Siege of Leningrad
Background Activity - Logan Taylor
German Aggresssion
Cite and describe how Lev witnessed aircraft attack the city.
Lev is a seventeen year old Jew living in Germany during World War 2. He was a fireman in a building called the Kirov. His family had already felt north from the city, so he stayed behind with some of his friends in the fire brigade. He was there for so long that he could tell the planes by the sound of the engines. He
HARDSHIPS
City of Leningrad
Pre War
According to Lev, his hometown is often fondly referred to Piter, a city that had no shortages, so much food that it would have been considered a feast, but food quickly became scarce and cigarettes had run out by December, only six months later. Piter was a proud city, A place that had everything it needed, or so they though. Nobody expected this war to be as intense as it was, and hardly anyone was prepared for the fullness of all the hardships that came their way. Many people started eating things that were never meant to be food. Things like books, or wallpaper were made into treats by using the paste or binding as food. The war was devastating for everyone in Lev's beloved city, Leningrad.
During the War
Upon Lev's arrival to the Kirov, he discovers his apartment is destroyed. "We had just turned the corner into Voinova and I raised my hand to point out the Kirov. I was pointing at nothing, but for a long time I didn't even think to lower my hand. Where the Kirov had stood there was now rubble, a steep hill of broken concrete slabs, a scree of masonry and twisted steel rods and sprays of glass dust glittering in the moonlight" (pg. 68). During the war, many of the fancy buildings, including Lev's home were destroyed.
Post War
After the war, many people were devastated and left with absolutely nothing. Many people, including Lev lost friends or family. A lot of buildings were destroyed during the course of the siege. The whole city was in ruins, and many of the people had died throughout this tragedy. Everybody was suffering from one form of loss of another. This was a horrible time to be in Russia because they lost almost everything, and had to resort to many habits that were unhealthy and immoral in order to survive.
Horrors of War
There were many challenges, both physically and emotionally during World War 1. When Lev and Kolya are walking in the woods to Mga to find eggs, the start hearing some noises, so they adjust their course to see what it was. They try not to break their ankle by twisting them in the deep snow. The cold bites at them trough their clothes as they approach the cause of the horrific sounds. The noises were coming from a clearing that was filled with dead or injured sheepdogs, and tank tracks were present, still fresh in the snow. All the dogs had bomb on their backs, mean for the German tanks, but all the dogs had been shot in the legs or hips so they wouldn't be able to run. Many of the dogs were suffering from their wounds. Kolya and Lev approach one of these maimed dogs, walking across the clearing where innumerable German soldiers could be waiting for people to pass by. Koyla leans down, aware of the dogs' pain and puts it out of its' misery. Koyla loves dogs, but during war, many emotional challenges like this arose at times like this. War presented many occasions for physical and emotional challenges.
Horrors of War 2
According to the scene where Lev and Kolya learn about Zoya, the first physical challenge was Lev and Kolya believing that the girls were cowards because they did not leave the house in the forest. Zoya ran away one day, and was hunted down by the German soldiers. They found her in the woods and brought her back to the house. Zoya was physically challenged when she ran away because the weather was harsh and it was hard to run in the treacherous deep snow. When Zoya was caught, the soldier's leader, a man named Abernoth, had one of the girls give him a saw. That was an emotional challenge for the girl because she now has to live with the thought that she was the one that enabled him to enact his punishment. Abernoth took the saw and sawed off Zoya's feet, which made her scream because of the amount of pain that was brought through the punishment, which was a physical challenge presented to Zoya. listening to this story was an emotional challenge for both Lev and Kolya. They had to hear this sad story of a group of girls that could do nothing to escape. This experience was a very challenging one, both physically and emotionally