says Irina Konstantinovna. Only now she never played the piano again.

"I thought that Hitler was the Serpent Gorynych"

The story of Regina Romanovna Zinovieva

"On June 22, I was in the kindergarten," says Regina Romanovna. "We went for a walk, and I ended up in the first pair. And that was very honorable, they gave me a flag ... We leave proud, suddenly a woman runs, all disheveled, and shouts:" War, Hitler attacked us! "And I thought it was the Serpent Gorynych who attacked and his fire is coming out of his mouth ..."

Then the five-year-old Regina was very upset that she never walked with the flag. But very soon "Serpent Gorynych" intervened in her life much more strongly. Dad went to the front as a signalman, and soon he was taken away on the "black funnel" - they took him immediately upon returning from the mission, without even allowing him to change clothes. His last name was German - Hindenberg. The girl stayed with her mother, and famine began in the besieged city.

Once Regina was waiting for her mother, who was supposed to pick her up from kindergarten. The teacher took the two delayed children out into the street and went to lock the doors. A woman came up to the kids and offered candy.

“We don't see bread, there are sweets! We wanted very much, but we were warned that we shouldn't approach strangers. Fear won, and we ran away,” says Regina Romanovna. “Then the teacher came out. We wanted to show her this woman, but she already the trace is gone. " Now Regina Romanovna realizes that she managed to escape from the cannibal. At that time, Leningraders, mad with hunger, stole and ate children.

Mom tried to feed her daughter as best she could. Once I invited a speculator to exchange cuts of fabric for a couple of pieces of bread. The woman looked around and asked if there were any children's toys in the house. And Regina, just before the war, was presented with a plush monkey, she was named Foka.

Regina Romanovna



I grabbed this monkey and shouted: "Take what you want, but I won't give this one! This is my favorite." And she really liked her. She and my mother tore out the toy from me, and I roar ... Taking the monkey, the woman cut off more bread - more than for cloth

Regina Romanovna

Already becoming an adult, Regina Romanovna will ask her mother: "Well, how could you take away your favorite toy from a small child?" Mom replied: "Perhaps this toy saved your life."

Once, leading her daughter to the kindergarten, my mother fell in the middle of the street - she no longer had the strength. She was taken to the hospital. So little Regina ended up in an orphanage. "There were a lot of people, we were lying in bed two by two. They put me with the girl, she was all swollen. Her legs were all covered with ulcers. And I say:" How will I lie with you, turn around, I will hurt your legs, You will be hurt. ”And she told me:“ No, they still don’t feel anything. ”

The girl did not stay in the orphanage for long - her aunt took her. And then, along with other kids from kindergarten, she was sent to evacuation.

Regina Romanovna



When we got there we were given semolina. Oh, it was so cute! We licked this porridge, licked the plates from all sides, we haven't seen such food for a long time ... And then they put us in a train and sent to Siberia

Regina Romanovna

1">

1">

(($ index + 1)) / ((countSlides))

((currentSlide + 1)) / ((countSlides))

The guys were lucky: they were met very well in the Tyumen region. The children were given a former manor house - a strong, two-story one. They stuffed the mattresses with hay, gave them land for a vegetable garden and even a cow. The guys weeded the beds, caught fish and collected nettles for cabbage soup. After hungry Leningrad, this life seemed calm and well-fed. But, like all Soviet children of that time, they worked not only for themselves: girls from senior group caring for the wounded and washing bandages at the local hospital, the boys went to logging with their teachers. This work was hard even for adults. And the older children in the kindergarten were only 12-13 years old.

In 1944, the authorities considered the fourteen-year-olds old enough to go to rebuild liberated Leningrad. “Our head went to the regional center - part of the way on foot, part on hitchhiking. The frost was 50-60 degrees,” recalls Regina Romanovna. Only seven or eight of the strongest boys were sent to Leningrad. "

Regina's mom survived. By that time, she was working at a construction site and corresponded with her daughter. It remained to wait for the victory.

Regina Romanovna



The manager wore a red crepe de Chine dress. She tore it up and hung it like a flag. It was so beautiful! So I didn’t regret it. And our boys arranged fireworks: all the pillows were dismissed and fluffed with feathers. And the educators did not even swear. And then the girls gathered the feathers, made pillows for themselves, and the boys were left without pillows. This is how we celebrated Victory Day

Regina Romanovna

The children returned to Leningrad in September 1945. In the same year, we finally received the first letter from Regina Romanovna's father. It turned out that he had been in a camp in Vorkuta for two years. Only in 1949 did the mother and daughter receive permission to visit him, and a year later he was released.

Regina Romanovna has a rich pedigree: there was a general in her family who fought in 1812, and her grandmother in 1917 was part of women's battalion defended the Winter Palace. But nothing played such a role in her life as the German surname inherited from her long-Russianized ancestors. Because of her, she not only nearly lost her father. Later, the girl was not taken to the Komsomol, and already an adult Regina Romanovna herself refused to join the party, although she held a decent post. Her life was happy: two marriages, two children, three grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. But she still remembers how she did not want to part with the monkey Foka.

Regina Romanovna



The elders told me: when the blockade began, the weather was fine, the sky was blue. And over Nevsky Prospect appeared a cross from the clouds. It hung for three days. It was a sign to the city: it will be incredibly difficult for you, but still you will endure

Regina Romanovna

"We were called" picks "

The story of Tatyana Stepanovna Medvedeva

Little Tanya's mother called the last child: the girl was youngest child v big family: she had a brother and six sisters. In 1941 she was 12 years old. “On June 22 it was warm, we were going to go to sunbathe and swim. And suddenly they announced that the war had begun,” says Tatyana Stepanovna. ...

The parents were already elderly, they did not have enough strength to fight. They died quickly: dad in February, mom in March. Tanya sat at home with her nephews, who were not much different in age from her - one of them, Volodya, was only ten. The sisters were taken to defense work. Someone dug trenches, someone took care of the wounded, and one of the sisters gathered dead children around the city. And the relatives were afraid that Tanya would be among them. “Raya's sister said:“ Tanya, you won't survive here alone. ”The mothers took the nephews apart - Volodya was taken to the plant, he worked with her, - says Tatyana Stepanovna. - Raya took me to the orphanage. On the road to life. "

The children were taken to the Ivanovo region, to the town of Gus-Khrustalny. And although there were no bombings and "125 blockade grams", life did not become easy. Subsequently, Tatyana Stepanovna talked a lot with the same grown children of besieged Leningrad and realized that other evacuated children did not live so hungry. Probably, the point is in geography: after all, the front line was much closer here than in Siberia. "When the commission came, we said that there was not enough food. We were told: we give you horse portions, and you all want to eat," Tatyana Stepanovna recalls. She still remembers these "horse portions" of gruel, cabbage soup and porridge. As well as the cold. The girls slept in twos: they lay down on one mattress, covered themselves with the other. There was nothing else to hide with.

Tatiana Stepanovna



The locals didn't like us. They called them "picks". Probably because we, having arrived, began to go from door to door, asking for bread ... And it was hard for them too. There was a river, in winter I really wanted to go ice skating. The locals gave us one skate for the whole group. Not a pair of skates - one skate. Rode in turns on one leg

Tatiana Stepanovna

January 27 is one of the most significant dates for Petersburgers - the Day of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the Nazi blockade. It lasted 872 long days and claimed the lives of one and a half million people. During these most difficult days for the city, 400 thousand children were surrounded together with adults.

Of course, our modern children need to read about this so that they know and remember. This memory should be in each of us, and must be passed on to future generations.

We have compiled a selection of books that can be read to children and with children about the siege of Leningrad.

G. Cherkashin "Doll"

This is a story about a little girl who was evacuated from the besieged Leningrad, and about the doll Masha, who remained to wait for the mistress in the besieged city. This is a story about returning home, about people - good and not so, about hope, courage and generosity.

There is no description of the horrors of wartime: enemy raids, the explosion of shells, hunger ... But all that great misfortune that happened to our country palpably rises before our eyes. In a simple, uncomplicated plot, a reflection on family relationships, about human values, about the inhabitants of the hero-city of Leningrad and their feat.

The book "Doll" is not only a story about a girl and her toys. This is a story about the unparalleled feat of the inhabitants and defenders of the city on the Neva, about true human values.

Yu. German "This is how it was"

The children's story "This is how it was" was not published during the life of the writer. It is dedicated to a very important period in the life of our country. It tells about Leningrad before the war, about the Great Patriotic War, about the Leningrad blockade, about how we won. Much is documented in the story, based on historical facts... This is not only memorable to all Leningraders who survived the blockade, episodes with the shelling of the zoo and a fire in People's House, not only the bombing of the hospital ... So, for example, the poems "A blockade looms over Leningrad", placed in the chapter "School in the basement", is not a stylization, not a fake for children's creativity - this is a genuine poem by one Leningrad schoolboy of those harsh years, presented to the writer at a meeting with young readers in a school in Leningrad.

A story for preschool children.

T. Zinberg "Seventh Symphony"

The siege of Leningrad ... Young Katya takes a three-year-old boy under her care, saving him from death. And thanks to this, she herself gains the strength to live on. The story of Tamara Zinberg tells a surprisingly bright and honest story about the invisible daily exploits of Leningraders and about what the bravery of an individual meant during the Great Patriotic War.

In this book, the author tells about people with a clear soul and conscience, about how, in fulfilling their duty, they daily performed imperceptible but heroic deeds. And the girls-saleswomen from the bakery, and the management office, and the doctor from the hospital, and the girl Katya - they all fought for a common cause, for the happiness of the people.

It is about love, about humanity, about compassion.

E. Vereiskaya "Three girls"

This book is about the friendship of three girls-schoolgirls - Natasha, Katya and Lucy, - about how interesting and cheerful girlfriends live in "Salty Katoluando" in peacetime, and how during the Great Patriotic War friendship helps them along with adults bravely and courageously withstand the harsh tests of the siege of Leningrad.

The story "Three girls" is Touching story three girls, who survived the blockade of Leningrad and are forced to face childish difficulties, will truthfully tell about true friendship, courage and sincere devotion, about unexpected losses and gains.

E. Fonyakova "The Bread of That Winter"

The autobiographical story of the modern Petersburg writer Ella Fonyakova is dedicated to the Leningrad blockade, which coincided with the author's childhood. Written in a bright, simple and juicy language based on his own memories, "The Bread of That Winter" is an honest story without embellishment or whipping up nightmares. The book has been translated into many languages, including published in Germany and the USA.

“How is it - war? What is this - war? " Few know firsthand the answers to these questions. And first-grader Lena, who remained with her family in besieged Leningrad, on own experience you have to find out “what a real war looks like”: what an air raid is and how to extinguish a “lighter”, what a real hunger is like and that, it turns out, pancakes can be made from coffee grounds, and jelly - from wood glue.

"The Bread of That Winter" by Ella Fonyakova is both a cast of time, and in many respects an autobiographical story about the days of the siege, and a poignant story about the most ordinary girl, her family and all Leningraders who did not leave the surrounded city.

L. Pozhedaeva "War, blockade, me and others"

“The book burns and shocks ... Grief and joy, courage and cowardice, loyalty and betrayal, life and death, hunger, loneliness, burning cold were the“ blockade girlfriends ”of the little girl Mila ...

... She had to die in that terrible bombing, she had to be crushed by the iron tracks of the bursting German tanks, she had to die many more times, because even an adult cannot bear this and the strong man... But, probably, the souls and destinies of little girls and boys, like her, left her to live so that she could tell us today about the terrible war waged by the blockade children, as big and small as they could ... and often without adults, closing and saving with their thin, puny little bodies of us, today's ...

This book is a reproach about the forgotten debt to them, the children of the Leningrad blockade, the dead, frozen, crushed by a fascist tank attack, torn apart by an airplane bombing ... And we need to pay this debt to both the living and the dead ... St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region "

M. Sukhachev "Children of the Blockade"

Mikhail Sukhachev, author of the book "Children of the Blockade," as a twelve-year-old boy, lived through many months in the tragic and heroic blockade of Leningrad in 1941-1944. This book is not just a literary work, it tells about difficult and terrible memories, about the struggle of Leningraders and their children who remained in the city, about their unbearable suffering from hunger and cold. All of the relatives of many children died in the blockade.

But this book is also about the incredible courage and resilience of the guys who did not get scared under the bombing and shelling, but put out incendiary bombs in attics, helped women and the elderly and worked in factories on a par with adults ... They quickly matured and tried to do everything, even the impossible, to help the city in which Leningraders died but did not surrender.

L. Nikolskaya "Must stay alive"

The story takes place during one, the most terrible, month of the siege of Leningrad - December 1941. An ordinary Leningrad girl shows genuine courage, experiences tragic moments, goes through real adventures, helping good in its fight against evil. Despite the tragedy of the situation, the story is filled with bright optimism. The book is designed for children and adults.

A. Krestinsky "Boys from the blockade"

Lyric and dramatic story about the life of children in Leningrad besieged by the Nazis.

Stories and novellas included in the collection, autobiographical; and yet, above all, they are literary texts addressed to a teenager. Truthfully and simply, they tell about things that are understandable to the young reader: about boyish friendship and first love, about parental self-sacrifice - and the complexity of mutual understanding, about strength and nobility - and about weakness and baseness; in a word, about childhood and adolescence, which fell during the years of the terrible disaster, the Leningrad blockade.

V. Shefner "Sister of Sorrow"

The story "Sister of Sorrow" is one of the most significant and profound works of V. Shefner. It is perceived as a generalized portrait of a generation. It talks about Leningrad, about the inextricable connection of the past with the present, about courage, resilience, labor and military friendship, overcoming the hardships of war, the blockade, the loss of loved ones, about mental health, helping people, having survived losses, with bright sadness to think about the past and confidently look into the future. And it is also a story about Love, real Love with a capital letter, carried through the years and not losing its strength and purity.

V. Sementsova "Ficus leaf"

The author of the book belongs to that no longer numerous generation of people who are called "Children of the Blockade". In her stories, on behalf of a five-year-old heroine, the author addresses her peers living in the 21st century, and tells about the war childhood, about the life of a little girl and her mother in besieged Leningrad.

The child's selective memory captured what seemed important and interesting for the heroine at this very age. This feature of memories contributes to the fact that the book is perceived by modern children as relevant, as it corresponds to their own feelings and experiences. The stories help to see and feel the military events, life and life of the besieged city in a new way. The book is addressed to readers of senior preschool and primary school age.

N. Hodza "The Road of Life"

A very important book for preschoolers and junior schoolchildren about the blockade of Leningrad. Without unnecessary pathos, without chilling details, in a simple and calm language, Nison Hoza tells little stories - a page or two - about what it was like - the blockade of Leningrad, and what the Road of Life meant for people.

V. Voskoboinikov "Weapon for Victory"

The book combines three documentary stories: "900 Days of Courage", "Vasily Vasilievich" and "Weapons for Victory".

"900 days of courage" This story shows the blockade on the example of the life of one family - from the first day of the war to the Leningrad fireworks. In a peaceful life, when "on Sunday 22 June 1941 Ivan Semyonovich Pakhomov came with his son Alyosha and daughter Dasha to the zoo", the news of the beginning of the war bursts in: "And suddenly they announced on the radio that the war had begun."

Documentary facts and stories organically fit into the fabric of the narrative. And about the pilot Sevostyanov, after whom the street was later named, and about Tanya Savicheva, and about Maxim Tverdokhleb.

Stories "Vasily Vasilievich" and "Weapon for Victory" in some ways are very similar. They tell about the fate of teenagers who threw all their strength in those difficult years to help their city. The boys worked in factories, tried their best. It was their war, they fought for their homeland at the machines. How many of these boys were there? Vasily Vasilyevich became orphaned even before the war, Grisha's parents died during the evacuation, and he himself miraculously survived, accidentally falling behind the train ...

An interesting fact is that Vasily Vasilyevich is a real character! And after the war he worked at the same plant! It was him who was painted during the war by the artist Alexei Pakhomov for the famous poster, it was him who was painted by Pakhomov thirty years later - the best worker! The artist told the writer Voskoboinikov about this. This feat of a simple boy became worthy not only of the artist's brush, but also of a documentary story.

V. Dubrovin "Boys in the 41st"

What boy doesn't dream of being on the battlefield? Moreover, if a real war began yesterday! So Vovka and Zhenya quite seriously decided to go to the army. Who would have thought that before real fighters they still have to grow and grow! And, of course, friends could not even imagine that in Leningrad, surrounded by a blockade ring, it would be no easier than on the front line. Now every gram of bread counts, and very close, across the lake, where the guys used to go swimming and sunbathing earlier on weekends, is the front line. So the time comes for the boys to say goodbye to a carefree childhood, to go through completely unchildish difficulties and - to grow up.

I. Mixon "Once upon a time, was"

A documentary story about Tanya Savicheva based on her diary.

The life of one child. Childhood, destroyed under heavy cannonade, broken by the loss of relatives. Perhaps the most shocking thing is that the main character is ... a girl. Fragile, little girl of 12 years old. She would have to be so, fragile, cheerful, cheerful, if not for the horrors that history, books and stories describe to us.

The name of Tanya Savicheva is known all over the world. In her diary, presented at the Nuremberg trials as a document accusing fascism, there are only a few leaflets on which the girl, in an uncertain childish handwriting, recorded the death of her relatives. And no one is indifferent: so sincerely, accurately and extremely succinctly the little girl was able to tell about the war in her little notebook.

Y. Yakovlev "Girls from Vasilievsky Island"

The most tragic period in the history of the siege of Leningrad was the winter of 1941-1942. The whole burden of the war fell on the shoulders of not only adults, but also children.

Before you is a sincere and exciting story about a girl Tanya, who is experiencing the siege of Leningrad. Thanks to her diary, the guys will learn about the dramatic events that took place in those difficult times. About hunger, because of which the girl's family suffers, about the loss of loved ones and relatives. But there is always a friendship that can bind people living at different times.

This is a story about how the war changed the lives of people and, above all, children, how it affected them. appearance and internal state. Speech in the story goes about the six-year-old girl Marinka from besieged Leningrad, who lived with the writer in the same house and up the same staircase.

Yulia Korotkova

The blockade of Leningrad lasted exactly 871 days. This is the longest and most terrible siege of the city in the history of mankind. Almost 900 days of pain and suffering, courage and dedication. After many years after breaking the blockade of Leningrad many historians, and ordinary people as well, wondered - could this nightmare have been avoided? To avoid - apparently not. For Hitler, Leningrad was a "tasty morsel" - after all, here is the Baltic Fleet and the road to Murmansk and Arkhangelsk, from where during the war came help from the allies, and if the city surrendered, it would be destroyed and wiped off the face of the earth. Was it possible to mitigate the situation and prepare for it in advance? The issue is controversial and worthy of a separate study.

The first days of the blockade of Leningrad

On September 8, 1941, in continuation of the offensive of the fascist army, the city of Shlisselburg was captured, thus the blockade ring was closed. In the early days, few believed in the seriousness of the situation, but many residents of the city began to thoroughly prepare for the siege: literally in a few hours all savings were withdrawn from the savings banks, the shops were empty, everything that was possible was bought up. Not everyone succeeded in evacuating, when the systematic shelling began, and they began immediately, in September, the escape routes were already cut off. There is an opinion that it was the fire that occurred on the first day blockade of Leningrad in the Badayev warehouses - in the storage of the city's strategic reserves - provoked a terrible famine during the blockade days. However, not so long ago declassified documents provide somewhat different information: it turns out that as such a "strategic reserve" did not exist, since in the conditions of the outbreak of the war, create a large reserve for such a huge city as Leningrad was (and at that time about 3 Millions of people) was not possible, so the city ate imported products, and the existing reserves would only last for a week. Literally from the first days of the blockade, ration cards were introduced, schools were closed, military censorship was introduced: any attachments to letters were prohibited, and messages containing decadent sentiments were seized.

The siege of Leningrad - pain and death

Memories of the blockade of Leningrad people survivors, their letters and diaries reveal a terrible picture to us. A terrible famine fell upon the city. Money and jewelry have depreciated. The evacuation began in the fall of 1941, but it was only in January 1942 that it became possible to withdraw a large number of people, mainly women and children, through the Road of Life. There were huge queues at the bakeries where the daily ration was served. Beyond hunger besieged Leningrad other disasters also attacked: very frosty winters, sometimes the thermometer dropped to -40 degrees. Out of fuel and frozen water pipes- the city was left without light, and drinking water... Another misfortune for the besieged city in the first blockade winter was the rats. They not only destroyed food supplies, but also spread all kinds of infections. People were dying, and there was no time to bury them, the corpses were lying right in the streets. There were cases of cannibalism and robbery.

Life of besieged Leningrad

Simultaneously Leningraders They tried with all their might to survive and not let their hometown die. Moreover, Leningrad helped the army by producing military products - the factories continued to work in such conditions. Theaters and museums were rebuilding their activities. It was necessary - to prove to the enemy, and, most importantly, to ourselves: Leningrad blockade will not kill the city, it continues to live! One of the vivid examples of striking dedication and love for the Motherland, life, hometown is the story of the creation of one piece of music. During the blockade, D. Shostakovich's famous symphony was written, which was later called "Leningrad". Rather, the composer began writing it in Leningrad, and finished it already in evacuation. When the score was ready, it was taken to the besieged city. By that time, a symphony orchestra had already resumed its activities in Leningrad. On the day of the concert, so that enemy raids could not disrupt it, our artillery did not allow a single fascist aircraft to approach the city! All the days of the siege, the Leningrad radio was working, which was for all Leningraders not only a life-giving source of information, but also simply a symbol of continuing life.

The Road of Life - the pulse of a besieged city

From the first days of the blockade, the Road of Life began its dangerous and heroic work - pulse besieged Leningrada... In summer - water, and in winter - an ice path connecting Leningrad with the "mainland" along Lake Ladoga. On September 12, 1941, the first barges with food came to the city along this route, and before late autumn until storms made navigation impossible, barges were sailing along the Road of Life. Each of their flights was a heroic deed - enemy aircraft incessantly carried out their bandit raids, weather often, too, they were not in the hands of the sailors - the barges continued their voyages even in late autumn, until the very appearance of ice, when navigation was in principle impossible. On November 20, the first horse-drawn sled carriage descended on the ice of Lake Ladoga. A little later, trucks set off along the Ice Road of Life. The ice was very thin, despite the fact that the truck was carrying only 2-3 bags of food, the ice broke, and there were frequent cases when the trucks sank. At the risk of their lives, the drivers continued their deadly flights until spring. Military road No. 101, as this route was called, made it possible to increase the bread ration and evacuate a large number of people. The Germans were constantly striving to break this thread connecting the blockaded city with the country, but thanks to the courage and strength of the spirit of Leningraders, the Road of Life lived on its own and gave life to the great city.
The significance of the Ladoga Route is enormous; it saved thousands of lives. Now on the shores of Lake Ladoga there is a museum "The Road of Life".

Children's contribution to the liberation of Leningrad from the blockade. Ensemble A.E. Obrant

There is no greater grief at all times than a suffering child. Blockade children are a special topic. Having matured early, not childishly serious and wise, they with all their strength, along with adults, brought victory closer. Children are heroes, each fate of which is a bitter echo of those terrible days. Children's dance ensemble A.E. Obranta is a special piercing note of the besieged city. In the first winter blockade of Leningrad many children were evacuated, but despite this, different reasons there were still many children left in the city. The Palace of Pioneers, located in the famous Anichkov Palace, passed to martial law with the beginning of the war. I must say that 3 years before the start of the war, the Song and Dance Ensemble was created on the basis of the Palace of Pioneers. At the end of the first blockade winter, the remaining teachers tried to find their pupils in the besieged city, and choreographer A.E. Obrant created a dance group from the children who remained in the city. It's scary to even imagine and compare the terrible days of siege and pre-war dances! Nevertheless, the ensemble was born. At first, the guys had to recover from exhaustion, only then they were able to start rehearsals. However, in March 1942 the first performance of the band took place. The fighters, who had seen a lot, could not hold back their tears, looking at these courageous children. Remember, how long did the blockade of Leningrad last? So during this considerable time the ensemble gave about 3000 concerts. Wherever the guys had to perform: often the concerts had to end in a bomb shelter, since several times during the evening the performances were interrupted by air raids, it happened that young dancers performed several kilometers from the front line, and in order not to attract the enemy with unnecessary noise, they danced without music, and the floors were covered with hay. Strong in spirit, they supported and inspired our soldiers, the contribution of this collective to the liberation of the city can hardly be overestimated. Later, the guys were awarded medals "For the Defense of Leningrad".

Break of the blockade of Leningrad

In 1943, a turning point took place in the war, and at the end of the year, Soviet troops were preparing to liberate the city. On January 14, 1944, during the general offensive of the Soviet troops, the final operation on lifting the blockade of Leningrad... The task was to inflict a crushing blow on the enemy south of Lake Ladoga and restore the land routes connecting the city with the country. The Leningrad and Volkhov fronts by January 27, 1944, with the help of the Kronstadt artillery, carried out breaking the blockade of Leningrad... The Nazis began to retreat. Soon the cities of Pushkin, Gatchina and Chudovo were liberated. The blockade was completely lifted.

Tragic and great page Russian history, which claimed more than 2 million human lives... As long as the memory of these terrible days lives in the hearts of people, finds a response in talented works of art, is passed from hand to hand to descendants - this will not happen again! The blockade of Leningrad briefly, but was succinctly described by Vera Inberg, her lines are a hymn to the great city and at the same time a requiem for the departed.

There is a period in the history of our city, the tragic events of which have touched almost every family living today. This is the blockade of Leningrad.

This is very far from us, but you also know from books, films and stories of adults about the terrible and deadly war against the fascists, which our country won in a fierce battle. Many years ago, when we were not yet in the world, there was the Great Patriotic War with Nazi Germany. It was a brutal war. She brought a lot of grief and destruction. Trouble came to every home. This war was the most terrible test for the people. Who attacked our country?

In 1941, fascist Germany attacked our homeland. The war broke into the peaceful life of the Leningraders. Our city was then called Leningrad, and its inhabitants were called Leningraders. At the beginning of the war, a wonderful song was born. She called the people to fight: "Get up, this is a huge country!" And the entire Russian people rose to defend their homeland!

Very soon, the enemies were near the city. Day and night, the Nazis bombed and shelled Leningrad. Fires blazed, the dead fell to the ground. Hitler failed to capture the city by force, then he decided to strangle it with a blockade. The Nazis surrounded the city, blocked all exits and entrances to the city. Our city found itself in a blockade ring.

What is a blockade? This is a ring of siege, into which the city was taken. The city was no longer supplied with food. They turned off the light, heating, water ... Winter has come ... The terrible, difficult days of siege have come. There were 900 of them ... This is almost 2.5 years.

The city was regularly shelled from the air 6-8 times a day. And the air raid sounded. When people heard the signal, everyone hid in a bomb shelter, and to calm them down, the sound of a metronome sounded on the radio, which resembled the sound of a heartbeat telling people that life was going on.

What is a bomb shelter? (These are special rooms underground, where you could hide from the bombing)
Life in the city became more and more difficult. Plumbing did not work in the houses, the water in it froze from severe frosts. Barely living people descended on the Neva ice to fetch water. They put buckets and cans on the sledges and took water from the hole. And then they drove home for a long, long time.

The bread ration decreased 5 times, this is a piece of bread that was given to a resident of besieged Leningrad - 125 grams. And that's it, nothing else - just water.
The houses were not heated, there was no coal. People in the room put up stoves, small iron stoves, and in them they burned furniture, books, letters in order to somehow warm up. But even in the most severe frosts, people did not touch a single tree in the city. They have kept the gardens and parks for you and me.
Here are the children, what an ordeal the Leningraders suffered. Until now, this city has preserved a special attitude towards bread. Do you understand why?
-Children's answers: Because the city survived famine. Because there was nothing but a piece of bread a day. That's right, because just a small piece of bread saved many lives. And, come on, and we will always respect bread. Yes, now we always have a lot of bread on the table, it is different, white and black, but it is always delicious. And all of you must remember that bread cannot be crumbled or left half-eaten.

Despite such a difficult time, kindergartens and schools worked. And those children who could walk went to school. And this was also a feat of the little Leningraders.

Leningrad continued to live and work. Who worked in the besieged city?
The factories made shells, tanks, rocket launchers for the front. Women and even schoolchildren worked on the machines. People worked as long as they could stand. And when they didn't have the strength to get home, they stayed here at the factory until morning to resume work in the morning. How else did children help adults? (They extinguished lighters dropped from Nazi planes. They extinguished fires, carried water from an ice-hole on the Neva, because the water supply system did not work. We stood in lines for bread, which was given according to special cards. They helped the wounded in hospitals, arranged concerts, sang songs, recited poetry , danced.

Let's now sing a song about the Leningrad boys in memory of their heroic deeds, because many of them have not survived to this day, but the memory of them is alive in our hearts.

The city continued to live. The blockade could not stop the creative life of the city The radio worked, and people learned the news from the front. Concerts were held in the most difficult conditions, artists painted posters, cameramen filmed newsreels.

Music sounded for the soldiers - Leningraders. She helped people fight and stayed with them until the victory.

The Leningrad composer D. D. Shostakovich wrote the Seventh Symphony in this cruel winter, which he called “Leningrad. »The music told about a peaceful life, about the invasion of the enemy, about the struggle and victory.

This symphony was first performed in besieged Leningrad, in the big hall of the Philharmonic. To prevent the Nazis from interfering with the concert, our troops entered the battle with the enemy. And not a single enemy shell fell then in the area of ​​the Philharmonic.

Winter is hungry, cold. Bread was given on ration cards, but there was very little of it and many were dying of hunger. There were many children left in the city and only one road along which it was possible to take out the sick, children, wounded and bring flour and cereals. Where did this road go? This road passed along the ice of Lake Ladoga. Ladoga has become a salvation, has become a "Road to life" And why was it called that? By the spring, driving on ice became dangerous: often cars went straight through the water, sometimes they fell through, and the drivers removed the cab doors in order to get out of the sinking truck in time ...
the song "Ladoga" sounds

In January, our troops went on the offensive. 4.5 thousand guns unleashed a deadly blow on the enemy. And now the hour has come. On January 27, 1944, Soviet troops drove out the Nazis from the Leningrad land. Leningrad was liberated from the blockade.

In honor of the victory, there was a festive fireworks display in the city. All the people left their homes and watched the fireworks with tears in their eyes.

Our city fought for 900 days and nights and stood and won.
Every day separates us from those harsh war years. But everyone should know and remember the feat of the defenders In memory of the fallen in those days, at the Piskarevskoye cemetery, an eternal flame burns near the mass graves. People bring flowers and are silent, thinking about those who performed an unparalleled feat in the fight against the Nazis, about those to whom we owe a peaceful life.

Many years have passed since then, but we must not forget about that war so that it never happens again.

Therefore, we have gathered with you so that you hear about this feat of Leningrad and Leningraders.

So, dear friends, we talked a little with you, remembered those terrible days! And now, let's imagine, we are with you, these are the very troops that did not allow the Nazis to take our city of Leningrad!

Look at the playing field!

5 teams - Let's introduce ourselves

Now we are all on the most important line - on the front line! Each team is marked with its own color (picture) And our task is to keep the enemy out of the city!

How are we going to do this?

In turn, I will ask each team questions. On the first line, they are the most difficult. ... If you give the correct answer, then you remain on this first line, if not, then step back. And on the second line, the questions will be easier. And the closer you are to Leningrad, the less "Enemies" will attack you

If suddenly, you are already on the last 4 line, and you have nowhere to go further, then it's not scary! You will help those troops that are still holding the defenses!

Ready? Then Battle!

Leningrad communal apartment. The kitchen is seven meters long, a long corridor, which Vasily Makarych would later call "Nevsky Prospect" and ... 44 neighbors. In such an apartment lived Lida Fedoseyeva, who had not yet turned three years old by the beginning of the blockade.
She remembers that when she got older, she sometimes begged passers-by for money. She was not begging, as Lida says, but begging.
Not for bread. To the cinema.

Lida and her mother are in the same communal apartment. Leningrad, May 1995 (my photo).

Alisa Freundlich. In June 1941, she was six and a half years old.
On September 1, she went to the first grade of school 239 on St. Isaac's Square, and on September 8, the blockade of Leningrad began.

My grandmother had mustard since pre-war times. Luxury! Even the jelly made from carpenter's glue, which everyone in Leningrad was cooking at that time, seemed delicious with her. We also had soda left, we threw it into boiling water, and it turned out to be a fizzy. They burned mainly with furniture, in the end they burned everything, except for what one had to sleep and sit on. Burned down in the stove complete collection works of Tolstoy, lifetime edition. But here it is: either death, or books into the fire ...
First, dad left - he was evacuated with the Youth Theater, where he worked by that time. He flew away with literally the last plane, after which the blockade ring finally closed. For some reason, my mother and I did not go with him. I don't know what the reason was. Maybe because they couldn't take everyone. By the way, my father never returned to us - in the evacuation he had a new family. In the winter of 1941, our apartment was gone - a shell hit it. Moreover, according to rumors, it was our shell - either an undershoot, or a flight ... I remembered very well how we returned home and saw the broken glass and doors, the poor piano, all in plaster, everything was scattered ...

Grandmother - Charlotte Fyodorovna ... She was Fridrikhovna, but in Russian she was already Fyodorovna. They were sent later at twenty-four o'clock, and my mother and I were left alone.
Grandma died on the train. They were taken somewhere near Krasnoyarsk or Sverdlovsk. Didn't get there. We don't even know where her grave is ...
I remember when my mother saw them off at the station, there were big boilers. There were bonfires under them, and pasta was cooked in them, and they were boiled down to a dough state. This dough immediately froze, it was chopped into loaves and handed out instead of bread ... Well, of course, grandmother immediately cut off a piece and gave it to mom ...

Galya Vishnevskaya. By the beginning of the war she is 15 years old. She spent all 900 days of the blockade in Leningrad.
She lived with her grandmother, her mother was not around - she left her when Galya was not even a year old, and her father and his new wife managed to escape from the besieged city.

She survived, but lost her grandmother:
- I didn’t even suffer from hunger, but just quietly weakened and slept more and more. Tormented only by the eternal feeling of cold, when nothing can keep warm ...
It is difficult to describe the state of a person in blockade. In my opinion, it is simply impossible to find the right words ... It seems to me that so far no one has described the horror that was during the blockade. It is not enough to be a witness and experience it, you also need to have an incredible gift to tell how a person loses his human face.

I was half asleep. Swollen from hunger, she sat alone, wrapped in blankets, in an empty apartment and dreamed ... Not about food. Castles, knights, kings floated before me. Here I am walking through the park in a beautiful dress with crinolines, like Milica Corjus in the American movie "The Big Waltz"; a handsome duke appears, he falls in love with me, he marries me ... And, of course, I sing - like she did in that film (I watched it twenty times before the war) ...

By the way, the unattainable Militsa Korjus from "The Big Waltz", whom little Galya was raving about, was closer than she seemed.
She spent all her childhood in Moscow, studied at the gymnasium in Lyalin Lane, and she got her name in honor of Grand Duchess Militsa Nikolaevna - the wife of the brother of Emperor Nicholas II. The rest of her four sisters wore Slavic names- Nina, Tamara, Anna, Tatiana. There was also brother Nikolai.
All six of the Koryus children were baptized into Orthodoxy.

Here they are in the photo in 1914: first row (from left to right) - Militsa, Tanya, Anya; second row - Nina, Tamara, Nikolay.
Militsa's mother and sister Tamara died of hunger in the besieged Leningrad.

Ilya Reznik. By the beginning of the war - 3 years:
- Dad died in 1944, in 1941-1942, my grandparents and I survived the Leningrad blockade.
Then the evacuation was to Sverdlovsk - in 43-44, then they returned back ...

Mom refused me: she got married a second time and gave birth to triplets - a tragic story for me, a little one ... When in the second grade my friend Eric and I were walking along Kovensky lane, I saw my mother in front - in the distance, on the sidewalk: she was driving a stroller, in which lay Vera and Marina, two girls, and the housekeeper rolled the second, with little Vovka. Naturally, I rushed to meet my mother, because I hadn’t seen my mother for a long time: she no longer lived with us, but my mother, noticing me, abruptly crossed over to the other side ...

One of the famous episodes of the blockade newsreels - children on stone steps: a terribly thin boy with a book and a sleeping second. It's even incomprehensible - a boy or a girl ...
This is how, by chance, two brothers got into the frame - Lenya and Vitya Kharitonov, both future artists. Lena is 11 years old there, Vita is 4 years old.

According to Viti's recollections, his brother got a stomach ulcer then, during the blockade, when he had to eat soap from hunger. In the film "Soldier Ivan Brovkin" Leonid played just during an exacerbation of peptic ulcer disease, many scenes had to be re-shot because of his constantly red eyes ...

Ilya Glazunov with his mother Olga Konstantinovna.

He lost all his relatives who lived in the same apartment in besieged Leningrad.
They died in front of the boy: in January-February 1942 - uncle, then dad, grandmother, aunt. Mom died in April 1942.
Ilya, at the age of 11, was taken out of the besieged city through Ladoga along the "Road of Life".

Lena Obraztsova. By the beginning of the blockade - 2 years:
- I remember air raids, bomb shelters, queues for bread in a 40-degree frost, a hospital under the window, where corpses were taken, terrible hunger, when they cooked and ate everything that was made of natural leather.

At the same time, Lena's grandmother, receiving 100 grams of bread per day, managed to keep Kenka the cat in the besieged city.
They were evacuated across Lake Ladoga to the Vologda Oblast only in the spring of 1942.

Joseph Brodsky. Born in 1940, by the beginning of the war he was a year and a month:
- Mother drags me on a sled through the streets covered with snow. Evening, beams of searchlights sweep across the sky. My mother drags me past an empty bakery. It is near the Transfiguration Cathedral, not far from our house. This is childhood ...
Evacuated in April 1942.

Valya Leontyeva (first in the photo). By the beginning of the war - 17 years old.

During the blockade, Valya and her sister enrolled in an air defense unit, but soon the city began to lack food, and their 60-year-old father became a donor in order to receive additional rations for their daughters. Once, during the parsing of furniture for firewood, Mikhail Leontyev injured his hand, and he began to get blood poisoning. The girls took him to the hospital, but he died there. Not from infection, but from hungry psychosis.

Valentina Leontyeva told about that time:
- In 1942, the Road to Life was opened, and we managed to leave. Me, mother and sister Lucy got out. Mom saved us, forcing us to smoke so that we would less want to eat, but Lyusin's son, whom she gave birth to at the beginning of the war, died on the road, his sister was not even allowed to bury him. She buried the baby's body in a nearby snowdrift ...

Larisa Luzhina with her mother Evgenia Adolfovna and grandmother. By the beginning of the blockade - 2 years.

Larisa and her mother survived the blockade: when the Road of Life was opened, they were evacuated along Ladoga to the city of Leninsk-Kuznetskiy, Kemerovo Region. The elder six-year-old sister and the father who returned from the front after being wounded died of hunger, the grandmother died from a shell fragment.

Kira Kreilis-Petrova (pictured the smallest in the center). In 1941 she was 10 years old.

It is believed that comedians in ordinary life- gloomy and boring. But I'm not like that at all. I love to make you laugh. Even in besieged Leningrad, in a bomb shelter, trying to calm down the kids roaring with fear, she drew a mustache with soot and sang: "Peas are falling from above, if only Hitler would soon die!"

Mom was offered to evacuate on the last barge, but she refused: "The war will not end today tomorrow." And all eight hundred and seventy-two days of the blockade, we remained in Leningrad. We are me, mother Ekaterina Nikolaevna and older sister Nadia. Father Alexander Nikolaevich was at the front.

From Kira's interview to 7 Days magazine:

“There are few witnesses of those events, and it is more important than ever that every voice is heard.
But the blockade is attacked from all sides, accused of lying. We agreed to the point that Leningrad should have been surrendered, and all our torment was in vain. But the blockades by their very lives brought the victory closer. To be able to remain human in inhuman conditions is already a feat. And how many people found the strength to help their neighbors!
That got to Daniil Granin, who wrote about how the Soviet chiefs were fattening at that time. Already during the blockade, there was talk that the secretary of the Leningrad regional committee Zhdanov was baked with rum women and brought peaches and he ate so much that he ran down the Smolny corridor, hoping to lose weight. The truth must be told about the war, only in this case it will not happen again. Therefore, I will tell everything as I remember myself.

The blockade is not only a constant, every second, rending feeling of hunger. It is also anesthesia for someone else's grief. I was friends with the neighbors' children, Lyusya and Kolya. Their father once collected family cards, bought them all at once, and at home he spread the food on the table and ate every last crumb in front of his wife and children. The death of this family engraved in the memory with vivid shots, as if from a newsreel. Their windows were almost level with the ground, I often looked there. Click: the father, who has fallen into madness, is hunched over in front of the stove, collecting lice from his clothes. He died first. Click: Kolka lies at the corpse of his mother, holding out his hands, as if in a plea for help. Click: Lucy stands, pressed against the window pane, and suddenly grabs and stuffs a dead fly into her mouth. They took her to the orphanage, gave her rations, but did not keep track of her. She ate everything at once and died immediately.

I remember the siege spirit - the smell of death. You can't get rid of it by pinching your nose, it seeped under the skin ... An old teacher Serafima Antonovna lived behind our wall with her son Boris. He worked as a railway worker, they were not taken to the front. Already in the winter of 1941, mother and son were so exhausted that they fell ill. One day, Borin's young wife Vera announced that they were moving. The door was boarded. Several days have passed, mom hears a thud on the wall. He says to his sister: "Let's go and see, I think there is someone there." They tore off the boards, entered ... Lord! Both Boris and Serafima Antonovna ended up in the apartment. Exhausted, they lay in icy feces - stood terrible frosts, all in huge white lice. But both were still alive!

The old woman said that her daughter-in-law had stolen their cards and fled. Mom brought them soup: that's what we called duranda - brown dried pieces of cake that were soaked in salt water. I remember when they put the plate on a chair by the bed and spilled a little, Serafima Antonovna screamed so terribly ... Borya died almost immediately, we wrapped him in a sheet and dragged him down the stairs. And the old woman still lived, she even wrote a will. I told my mother:
- I will bequeath to you all our goods. So that Verka doesn't get it.
- Why? - Mom was sincerely surprised. - We ourselves will soon die.

But she would not have taken it anyway, she believed that she had no right to do so. She was principled, with character. I helped people. Once we were walking down the street, a woman fell in front of us and could not get up. We asked where she lives, grabbed her by the arms, brought her, and handed her over to her family. Many people helped. But there were also those who crossed a certain internal barrier and ceased to be human.

Until now, I can not forget the terrible carnivorous looks that I caught on myself. I was always strong, ruddy, as a child I was even called Tomato. One evening I just went home - there was a knock on the door. I look through the hole, and there is an eye. Creepy, crazy. I hid, and the man began to fight with a dull cry "Open, open!" Apparently tracked down on the street. Mom was about to return, and what scared me most was that she would run into him. Fortunately, nothing happened. But one day, going to the bakery, I saw a dead woman on the road. When I returned, someone had already cut off pieces of flesh from the unfortunate woman.

They were buried then at the cemetery in memory of the victims of the Ninth of January. At the exit, the soldiers pierced the sled with bayonets. If they found meat, they shot it on the spot. Cannibals were destroyed without trial or investigation. How did we manage to survive? "

On the picture: Shooting of the film "Forest", 1980. Kira Kreilis-Petrova (Ulita), Vladimir Ilyin (film operator), Stanislav Sadalsky (Bulanov), Lyudmila Tselikovskaya (Gurmyzhskaya), Vladimir Motyl (film director).

On the anniversary of the lifting of the blockade of Leningrad.