Today is a very important day in Russia's history. On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Russians commemorate this day every year with wreath lying ceremonies and by placing flowers at grave sites. To coincide with the anniversary of the start of the war for the Soviet Union, we took a bus tour on the Blockade of Leningrad.
In order to describe the impact of the tour and the immense significance of this day, I will provide everyone with a mini lesson in Russian history. Get excited!
St. Petersburg was renamed Leningrad in 1924 after the death of Lenin, and the name remained until 1991. Russians refer to World War II as the Great Patriotic War because of the casualties and sacrifices that the country suffered.
The siege of the city began on September 8, 1941. In between the start of the war and the beginning of the siege, some people were evacuated. To preserve the history and culture of the city, many of the artifacts were either evacuated or buried. The statue of Peter the Great was covered with sand and wood; statues in the Summer Garden were buried in the ground; the spire of the Peter and Paul Fortress was covered with a camouflage. In less than two months, staff and volunteers at the Hermitage packed up over a million works of art and secretly shipped the items out of the city. There lies some irony in the story of the Hermitage items. During the war, the items were safely stored in Ekaterinburg. Ekaterinburg is the infamous city where the last tsar of Russia and his family were executed. Some of the items were even stored in the same house in which the family was killed. Irony: in order to survive, the treasures of the Romanov family were taken to the exact same spot where the dynasty was destroyed. So as the history and culture of Leningrad was being evacuated and protected, refugees from the east were pouring into the city. And then the siege began.
The Blockade of Leningrad lasted 872 days. The city invoked a ration system, pets were used as food, leather was boiled, and some citizens eventually took to cannibalism. At its lowest point, one ration consisted of a 5 ounce piece of bread. But this bread was not ordinary bread, for over half of it consisted of other substances like sawdust or glue. It is estimated that about 632,000 people died during the blockade.
The Nazis bombarded the city with shells. One in seven buildings were destroyed. Hitler ordered all landmarks and cultural buildings to be destroyed, because they would weaken the people's spirit. His goal was to wipe out the entire city through bombardment and starvation.
However, Leningrad survived the siege and the people never surrendered. The army held the city and no foreign forces ever made it inside. On the tour, we saw the Astoria Hotel, where Hitler had dinner invitations printed for in order to celebrate the invasion of Leningrad. Fortunately, his party never took place.
The final stop on our bus tour was the Piskariovskoye Memorial Cemetery. It serves as a reminder of the scale of the tragedy that took place in Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War. There are roughly 420,000 civilians and 70,000 soldiers buried in the 186 mass graves located at the cemetery. In addition, there is an eternal flame to remember those who lost their lives. It is a somber experience to stand in the cemetery and gaze around you at the expansive grounds. However, the cemetery was very peaceful. Flowers were laid all over and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7 was playing throughout the fields. A part of his symphony was written in Leningrad during the siege and is dedicated to the city of Leningrad.
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| Eternal Flame and small part of the grounds |
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| Some of the wreaths from the ceremony held earlier in the day |
This is awesome Katelyn! Love it!
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