872 days the blockade of Leningrad lasted.

The whole country knows the diary of Tanya Savicheva, which contains nine terrible lines. Each is dedicated to the death of one of the loved ones. The last entry: "There is only one left Tanya." Tanya Savicheva herself first became blind, then she went mad from the experience and died in the evacuation. The miserly lines of her diary became the accusatory document at the Nuremberg trial.

During the siege, private cameras were confiscated from the Leningraders, it was forbidden to take any pictures of the besieged city. People who tried to take photographs for themselves were arrested, accused of espionage, and shot (or given time).

On January 27, 1944, Leningrad was completely liberated from the fascists.

There was a boy in front of me, about nine years old, maybe. He was tightened with a handkerchief, then he was tightened with a cotton blanket, the boy stood frozen. Cold. Part of the people left, others replaced others, but the boy did not leave. I ask this boy: "Why do not you go to get warm?" And he: "It's still cold at home." I say: "What are you, do you live alone?" - "No, with my mother." - "So, can not the mother go?" - "No, it can not. She's dead. " I say: "How dead?" - "Mama died, sorry for her. Now I guessed. I now put her in bed only for a day, and at night I put him to the stove. She's still dead. And it's cold from her. "
"Blockade book" Ales Adamovich and Daniil Granin. Authors who became participants of those events. Reading it hard, but I would like everyone to do it ...

From an interview with Danil Granin:
"During the blockade, the marauders were shot on the spot, but also, I know, were let into the consumption of cannibals without trial and effect." Is it possible to condemn those distraught from hunger, who have lost the human face of the unfortunate, whom the language does not turn to call people, and how frequent were the cases , when for the lack of other food they ate their own kind?
"Hunger, I'll tell you, it's holding back the barriers: morality disappears, moral prohibitions go away." Hunger is an incredible feeling, never letting go for a single moment, but to my surprise and Adamovich, working on this book, we realized: Leningrad has not become human, and it's a miracle! Yes, cannibalism took place ...
"... eat children?"

There were worse things.
Hmm, what could be worse? Well, for example?
"I do not even want to talk ..." (Pause). Imagine that one of your own children was fed to another, and there was something that we did not write about. Nobody forbade anything, but ... Could not we ...
Was there an amazing case of survival in the blockade that shook you to the core?
"Yes, the mother fed her children with her blood, cutting her veins."

Pavel Filippovich Gubchevsky, Research Associate of the Hermitage:

What kind of halls were there?
Empty frames! It was the wise order of Orbeli: leave all the frames in place. Thanks to this, the Hermitage restored its exposition eighteen days after the return of the paintings from the evacuation! And they were hanging in the war, empty orbits-frames, on which I spent several excursions.
"The empty frames?"
On the empty frames.

An unknown passer-by is an example of the massive altruism of the blockade.
He was bare in the last days, in extreme circumstances, but that's more true for his nature.
How many of them there were - unknown passers-by! They disappeared, giving life back to man; dragged from the deadly land, disappeared without a trace, even their appearance could not be imprinted in a dim consciousness. It seemed that they, unknown passers-by, had no obligations, no kinship feelings, they did not expect fame or payment. Compassion? But there was death all around, and walked indifferently by the corpses, marveling at their stiffness.
Most say to themselves: the death of the closest, dearest people did not reach the heart, some sort of protective system in the body worked, nothing was perceived, there was no strength to respond on the mountain.

Hospital doctor:

I remember, they brought the twins ... Here's the parents sent them a small transfer: three cookies and three sweets. Sonechka and Seryozhka - those were the names of these children. The boy gave herself and her along the liver, then the cookies were divided in half.

There are crumbs left, he gives crumbs to his sister. And the little sister throws him the following phrase: "Seryozhenka, it's hard for men to endure a war, these crumbs you eat". They were three years old.

Three years?!
"They hardly spoke, yes, three years, such crumbs!" And then the girl was taken away, but the boy remained. I do not know if they survived or not ... "

Amplitude of human passions in the blockade has increased enormously - from the most painful drops to the highest manifestations of consciousness, love, devotion.
"... Among the children with whom I was leaving was the boy of our collaborator - Igor, a charming boy, handsome. His mother was very affectionate, cared for with terrible love. Even in the first evacuation she said: "Maria Vasilievna, you too, give your children goat's milk. I take goat's milk from Igor. " And my children were placed even in another barrack, and I tried not to give anything to them, not a gram in excess of what was prescribed. And then this Igor lost his cards. And already in April I go somehow past the Yeliseyevsky shop (here dystrophics have already started to creep out into the sun) and I see that the boy is a terrible, swollen skeleton. "Igor? What's wrong with you? "I say. "Maria Vasilyevna, my mother threw me out. My mother told me that she will not give me a piece of bread any more. " - "How so? It can not be! "He was in serious condition. We barely climbed up to my fifth floor, I hardly dragged him. By that time my children had already gone to kindergarten and still held on. He was so terrible, so pathetic! And all the time he said: "I do not blame my mother. She does the right thing. It's my fault, I lost my card. " "I'm going to school you, I say," (which was supposed to open). And my son whispers: "Mom, give him what I brought from the kindergarten."
I fed him and went with him to Chekhov Street. We enter. The room has terrible mud. This dystrophized, disheveled woman lies. Seeing her son, she immediately shouted: "Igor, I will not give you a piece of bread. Go away! "There is a stench, dirt, darkness in the room. I say: "What are you doing ?! After all, there are only three or four days left - he will go to school, he will recover. " - "Nothing! You stand on your feet, and I do not stand. I will not give him anything! I'm lying, I'm hungry ... "This is the transformation from a tender mother into such a beast! But Igor did not leave. He stayed with her, and then I found out that he was dead.
A few years later I met her. She was blooming, already healthy. She saw me, rushed to me, screamed: "What have I done!" I told her: "Well now what to say about it!" - "No, I can not any more. All thoughts about him. " After a while she committed suicide. "

The fate of the animals of the besieged Leningrad is also part of the tragedy of the city. Human tragedy. Otherwise, you can not explain why not one or two, but almost every tenth blockade remember, tells about the death of an elephant bomb in a zoo.

"Below, beneath us, in the apartment of the late President, four women, three of his daughters and granddaughter, are struggling for life," GA Knyazev points out. "Their cat is still alive, which they pulled out to save in every alarm."
The other day a friend came to them, a student. I saw the cat and begged to give it to him. He stuck directly: "Give it back, give it back." We barely got rid of him. And his eyes lit up. Poor women were even frightened. Now worried that he will get to them and steal their cat.
O loving woman's heart! The fate of natural motherhood was deprived of the student Nekhoroshev, and she is worn, as with a child, with a cat, Loseva is worn with her dog. Here are two specimens of these rocks on my radius. All the rest have long been eaten! "

AP Grishkevich wrote on March 13 in his diary:
"In one of the orphanages in the Kuibyshev district, the following incident occurred. On March 12, all the staff gathered in the boys' room to watch the fight between the two children. As it turned out later, it was started by them on the "principled boyish question". And before that there were "fights", but only verbal and because of the bread. "
At the helm of Comrade. Vasilyeva says: "This is the most encouraging fact for the past six months. At first the children lay, then they began to argue, after they got up from their beds, and now - an unprecedented thing - are fighting. Previously, I would be dismissed from my job for such a case, right now we, the teachers, stood looking at the fight and were happy. Then our small people have come to life. "

Unplanted and unsung,
the most expensive of expensive,
I know, you will forgive me for this,
you who gave your soul for others.

Eternal Glory to the City, who did not give up! Eternal glory and memory to the defenders and residents of the besieged Leningrad!

FEAT YOUR IMMORTAL!
Unbowed, Hero - Leningrad!