Blockade Leningrad. The road of life across Lake Ladoga: the history of the Great Patriotic War. Besieged Leningrad Reduction of street deaths

summary other presentations

“Leningrad during the war years” - They even tried to leave a small piece of bread for a long time. The Nazi army rushed to Moscow, sweeping away everything in its path. All Leningraders rose to defend the city. The whole country, young and old, stood up to defend the Motherland. Victory Square. People were buried in mass graves. Millions of people rushed to the front to fight the enemies. The blockade lasted 900 days and nights. Dystrophy spread in the city, people fainted from hunger.

"Petersburg - Hero City" - Piskarevskoe cemetery. They worked in every way. Leningrad was awarded the title of "Hero City" for courage and heroism. During the blockade, people experienced terrible hunger. Why Leningrad was awarded the title of Hero City. A few months after the start of the blockade, people began to die. The inhabitants of this city should, should have died. Numerous memorials. Leningrad as one of the first objects of attack.

"Time of the Siege of Leningrad" - Meet the quivering spring, people of the Earth. Leningrad blockade. In January 1943, the blockade was broken by Soviet troops. The city lived and fought. Starvation. Carry the dream through the years and fill it with life. Piskarevsky cemetery. 2 million 544 thousand people. Air raid alert. Many children survived. The country is proud of you. Breaking the blockade. The most terrible siege of the city in the military history of mankind.

"The diary of Tanya Savicheva" - Recording the letter "m". Only Tanya remained. Brother Leonid (Lyoka). Write on the letter "g". Grandma Evdokia. Grave of Tanya Savicheva. Write on the letter "v". Notebook. Mother. Well, what about Tanya? Write on the letter "b". Diary of Tanya Savicheva. A monument has been erected. Granite monument with bronze bas-relief. Blockade diary of Tanya Savicheva. Tanya Savicheva. Recorded with the letter "L". Myths about Tanya Savicheva. Zhenya's older sister.

"Leningrad 1941-1944" - Monument to the children of besieged Leningrad (Yaroslavl). By November 17, the thickness of the ice reached 100 mm, which was not enough to open the movement. Removing the blockade. K.E. Voroshilov. Encirclement of Leningrad. In Yaroslavl, a monument to the victims of the besieged Leningrad. "City - Hero". City during the Blockade. Monuments. It was Kosygin who organized the movement on the "Road of Life" and settled the differences between the civil and military authorities.

"Children in the blockade of Leningrad" - All the defenders of Leningrad swore not to surrender. Goals. Children of besieged Leningrad. Sister Zhenya died right at the factory. It is necessary to remember those children who dressed their relatives with their own hands. Twelve-year-old Leningrader Tanya Savicheva began to keep her diary. Today, on the road of life stands the monument "Flower of Life". People of Leningrad. Dedicated to the young defenders of the city on the Neva. Even in those terrible war days, children went to school and studied.

Besieged Leningrad: photo chronicle

The blockade of Leningrad lasted from September 8, 1941 to January 27, 1944 - 872 days. By the beginning of the blockade, the city had only inadequate supplies of food and fuel. The only way to communicate with besieged Leningrad was Lake Ladoga, which was within the reach of the besiegers' artillery. The capacity of this transport artery was inadequate for the needs of the city. The famine that began in the city, aggravated by problems with heating and transport, led to hundreds of thousands of deaths among residents. According to various estimates, from 300 thousand to 1.5 million people died during the years of the blockade. The number of 632 thousand people appeared at the Nuremberg Trials. Only 3% of them died from bombing and shelling, the remaining 97% died of starvation. Photos of Leningrad S.I. Petrova, who survived the blockade. Made in May 1941, May 1942 and October 1942 respectively:

"The Bronze Horseman" in blockade vestments.

The windows were sealed crosswise with paper so that they would not crack from explosions.

Palace Square

Harvesting cabbage at St. Isaac's Cathedral

Shelling. September 1941

Training sessions of the "fighters" of the self-defense group of the Leningrad orphanage No. 17.

New Year in the surgical department of the City Children's Hospital named after Dr. Rauchfus

Nevsky Prospekt in winter. The building with a hole in the wall is Engelhardt's house, Nevsky Prospekt, 30. The breach is the result of a German air bomb hit.

A battery of anti-aircraft guns at St. Isaac's Cathedral is firing, reflecting a night raid by German aircraft.

At the places where the inhabitants took water, huge ice slides formed from the water splashed in the cold. These slides were a serious obstacle for people weakened by hunger.

Turner of the 3rd category Vera Tikhova, whose father and two brothers went to the front

Trucks take people out of Leningrad. "The road of life" - the only way to the besieged city for its supply, passed through Lake Ladoga

Music teacher Nina Mikhailovna Nikitina and her children Misha and Natasha share the blockade ration. They talked about the special attitude of the blockade to bread and other food after the war. They always ate everything clean, leaving not a single crumb. A refrigerator full of food to capacity was also the norm for them.

Bread card of the blockade. In the most terrible period of the winter of 1941-42 (the temperature dropped below 30 degrees), 250 g of bread was given out per day for a manual worker and 150 g for everyone else.

Starving Leningraders are trying to get meat by butchering the corpse of a dead horse. One of the worst pages of the blockade is cannibalism. More than 2 thousand people were convicted for cannibalism and related murders in besieged Leningrad. In most cases, cannibals were expected to be shot.

Barrage balloons. Balloons on cables that prevented enemy aircraft from flying low. Balloons were filled with gas from gas holders

Transportation of a gas tank at the corner of Ligovsky Prospekt and Razyezzhaya Street, 1943

Residents of besieged Leningrad collect water that appeared after shelling in holes in the asphalt on Nevsky Prospekt

In a bomb shelter during an air raid

Schoolgirls Valya Ivanova and Valya Ignatovich put out two incendiary bombs that fell into the attic of their house.

Victim of German shelling on Nevsky Prospekt.

Firefighters wash off the blood of Leningraders killed in German shelling from the asphalt on Nevsky Prospekt.

Tanya Savicheva is a Leningrad schoolgirl who, from the beginning of the blockade of Leningrad, began to keep a diary in a notebook. In this diary, which has become one of the symbols of the Leningrad blockade, there are only 9 pages, and six of them contain the dates of the death of loved ones. 1) December 28, 1941. Zhenya died at 12 o'clock in the morning. 2) Grandmother died on January 25, 1942, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. 3) Lyoka died on March 17 at 5 o'clock in the morning. 4) Uncle Vasya died on April 13 at 2 am. 5) Uncle Lyosha May 10 at 4 pm. 6) Mom - May 13 at 730 in the morning. 7) The Savichevs are dead. 8) Everyone died. 9) Only Tanya is left. In early March 1944, Tanya was sent to the Ponetaevsky Home for the Invalids in the village of Ponetaevka, 25 kilometers from Krasny Bor, where she died on July 1, 1944 at the age of 14 and a half from intestinal tuberculosis, blinded shortly before her death.

On August 9, 1942, in besieged Leningrad, Shostakovich's 7th symphony, "Leningradskaya", was performed for the first time. The Philharmonic hall was full. The audience was very diverse. The concert was attended by sailors, armed infantrymen, air defense fighters dressed in sweatshirts, emaciated patrons of the Philharmonic. The performance of the symphony lasted 80 minutes. All this time, the enemy’s guns were silent: the artillerymen defending the city received an order to suppress the fire of German guns at all costs. The new work of Shostakovich shocked the audience: many of them cried, not hiding their tears. During the performance, the symphony was broadcast on the radio, as well as on the loudspeakers of the city network.

Dmitri Shostakovich in a fire suit. During the blockade in Leningrad, Shostakovich, together with the students, went out of town to dig trenches, was on duty on the roof of the conservatory during the bombing, and when the roar of the bombs subsided, he again began to compose a symphony. Subsequently, having learned about Shostakovich’s duties, Boris Filippov, who headed the House of Art Workers in Moscow, expressed doubts about whether the composer should have risked himself like that - “because it could deprive us of the Seventh Symphony,” and heard in response: “Or maybe it’s otherwise and this symphony would not have existed. All this had to be felt and experienced. "

Residents of besieged Leningrad cleaning the streets from snow.

Anti-aircraft gunners with an apparatus for "listening" to the sky.

On the last journey. Nevsky Avenue. Spring 1942

After the shelling.

On the construction of an anti-tank ditch

On Nevsky Prospekt near the Khudozhestvenny cinema. A cinema under the same name still exists on Nevsky Prospekt, 67.

The need to build a new road to Leningrad arose after the blockade around the city closed. The only possibility was to use Lake Ladoga for these purposes. After the onset of cold weather, a complex transport highway was laid right on the ice, the configuration of which changed depending on the conditions. People called it the Road of Life.

The road of life of besieged Leningrad

In terms of attacking Soviet Union Hitler assigned a special place to the capture and destruction of Leningrad. The fall of this historic capital and cradle of the revolution should have preceded the complete defeat of Moscow. Leningrad and Moscow were undoubtedly important strategic points and transport hubs. But even more important was their role in the minds of Soviet citizens. For Hitler, the paramount moment was to undermine the morale of the defenders. Like no one else, he knew how important it was to either inspire or demoralize the crowd.

Therefore, the army group "North" under the command of Fedor von Bock received an order to destroy Leningrad. Initially, it was assumed that the city would be taken immediately, using the blitzkrieg technique. But by the time the troops of the German army approached the intended goal, it had already become clear that a blitzkrieg was not possible on Soviet territory. The military leaders were against a direct assault on the fortified city. So the blockade of Leningrad was proposed. Instead of suffering the inevitable human losses during the assault, the Germans decided to starve the city to death. Constantly watering it with generous artillery fire.

Cars take people out of besieged Leningrad along the "Road of Life".

At first, roads and railways were cut off. And on September 8, 1941, after the capture of Shlisselburg, the history of the besieged Leningrad began - one of the most tragic in the Great Patriotic War. The only communication with the outside world for Leningraders was only the road, which began on the shores of Lake Ladoga. This thin thread, which the defenders of Leningrad managed to stretch at the cost of incredible efforts, gave life and hope.

The road of life through Lake Ladoga

When the blockade ring closed, the only way to communicate with besieged Leningrad remained - through Lake Ladoga, the coast of which during the Great Patriotic War continued to be controlled by the Soviet army. This lake was very difficult to navigate. Unexpected squally gusts of wind often hit the ships. Therefore, the coast was not equipped with any moorings or piers.

The first delivered cargoes were dumped directly on the wild coast. At the same time, work was urgently carried out to deepen the bottom and equip the harbor. Dugouts were dug on the shore and warehouses were equipped. Telephone and telegraph cables were laid under water. From the coast to the nearest line railway laid a narrow gauge railway.

Already on September 12, just four days after the start of the blockade of Leningrad, the first batch of cargo was delivered across Lake Ladoga. There were 60 tons of various ammunition and 800 tons of food. Leningraders were taken on the return flight. During the autumn navigation, before the ice made it impossible to move around the lake, 33.5 thousand people were evacuated from the city by water. During the same time, 60 thousand tons of cargo were delivered to Leningrad.

In addition to adverse weather conditions, transportation was complicated by constant German air raids. The use of available tugs and barges for delivery was strongly encouraged. However, even the full workload of all ships could not provide food for the encircled city in full. In addition, the task was further complicated by the fact that not only food had to be supplied. Weapons were needed to wage war and defend the city. Therefore, part of the cargo was ammunition.

How the Road of Life was laid

From the very beginning it was clear that the shipping route was a temporary measure. The cold was to come soon. Therefore, ahead of time, employees of the Hydrological Institute and the road department of the Leningrad Front began to design a road that was supposed to be laid directly on the ice of the frozen Lake Ladoga.

In the documents, it was called the military highway No. 101. Heating points were to be located at every fifth kilometer of the route. And the road itself was planned to be 10 meters wide. But in reality, everything was much more complicated than on paper. Despite the fact that the Road of Life passed, as the Leningraders themselves called it, in places of the smallest depths, often the ice broke through, taking not only valuable cargo, but also many human lives.

The length across Ladoga was about 30 kilometers. Tens of thousands of people worked together in this relatively small area under difficult conditions. They were truck drivers and horse-drawn drivers, mechanics who repaired cars, traffic controllers whose task it was to guide drivers along the safest routes. In addition, there were those who directly laid the road. And it was necessary to lay it constantly. Sometimes because the road was covered with snow, sometimes because it was necessary to choose areas with a stronger layer of ice, and sometimes because the road was damaged by German air raids, which were carried out with enviable regularity.

The road of life was constantly being repaired. Divers strengthened it with all possible improvised means, diving under the ice and installing decks and supports there. It was far from being just a wide track laid across the ice. Traffic signs were placed along the road. Medical and heating points were built along the route of the trucks. There were warehouses and bases along the route. Technical assistance stations, workshops and food stations were also equipped. Telephone and telegraph communications passed along the road.

The food situation

Meanwhile, the situation in the city was getting worse. In fact, it reached a critical point, stepped over it and confidently moved on. Food was sorely lacking. At the beginning of the siege, there were approximately 2.9 million people in the city. There were no any significant stocks of food in Leningrad. It functioned at the expense of products supplied from the Leningrad region.

In addition, even the small stocks that were available were destroyed in warehouses during the first shelling. The system of issuing products by cards was introduced immediately. However, the issuance rates were constantly cut. By November 1941, the situation was critical. Bread distribution rates fell below the required physiological minimum. Only 125 grams of bread were given out per day. For workers, the ration was a little more - 200 grams. This is a small piece of bread. And nothing more. By that time, all stocks had long been exhausted. Many have not survived harsh winter 1941.

And do not forget that these 125 grams were not bread made from pure flour, albeit of the lowest grade. Everything that could be edible was added to the bread - food cellulose, cake, wallpaper dust, sacking. There was also the concept of measles flour. It was formed from a sodden, seized and hardened crust, like cement. On the way to Leningrad, many cars sank along with food. Special brigades, under the cover of darkness, searched for these places and, with the help of ropes and hooks, lifted sacks of flour from the bottom. Some part in the very middle could remain dry. And the rest of the flour turned into a hard crust, which was then broken up and added to the blockade bread.

Route to Leningrad

The situation in the city was well known to the drivers of vehicles that delivered tens of tons of various cargoes to the shores of Ladoga in the Leningrad blockade and took evacuees from there. They risked their lives every minute, going out onto the ice of Lake Ladoga. And these are not just big words. In just one day on November 29, 1941, 52 cars went under water. And this is on a stretch of 30 kilometers! Of which the first few kilometers can not even be taken into account - the road there was relatively safe.

On the way, the driver was constantly in danger of going under the ice. Therefore, no one closed the car doors, despite the chill penetrating to the marrow of the bones. So there was a chance to have time to get out of the sinking car. When the situation was especially dangerous (trucks made trips on the already melting ice), the drivers rode all the way on the running board of the car. The thirty-kilometer ice section thus turned into a serious and lengthy test. After all, I had to go at low speed. But almost every driver made two flights a day.

However, the dangers did not end there. The Germans tried to inflict air strikes on the columns during the transport of goods. They aimed both at the trucks themselves and along the route, trying to destroy the track itself. Capricious weather also practically attacked the Ladoga military road. The rising snowstorm quickly leveled the road laid on the ice with the surrounding untouched landscape. There was an extremely great danger of going astray. Many drivers died from the cold, getting lost in a blizzard. To prevent such incidents, many road signs were installed along the route.

Sinking cars on the Road of Life.

blockade winter

In total, Leningraders had to endure three blockade winters. And although it was at this time that the ice road operated best, and a considerable amount of tons of cargo could be delivered along it, it was the winters of the blockade that were the most difficult time for Leningraders. After all, cold was added to the acute problem of malnutrition. There was no central heating, no electricity. Those lucky ones who were able to acquire a potbelly stove, slowly burned everything that could burn in it. In some cases, even furniture and parquet were used.

During the first winter - from December 1941 to February 1942 - a quarter of a million people died in Leningrad. But with the increase in the norms for the issuance of bread, the death rate became less. In order for the delivery of goods to the besieged city to take place more massively and safely, already in the winter of 1942 they began to build an ice railway, which was supposed to pass directly along the lake. However, its construction was not completed, since on January 18, 1943, the blockade of Leningrad was broken, and the need for Lake Ladoga station disappeared.

There was another way, which was called the little road of life. It passed along the surface of the Gulf of Finland. Most of the defenders of Leningrad moved along this small route. This way they got to the defended "patch". Numerous soldiers wounded in battle were also sent back along it.

And when the blockade was broken, another road appeared, which was unofficially called the "Road of Victory". It was built right in the swamps and difficult rough terrain for the rapid evacuation of the population and the transport of the necessary products and ammunition.

"Road of Victory"

Sections of ice roads were calculated and laid based on the data of divers and scientists from the Hydrological Institute. On the operational military map, the Road of Life constantly changed its outlines. Often the reason was that the delivery of goods took place in areas that, due to the bombing, became accident-prone. And the weather kept changing. Temperature changes, underwater currents and other external factors sometimes greatly influenced the entire route, and sometimes only a separate section of the route. Traffic on ice tracks was corrected by traffic controllers. During the first winter alone, the ice road moved completely 4 times. And some sections changed their configuration 12 times.

It is with such changes that the difference in data on the length of the path in historical documents is associated. In addition, the map of military highway No. 101 included the land section to the railway station. Some indicated the full mileage, and some indicated only the section that they called the "Road of Life" on the ice of Lake Ladoga.

Monuments on the Road of Life

Flower of Life;
Katyusha;
broken ring;
Crossing;
Diary of Tanya Savicheva;
Lorry;
Rumbolovskaya mountain.

In addition to them, 102 memorial pillars were installed along the highway and the railway and memorial steles. Some of the stelae are included in the complex of monuments and memorials, and some are installed separately.

Among the memorial structures on the Road of Life, the “one and a half” monument stands out. There simply is no other like it. "Lorry" was popularly called a car with a carrying capacity of one and a half tons. It was on such trucks that people and goods were transported along the Road of Life. In the place of the road, where there were the most massive shellings, a life-sized truck, poured out of bronze, rises today.

Monument "Lorry" on the "Road of Life"

Flower of Life

The road of life passed near Vsevolozhsk. There, on the third kilometer of the memorial route, in 1968 the Flower of Life complex was opened. It is dedicated to the youngest victims of the besieged Leningrad. Indeed, during the years of the blockade, children became not only passive victims of hunger and shelling. To the best of their ability, they helped in the defense of the city, taking on those duties that in other circumstances would have been entrusted only to adults. Schoolchildren extinguished incendiary bombs, stood guard, helped in hospitals and collected raw materials for military needs.

The memorial complex consists of three parts. First, a 15-meter sculpture of a flower appears before the visitor, on the petals of which the words of a popular children's song in the USSR are carved: "Let there always be sunshine" and the image of a pioneer boy. This is followed by the Alley of Friendship, which consists of nine hundred birches - according to the number of blockade days. Scarlet pioneer ties are tied on tree trunks in memory of the dead children. Behind the alley is a mound. It is rare that a mention in the guidebooks of the Road of Life is complete without a photo of this mound. Among other attractions, there is a diary of a girl recreated in stone, who successively entered the dates of death of her family members into a notebook in an incorrect children's handwriting.

Monument "Flower of Life" on the "Road of Life"

broken ring

On the western shore of Lake Ladoga, where the Road of Life began, there is another monument. With severe brevity, he symbolically illustrates Interesting Facts about the road. Two massive half-arches, in the form of a broken ring, seven meters high, remind of the blockade ring. And the rupture of the memorial The torn ring points to the Road of Life. Under the ring towards the descent to the lake, right along the masonry, there is a concrete track from the wheels of the car.

From here, during the years of the blockade, trucks began their journey, delivering a valuable cargo of food and ammunition to the besieged city. Under the imposing monument, the words from a poem by Bronisław Kezhun are carved:

“Descendant, know: in harsh years,

Faithful to the people, duty and Fatherland,

Through the hummocks of the Ladoga ice

From here we led the way of Life,

So that life never dies.

Monument "Broken Ring" on the "Road of Life"

Osinovetsky lighthouse

The road of life is most often associated with trucks on ice and snowstorms. However, when the ice melted, it did not stop functioning. Just in warm weather, the Ladoga flotilla took over the load. Often it was even more difficult and dangerous than driving on ice. The coastline of Lake Ladoga has never favored shipping.

In late spring, summer and early autumn, ships cruising the lake were guided by the light of the Osinovetsky lighthouse, located on the southwestern shore. This lighthouse is still functioning today. Excursions are not carried out there, since the lighthouse is classified as a strategic facility and is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defense.

The construction of the Osinovetsky lighthouse began in 1905. Since then, he has not interrupted his work. The light of the lighthouse indicates the western border of the bay, from which the Neva begins its journey. It rises 74 meters above the lake level, and the light of the lighthouse is visible at a distance of 40 kilometers.

Monument "Osinovetsky Lighthouse" on the "Road of Life"

Due to the fact that the Osinovetsky Lighthouse during the years of the blockade served as an important landmark for ships sailing along the Road of Life, it is classified as a cultural heritage site, although it is not a monument as such.

Katyusha

The road of life was the only link between besieged Leningrad and the rest of the country. The only artery that carried food and ammunition. She was what kept the city alive. The defenders of Leningrad understood this very well, the Leningraders themselves understood this, and the Germans understood this. They desperately tried to cut off this last line of communication in order to finally crush the resistance and destroy the weakened city.

The road of life was under constant fire. To protect against enemy aircraft, the legendary Katyusha installations were used on it. In memory of this, on the site where anti-aircraft units were located during the war years, a monument was erected, reminiscent of these defensive weapons that covered the movement of trucks. It consists of steel beams directed to the sky, each of which is 14 meters long. There are 5 such beams in total. They represent the famous "Katyusha".

Monument "Katyusha" on the "Road of Life"

A poem about the siege of Leningrad

The deep feelings of Leningraders about wartime and the blockade of their native city found their way out in art. Poems dedicated to the Road of Life, paintings, photographs, literary essays - everything that could help express feelings was used. Olga Berggolts, Eduard Asadov, Vera Ibner, Boris Bogdanov, Vsevolod Rozhdestvensky, Vladimir Lifshits are the most famous poets who sang the blockade days in their works. But this list is far from complete.

And even today, seven decades later, this theme continues to inspire poets and words of memory, pain and gratitude harmoniously add up to rhymed lines. Here is an excerpt from a contemporary poem:

Road of Life, dear Ladoga,

Oh, how many you were able to save then!

For our grandfathers, grandmothers, I know

There is no sacred place in the world!

I stand before you on my knees

I stand and look thoughtfully into the distance,

From all post-war generations,

As God, I thank you.

And I know: I still dream at night

To all who survived in that blockade hell,

The flow of cars, a sleepless string,

Carrying bread on the Ladoga ice ....

Natalia Smirnova

"The Bronze Horseman" in blockade vestments.

The windows were sealed crosswise with paper so that they would not crack from explosions.

Palace Square

Harvesting cabbage at St. Isaac's Cathedral

Shelling. September 1941

Training sessions of the "fighters" of the self-defense group of the Leningrad orphanage No. 17.

New Year in the surgical department of the City Children's Hospital named after Dr. Rauchfus

Nevsky Prospekt in winter. Building with a hole in the wall - Engelhardt's house, Nevsky Prospekt, 30. The breach is the result of a German air bomb hit.

A battery of anti-aircraft guns at St. Isaac's Cathedral is firing, reflecting a night raid by German aircraft.

At the places where the inhabitants took water, huge ice slides formed from the water splashed in the cold. These slides were a serious obstacle for people weakened by hunger.

Turner of the 3rd category Vera Tikhova, whose father and two brothers went to the front

Trucks take people out of Leningrad. "Road of Life" - the only way to the besieged city for its supply, passed through Lake Ladoga

Barrage balloons. Balloons on cables that prevented enemy aircraft from flying low. Balloons were filled with gas from gas holders

Transportation of a gas tank at the corner of Ligovsky Prospekt and Razyezzhaya Street, 1943

Residents of besieged Leningrad collect water that appeared after shelling in holes in the asphalt on Nevsky Prospekt

In a bomb shelter during an air raid

Schoolgirls Valya Ivanova and Valya Ignatovich put out two incendiary bombs that fell into the attic of their house.

Victim of German shelling on Nevsky Prospekt.

Firefighters wash off the blood of Leningraders killed in German shelling from the asphalt on Nevsky Prospekt.

On August 9, 1942, in besieged Leningrad, Shostakovich's 7th symphony, "Leningradskaya", was performed for the first time. The Philharmonic hall was full. The audience was very diverse. The concert was attended by sailors, armed infantrymen, air defense fighters dressed in sweatshirts, emaciated patrons of the Philharmonic. The performance of the symphony lasted 80 minutes. All this time, the enemy's guns were silent: the artillerymen defending the city received an order to suppress the fire of German guns at all costs. The new work of Shostakovich shocked the audience: many of them cried, not hiding their tears. During the performance, the symphony was broadcast on the radio, as well as on the loudspeakers of the city network.

Dmitri Shostakovich in a fire suit. During the blockade in Leningrad, Shostakovich, together with the students, went out of town to dig trenches, was on duty on the roof of the conservatory during the bombing, and when the roar of the bombs subsided, he again began to compose a symphony. Subsequently, having learned about Shostakovich's duties, Boris Filippov, who headed the House of Art Workers in Moscow, expressed doubts about whether the composer should have risked himself like that - "because it could deprive us of the Seventh Symphony", and heard in response: "Or maybe otherwise this symphony would not have existed. All this had to be felt and experienced. "

Residents of besieged Leningrad cleaning the streets from snow.

Anti-aircraft gunners with an apparatus for "listening" to the sky.

On the last journey. Nevsky Avenue. Spring 1942

After the shelling.

On the construction of an anti-tank ditch

On Nevsky Prospekt near the Khudozhestvenny cinema. A cinema under the same name still exists on Nevsky Prospekt, 67.