Not by bread alone

How do former blockade survivors live?

65 years have passed since the complete lifting of the siege of Leningrad. At the beginning of the 21st century, only a few are able to fully feel all the pain and all the happiness of this date. 900 days of hell. The blockade survivors themselves still cannot explain where they got the strength to overcome hunger and fear every day, every hour, every second.

They say that sometimes even hope for a better outcome disappeared. And they admit that what often saved them from despair was... their daily routine. The strength of the spirit was concentrated on the fact that now, at this moment, we need to get up and walk, we need to do something. The days passed exactly according to schedule. And it didn’t even matter what people were guided by - their own consciousness and self-organization or the peremptory orders of the authorities, which threatened punishment for violation according to the laws of war. And there were plenty of such documents regulating the life of townspeople. And in their formulations there was not a word about the well-being of ordinary people or about easing their situation. Although, taken together, their implementation made a significant contribution to the salvation of the city.

The well-being of those who survived the siege was not taken care of even after the war. An indicative fact is that formally the siege survivors were never avenged in court. The number of victims and what happened in Leningrad during the siege were carefully hidden by the Soviet government from the Soviet and international community. Not a word was said about the tragedy in Leningrad in the notes of the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Molotov, addressed to the peoples of the Allies to mobilize public opinion among them for a more active fight against Nazi Germany. And in the Nuremberg trials, the Leningrad theme was present among other things, and not, as it should have been, an independent theme. Since a thorough analysis of the events would have revealed not only the crimes of the Nazis, but also the criminal negligence and abuse of official duties of the Soviet leadership, in Nuremberg data were presented on the destruction caused to Leningrad and its suburbs, but not on the number of victims. But it should be noted that it was the Soviet delegation in the fall of 1948 that made a proposal to insert into the Universal Declaration of Human Rights a norm prohibiting the use of starvation as a method of warfare.

Vremya Novostei's own correspondent, Mikhail TELEKHOV, asked survivors of the siege about how they evaluate 65 years of peaceful life in their hometown, and how they live now.



"Wehrmacht soldiers and officers live much better"

Dmitry Petrovich BUCHKIN. Artist. When the blockade began, he was 14 years old.

— In February 1945, I was drafted and sent to Konigsberg. We guarded captured Germans. The city was all in ruins. Then we were sent deep into Germany. Leipzig, Dresden. Also in ruins. And in the early 90s, after the destruction of the Berlin Wall, the command of the Leningrad Military District gathered us veterans and sent us to stay in Germany. We drove almost the same route. Kaliningrad, Dresden, Leipzig. It became a shame. Kaliningrad has been rebuilt with new houses. There are only a few restored buildings. Everything else is either still in ruins or has already been razed to the ground. Dresden (what kind of bombing there was) and Leipzig were thoroughly destroyed. And now they stand - restored, clean, beautiful. The soldiers and officers of the Wehrmacht - we were also introduced to them - live much better. Separate cottage villages were built for them. They pay a good pension. Treatment is free. What about us? My friend, a blockade pilot - he served at the Leningrad airfield in Sosnovsky Park - is now sick. Despite the fact that he rose to the rank of general, he has no funds for treatment. I often talk to his wife on the phone. He says: “My husband is dying.”

Another bright contrast. After the war, I remember prices fell. Over the course of several years, they fell almost tenfold. I remember buying bread for 1 ruble. 40 kopecks, a loaf - for 12 kopecks. And now? I personally cannot understand why everything is becoming so expensive. Prices have been going up for twenty years now.

I'm worried about how we are treated. Our governor, Valentina Matvienko, decreed that for three days, from January 26 to 28, we, blockade survivors, should be transported free of charge. You just need to show your blockade ID. What a gift! Okay, God bless him, now we live in capitalism. But last year there was a similar resolution. And I was invited to Smolny for the celebration. There is a bus going there from my house. I sat down, showed my ID, and said that there was such a decree and I was rightfully traveling for free. Do you know what the driver answered me? Such a young boy with gray eyes. So he said that he “laid down” both on the blockade survivors and on the resolution. I feel sorry for him.

“Now I prescribe my own nutritional standards”

Rosa Isaakovna BENEFIT. When the blockade began, she was 17 years old. She worked as an assembler at the plant named after. Kozitsky. She made boards for the legendary radio station "Sever".

- It’s a sin for me to complain. My pension is good. But even that is not enough. You know, now I prescribe nutritional standards for myself. And that's enough for me for now. True, products are becoming more and more expensive. But, you know, we are used to hardships. We are optimists. We survived the blockade. We survived the nineties. And we will survive this time. I've always worked. Up to 80 years old. And constantly working two or three jobs. So I didn’t have much time to think about it in my life.

Do you know what I want to say? About children. They did not go through the war and turned out to be weaker. My son died at 37. The daughter-in-law also died. They drank a lot. I am raising my grandson. He is 22 years old now. Doesn't do anything. He says he is looking for himself. But for some reason he searches in the same way as his parents searched. So, I think it was in vain that the obligation to work was abolished. Labor has always made people out of monkeys. Now look around. Where is the government looking? There are only monkeys around. It’s on TV that they show all the beautiful and successful people. And in my circle - the children and grandchildren of my old friends - are nothing but nonsense. We need to return the duty to work. Otherwise we will lose a generation.

“Before perestroika, I worked for the country. And now I work for the people.”

Florentina Augustovna VASHIL. When the blockade began, she was 18 years old. She served in the local air defense - in a fire-fighting company.

- Why are you asking us such questions? We are blockade runners. We are not used to complaining. Just as the work we were doing saved us then in Leningrad, so it saves us now. After the war, I worked as a fire inspector at the Mint. She also played sports. Skiing and rowing. Participated in city and union championships. When age passed, I didn’t give up sports. And now I have the title of judge of the republican category. In total, she was awarded 166 certificates, diplomas and insignia for her sports and refereeing activities. In our time, every sports section had a competition. Both children and adults walked. And now no one goes to sports. My native society "Dynamo" is dying. But he breathes.

I am many years old, I can’t see well anymore. And I don't do sports. But I go to the veterans’ organization, to the leisure center of our Petrograd district. We sing songs there and stage plays. I'm independent. Yes, I live in a communal apartment, and my pension is barely enough. But none of this matters to me. I have never lived for benefits. Before perestroika, I worked for the country. And now - for the people. Old women from all over the area come to me to complain about their lives. Sometimes I don't let you in. Because I'm very busy. You know, I endured the blockade, but I will say: man does not live by bread alone.

Mikhail TELEKHOV, St. Petersburg