Siege of Leningrad
Zach Millette
Background
The siege of Leningrad was a battle that began on September 8, 1941 lasted two and a half years and killed some 1,000,000 residents of Leningrad (St. Petersburg.) The Germans cut off all entrances to Leningrad so that food and supplies could not be given to the residents. This led to starvation and in the Winter freezing to death and dehydration because all of the water sources would freeze. In order to stay alive many people had to eat animals like dogs, cats, horses, and rats which was not pleasant. Some people even had to resort to cannibalism and had to eat deceased humans. To add on to all the problems the German army was also bombing the city of Leningrad and the streets were filled with dead bodies. Finally in January 1944 the Russians pushed the Germans back far enough that the siege was over.
Hardships
Winter
Starvation
Bombardment
Journal #1: Hardships or Hunger
Since the Germans were surrounding the city of Leningrad the residents could not get food so they became desperate and had to eat abnormal things. They had to eat animals they could find including horses, dogs, cats, pigeons, and rats. "You would hear a rumor in October that someone had roasted the family mutt and split it four ways for supper" (page 7.) Other things that were also edible but not very appetizing were something to eat like sometimes sawdust, library candies, and ration bread. "It was impossible to take pleasure chewing the stuff, but it was something to eat, something to get the blood moving" (page 73.)
City of St. Petersburg also known as Piter
Before the war
During the war
Living in Leningrad during the war was hell there was little food, water, and warmth in the winter. Another thing is the Germans were bombing the city all throughout the siege "We hadn't heard a bomber passing overhead for close to an hour" (pg 12.)
Post war
Journal #2 - Emotional & Physical Challenges
When fighting/playing chess with Abenroth it was both emotionally and physically challenging. Lev was only a "boy" so it was a lot more challenging for Lev then it would've been for some people.It was emotionally hard to decide whether he would attack or not. It was also a good game of chess so he had to make sure he played well which is an emotional challenge. Physically it was challenging to fight Abenroth because Abenroth was a trained killer and Lev was just a boy. It was also a challenge to lose part of his finger in order to save Vika because he got shot.
The story of Zoya is extremely emotionally challenging but it was also physically challenging. It physically made them sick which was challenging because they couldn't afford to get sick. It was so emotionally challenging because it was a story of an innocent little girl being tortured and killed which would be an emotional challenge for almost anybody.
The story of the sheepdog was an emotional challenge for Kolya especially because he was writing the Courtyard Hound and in the Courtyard Hound the Hound dies and he has to kill the sheepdog which is very sad and emotional. It was physically challenging because it was very cold outside, they were tired, and they were hungry but they too their time to help the sheepdog and put it out of its misery.
journal #3 - Essential Question
What role does war play in creating and destroying national identities? Abenroth states: "Don't bother. You passed Kuefer's test, good, I respect that. You are survivors. But I am not a stupid man. One of you is a Jew posing as a gentile; one is a girl posing as a boy;all of you, I assume are literates posing as illiterate. And despite the attentions of our vigilant mountain rangers and the esteemed Obersturmfurhrer Kuefer, all these ruses have succeeded." - Excerpt from City of Thieves. During the war you wouldn't want to be found as yourself most of the time because if you were a Jew they would take you. You had to come up with a secret identity so that people would think that you were one of them so sometimes you would become so used to being your second identity that other people would see you as that person. They wouldn't know the real you and it would all matter to where you were from so some people didn't have to worry but a lot of them had to.