Siege of Leningrad
Carmellitta Le
Background
Hardships
Cannibalism and Starvation
Winter
Bombardment
Journal #1: Hardships or Hunger
During the Siege of Leningrad, Lev and Kolya went through many hardships. Lev would eat bread made of sawdust (Pg 11) , and with the food Kolya had eaten had made him constipated for eight days (Pg 23). They traveled for a long time, until they came across the boy who had the chicken, but then they realized it was a rooster. (pg 93) They thought they were through, that they could go back, only to realize they still needed to continue. When the Germans were coming, they had to come up with a strategy to infiltrate them and make them think they were captured. Hiking for days and being treated terribly by the Germans (Pg 184). Then playing chess against Abenroth to see if they would live or die, and trying to complete their plan to kill him, to escape with the eggs and their lives, which almost went wrong (pg 230-231). Throughout their entire journey, trekking through the deep snow, and coming across obstacles along the way. They encountered physical and emotional challenges, like the sheepdog they knew it was a suicide dog, and Koyla killed it to put it out of its misery (pg 112).
Before the War - Real Historical from the Novel
During the War
With the Siege happening during a harsh, freezing winter people would tear the wood from places, and use it for a fire to keep themselves warm (pg 7). People were so hungry, they were cooking their own pets to stay alive.
With the shortage of food, peoples ration cards were cut. Barely any food was getting into Leningrad (pg 8). The Germans, wanted to starve, burn, or bomb the people out of Piter. It was said that the people were too hungry to even be happy (pg 8). Death was a good thing for people, they stopped worrying, stopped taking vitamin pills. To them death was the only way out of a terrible situation. People were desperate for cigarettes so they would use leaves or other substances as a substitute. Such as leaves, they weren't the real thing but they were something (pg 10). Bakers found a way to incorporate sawdust into the ration bread as a substitute for flour (pg 11). People would do whatever they could to eat, cannibals would lure people into their homes and try to kill them for meat. You were lucky if you made it out alive (Pg 59). Piter didn't have the very best guards by the entrance, resulting in them shooting Kolya, before giving off any warning shots (pg 244).
Post War
After the Siege of Leningrad, most things returned back but somethings never went away. Some people would say the water still tasted like corpses. But now there were boys running home from school again, with their backpacks. Learning just like before the siege. Restaurants had reopened, although many people did not have money to go and spend. Even though some things went back to normal, the economy still suffered. The musical arts wasn't that bad, people were going to see plays again (pg 256). While during the siege people were starving, after without the Germans blocking off their incoming resources, people bulked up, because there wasn't as much of a food shortage (pg 257).
Journal #2 - Emotional & Physical Challenges
The Siege of Leningrad brought on a lot of struggles for both sides fighting. Happening during the winter months, made it harsher for a lot of people to try to survive. Out in the streets or in damaged buildings, you would find corpse upon corpses and would simply have to walk past without a second thought. Constant bombardment by the Germans didn't make things better either. Building were being wrecked, Russians were being captured for work. Jews were put in a secluded place, only to be killed while trying to escape, or they were too weak. War was a horrible thing, and with it brought a bunch of emotional and physical challenges on the people.
Throughout the book there were a lot of physical and emotional challenges Lev and Kolya faced. Along their journey to find eggs, they came across a massive pile of half alive dogs. Kolya spotted one that was trying to crawl away although there was no hope. It pained them to see it in so much pain and knowing that those dogs were starved so that they would be better during combat. They watched it for a bit until they decided to put it out of its misery. A difficult task for anyone to do. After the dog, they stumbled upon a house filled with girls, later finding out that the house was a house of girls kept for the German's pleasure. They were told the story about Zoya the 14 year old girl. She faced many emotional and physical challenges which caused her to try to run away only to get caught and have her feet chopped off. This cause anger in Lev, he was mad about what the Germans were doing to innocent people. After taking down a couple German soldiers Lev, Koyla, and Vika found their way into a German camp. Making a deal with Abernoth, stating that if Lev beats him they are set free. The emotional challenge was a constant what should he do next, if he screwed up one time would they all die. Then came the choice of when to kill Abenroth, when Lev ended up trying it almost went horrible. He was pinned down and he had to use his strength to get free and end it.
War was a traumatic experience for most people, and it would be highly unlikely for someone to not face any emotional or physical challenges. Like the loss of a family member, or starving, or trying to use any energy you have left to escape. With everything going on around you, it was likely much of your family would not survive or be too weak, and families would have to make the decision to let them go as to not slow them down.
Journal #3 - Essential Questions
War can play a lot of different roles in creating or destroying national identities. If a specific nation is attacking another less powerful nation, they're deemed as the bad guys even though they had the right to in the first place. But they also gain the identity, that they are strong and undefeatable. It can also be seen in a different perspective, if you are perceived as a big, powerful country and you lose to other countries, it instantly destroys your national identity. Although it destroys the victim nation's identity, it creates a new better once for the country that won. However path that war goes, it will destroys one nation's identity while boosting the victorious nation's identity and how they are perceived.