Writing the Siege of Leningrad

by Simmons, Cynthia; Perlina, Nina; Bidlack, Richard

• ISBN13: 9780822941835
• ISBN10: 082294183X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-05-01
• Publisher: Univ of Pittsburgh Pr

Summary

From September 1941 until January 1944, Leningrad suffered under one the worst sieges in the history of warfare. At least one million civilians died, many during the terribly cold first winter. Bearing the brunt of this hardship -- and keeping the city alive through their daily toil and sacrifice -- were the women of Leningrad. Yet their perspective on life during the siege has been little examined.

Cynthia Simmons and Nina Perlina have searched archival holdings for letters and diaries written during the siege, conducted interviews with survivors, and collected poetry, fiction, and retrospective memoirs written by the blokadnitsy (women survivors) to present a truer picture of the city under siege. In simple, direct, even heartbreaking language, these documents tell of lost husbands, mothers, children; meager rations often supplemented with sawdust and other inedible additives; crime, cruelty, and even cannibalism. They also relate unexpected acts of kindness and generosity; attempts to maintain cultural life through musical and dramatic performances; and pr

Author Biography

Cynthia Simmons is associate professor of Slavic studies at Boston College Nina Perlina, who survived the Siege of Leningrad as a young child, is professor of Slavic languages and literatures at Indiana University

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Preface	xxvii
Acknowledgments	xxxv
Chronology of the Siege	xxxviii
Glossary	xli
Table of Rations	xlii
Map: Front Line around Leningrad, 21 September 1941	xliii
Map: Leningrad, with Points of Interest	xliv
Introduction	1	(18)
DIARIES AND LETTERS	19	(58)
Diary of Liubov' Vasil'evna Shaporina, hospital nurse during Siege; later an artist	21	(4)
Diary of Anna Petrovna Ostroumova-Lebedeva, artist	25	(8)
Letter from Leningrad: El'za Greinert to children	33	(4)
Letter from Leningrad: German family remembered	37	(2)
Diary and letters of Evgeniia Shavrova, introduced by her sister, Elena Fassman, librarian	39	(8)
Diary of Vera Sergeevna Kostrovitskaia, ballerina and dance teacher	47	(6)
Diary of Mariia Viacheslavovna Kropacheva, school teacher	53	(5)
Diary of Anna Ivanovna Likhacheva, doctor	58	(4)
Diary of Tamara Petrovna Nekliudova, entertainer at the front	62	(2)
Ol'ga Mikhailovna Freidenberg, classicist scholar, first woman department chair in a Soviet university, The Race of Life	64	(13)
MEMOIRS AND ORAL HISTORIES	77	(98)
Vera Vladimirovna Miliutina, artist, Evacuation and The Scottish Album	79	(8)
Valentina Nikolaevna Gorokhova, doctor, The War, the Blockade, the Military Hospital	87	(8)
Sof'ia Nikolaevna Buriakova, housewife, A Half-Century Ago	95	(9)
Ol'ga Nikolaevna Grechina, literary scholar, ``Saving, I Am Saved''	104	(12)
Interview with Natal'ia Borisovna Rogova, librarian, archivist	116	(4)
Interview with Valentina Fedorovna Petrova, archivist	120	(7)
Oral history of Natal'ia Vladimirovna Stroganova, child during the Siege; later philologist	127	(6)
Interview with Valentina Il'inishna Bushueva, factory worker	133	(8)
Avgusta Mikhailovna Saraeva-Bondar', art historian, Silhouettes of Time	141	(6)
Interview with Kseniia Makianovna Matus, oboist in the Leningrad Symphony	147	(9)
Yuliia Aronovna Mendeleva, doctor, memoir excerpts from The Defense of Leningrad	156	(7)
Lilia Solomonovna Frankfurt, librarian, ``The Saltykov-Shchedrin National Public Library''	163	(7)
Interview with Ol'ga Il'inichna Markhaeva, museum researcher, and Ol'ga Anatol'evna Trapitsina-Matveenko, chemist	170	(5)
DOCUMENTARY PROSE	175	(34)
Elena Oskarovna Martilla, artist, Grave Months for the Blockaded City	177	(6)
Lidiia Samsonovna Razumovskaia, university student, ``To the People''	183	(5)
Irena L'vovna Dubitskaia, Cold Sun: Stories	188	(5)
Liudmila Ivanovna Veshenkova, ``Sweet Earth''	193	(4)
Antonina Emel'ianovna Maslovskaia, ``Blockade Lullaby''	197	(1)
Vera Vladimirovna Miliutina,'artist, ``Vitamins, or Ode to Grass''	198	(3)
Liubov' Borisovna Beregovaia, The Joyous, the Inimitable	201	(8)
Conclusion	209	(4)
Notes	213	(26)
Index	239