The Siege of Leningrad
The Siege of Leningrad is an event that happened during the Second World War in the city of Leningrad. German troops took over the borders of Leningrad, which in Russian society considered as the second most important city in Russia, the city was cut off from any outside help, people were dying one by one. The siege was a cruel event with thousands of dead citizens, and heartbreaking and at the same time one of the most important primary source of the siege is Tanya Savicheva’s diary. Her diary is a very short book, which just tells about her members that died during the siege, however it became a very popular primary source for historians because by reading the diary people can create a picture of how citizens were acting towards the others and their families during the siege. Siege of Leningrad is a tragic event for Russian people, and Tanya Savicheva’s diary gives us great insight into the plight of young children or even people left alone without family during the siege, and what had people felt when they lost their families; moreover, nowadays Russian society has elevated Tanya's diary to a place of great national importance in remembering the tragedy of the Siege of Leningrad.
Since Tanya was a little girl with her family in Leningrad, her diary shows what happened to little kids like her during the siege, what did they feel, when their families and friends were dying one by one. The siege itself was a tragedy, in fact, according to the historian Harrison Salisbury there were up to 1500000 perished during the siege, that means that they were not killed, not shot or bombed, they perished, died from hunger, or from cold, since Russian winter is a struggle for everyone; these facts show how cruel and heartbreaking was that to see how people you love are dying, and moreover, you can die any day, especially when you are just a child. However, blokadniki (that is how people who was in Leningrad at that time are called) in their testimonies were saying that even people who didn’t know each other were trying to help others, and they believed that they would be saved. In her diary Tanya tells when exactly did each one of her family members die, and in the end she just says that every Savichev has died and she is the only one left, which shows how hopeless is her life after her family is dead; it actually happened to any little kid in the city, they lost their families because the city couldn’t stand the blockade. In the article by James Clapperton we can see testimonies of survivors from the siege, where people say that they still believed that help will come and they loved the Soviet Union, that is what they told their kids, so they could believe that there is hope, however even little kids like Tanya had understood that nothing can help them, so she wrote these heartbreaking and hopeless lines in her diary.
The loss of family is always a hard burden, especially for little kids, and Tanya’s diary is a great example of how did she react on death of all her family. Tanya wrote exactly what day and what time had each of her family member passed away, it is hard to imagine how a little girl writes about this horrible things that happened in her life, it seems that it was very important for her to write this information, and when all her family members died, her diary was something like her only support, something that she can rely on, because when people stay alone, especially at the time of the siege of the city during the war, people need something what can unleash their emotions, and it happened with Tanya and her diary: the fact that in the end, after all her family members died, and she stated that in her diary, she started to write such things as all Savichevs died and only Tanya is left, which is representing emotions in that hopeless position, in which Tanya was when she stayed alone. Not just losing ones family caused this; according to survivors’ testimonies, families took care of each other, every family got a little piece of bread for all the members, they were trying to get products or supplies, since the situation was critical, there was need in everything, so staying with your family was really important. Another fact about the importance of the family in the siege is one of the papers in her diary, which says, “all Savichevs died”, Tanya doesn’t say anything about other people of the city, or her friends or anyone else, she just talks about her family, even mentions that all Savichevs died. This shows how important was the family for a little girl in Leningrad, how important was any citizen’s family for themselves as support, and the fact that Tanya just mentions her family members in the Diary justifies the importance of family and how people felt when they lost their families.
Russians elevate Tanya’s Diary to a point that it is a national symbol of memory of the victims of the siege. Russian people are admire of any survivor of the siege of Leningrad, and every year there are events regarding the survivors of the siege, but the most important piece of memory about the siege is Tanya’s diary. The original diary is now situated near Tanya’s grave in St. Petersburg (former Leningrad) and it is considered as a monument for Russians, people come to her grave to commemorate all victims of the siege, parents tell their kids this story about a little girl who lost everything during the siege and little kids, as they grow, understand the importance of the Diary; it is also some kind of a propaganda for Russians, Russian Society elevated the diary to a level of a national “treasure”. It has been made for the new generation in order to understand what did their ancestries go through to gain to this point, and the easiest way to make people understand that, was to associate this diary with all the struggles and victims for the past times, that helped the country earn what it had at that time, so they will realize what that they have to grow up and replace the old generation, and this could be a good inspiration for that, how a little girl that suffered with the whole city.
To conclude, Tanya’s Diary is a representation of a typical Russian girl, who is strong, despite the fact that her family had died and everybody in the city was suffering, she gave us her Diary, which is now a symbol for a new generation; Tanya is a victim of those times, but she helped the next generation to grow up and understand their value. Tanya’s diary also helped us to oversee the siege from a citizen’s perspective, not from a historical or war perspective; it represents human tragedy: with the help of her diary we can observe this event from a social point of view. As a result it became a symbol for the new generation, just as Russian society wanted it to be, the goal was to make the diary, situated near Tanya’s grave, to a place of great national importance, where people always come to in order to commemorate the victims of the siege of Leningrad, and understand what was the “price” that the country paid to approach being a strong and peaceful country.
Since Tanya was a little girl with her family in Leningrad, her diary shows what happened to little kids like her during the siege, what did they feel, when their families and friends were dying one by one. The siege itself was a tragedy, in fact, according to the historian Harrison Salisbury there were up to 1500000 perished during the siege, that means that they were not killed, not shot or bombed, they perished, died from hunger, or from cold, since Russian winter is a struggle for everyone; these facts show how cruel and heartbreaking was that to see how people you love are dying, and moreover, you can die any day, especially when you are just a child. However, blokadniki (that is how people who was in Leningrad at that time are called) in their testimonies were saying that even people who didn’t know each other were trying to help others, and they believed that they would be saved. In her diary Tanya tells when exactly did each one of her family members die, and in the end she just says that every Savichev has died and she is the only one left, which shows how hopeless is her life after her family is dead; it actually happened to any little kid in the city, they lost their families because the city couldn’t stand the blockade. In the article by James Clapperton we can see testimonies of survivors from the siege, where people say that they still believed that help will come and they loved the Soviet Union, that is what they told their kids, so they could believe that there is hope, however even little kids like Tanya had understood that nothing can help them, so she wrote these heartbreaking and hopeless lines in her diary.
The loss of family is always a hard burden, especially for little kids, and Tanya’s diary is a great example of how did she react on death of all her family. Tanya wrote exactly what day and what time had each of her family member passed away, it is hard to imagine how a little girl writes about this horrible things that happened in her life, it seems that it was very important for her to write this information, and when all her family members died, her diary was something like her only support, something that she can rely on, because when people stay alone, especially at the time of the siege of the city during the war, people need something what can unleash their emotions, and it happened with Tanya and her diary: the fact that in the end, after all her family members died, and she stated that in her diary, she started to write such things as all Savichevs died and only Tanya is left, which is representing emotions in that hopeless position, in which Tanya was when she stayed alone. Not just losing ones family caused this; according to survivors’ testimonies, families took care of each other, every family got a little piece of bread for all the members, they were trying to get products or supplies, since the situation was critical, there was need in everything, so staying with your family was really important. Another fact about the importance of the family in the siege is one of the papers in her diary, which says, “all Savichevs died”, Tanya doesn’t say anything about other people of the city, or her friends or anyone else, she just talks about her family, even mentions that all Savichevs died. This shows how important was the family for a little girl in Leningrad, how important was any citizen’s family for themselves as support, and the fact that Tanya just mentions her family members in the Diary justifies the importance of family and how people felt when they lost their families.
Russians elevate Tanya’s Diary to a point that it is a national symbol of memory of the victims of the siege. Russian people are admire of any survivor of the siege of Leningrad, and every year there are events regarding the survivors of the siege, but the most important piece of memory about the siege is Tanya’s diary. The original diary is now situated near Tanya’s grave in St. Petersburg (former Leningrad) and it is considered as a monument for Russians, people come to her grave to commemorate all victims of the siege, parents tell their kids this story about a little girl who lost everything during the siege and little kids, as they grow, understand the importance of the Diary; it is also some kind of a propaganda for Russians, Russian Society elevated the diary to a level of a national “treasure”. It has been made for the new generation in order to understand what did their ancestries go through to gain to this point, and the easiest way to make people understand that, was to associate this diary with all the struggles and victims for the past times, that helped the country earn what it had at that time, so they will realize what that they have to grow up and replace the old generation, and this could be a good inspiration for that, how a little girl that suffered with the whole city.
To conclude, Tanya’s Diary is a representation of a typical Russian girl, who is strong, despite the fact that her family had died and everybody in the city was suffering, she gave us her Diary, which is now a symbol for a new generation; Tanya is a victim of those times, but she helped the next generation to grow up and understand their value. Tanya’s diary also helped us to oversee the siege from a citizen’s perspective, not from a historical or war perspective; it represents human tragedy: with the help of her diary we can observe this event from a social point of view. As a result it became a symbol for the new generation, just as Russian society wanted it to be, the goal was to make the diary, situated near Tanya’s grave, to a place of great national importance, where people always come to in order to commemorate the victims of the siege of Leningrad, and understand what was the “price” that the country paid to approach being a strong and peaceful country.
Bibliography
Savicheva, Tanya. “Tanya Savicheva’s Diary.” The Wikimedia Commons. Wikimedia Foundation. 26 August 1942, 16 April, 2005. Web. 15 April 2014.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tanya_Savicheva_Diary.jpg>
Clapperton, John. "The Siege of Leningrad as Sacred Narrative: Conversations with Survivors." Oral History 35:1 (2007): 49-60.
Primary Source: Tanya Savicheva's Diary
Tanya Savicheva is a girl from Leningrad, who lived during that horrible time in Leningrad, and she wrote in her diary specifically what date and what time did her relatives die. She wrote this during the actual siege, when people were dying all over the city because of shortage of the resource. So there were a lot of families like Tanya’s, where family members were dying one by one. This diary is one of the most popular sources for the siege of Leningrad, because this is showing the picture of it, the importance of it is very high, today, in St. Petersburg, when people go to Tanya’s grave, there is the original diary there, so this is considered as a place where people go and pray for those who lost their lives during this horrible event, so for Russians this is a place that represents the siege of Leningrad, it became something more than just a diary.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tanya_Savicheva_Diary.jpg>
Videos and photos
This video shows the whole picture of the Siege, and some documentary materials from the Siege
This shows how the streets looked like during the Siege, how "grey" and moody the city looked.
Here you can corpses of citizens of Leningrad, people were just passing away on the streets, and the survivors, in order not to cause diseases, were putting them away and covering with something, as we can see on the picture.
This is a picture of the Doroga Zhizni (the Road of Life). This is the only way that Russians find in almost 2 years to get to Leningrad through the German troops and help citizens or take them away from the city, that is why it is called the Road of Life.