Leningrad residents’ exploit at the “Blockade: chronicle of life” exhibition

January 23, 2013 at the Presidential Library opened the exhibition "Blockade: Chronicle of Life", marking the 70th anniversary of breaking the siege and the 69th anniversary of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the Nazi invaders. On this day, the guests of honor of the event - veterans of the Great Patriotic War, residents of the besieged city and home front workers – had an opportunity to learn about the exhibits and attend a festive concert.

The name " Blockade: Chronicle of Life" accurately conveys the main purpose of the exhibition – to show the life of the besieged city of Leningrad, the courage of its residents, who had accomplished a feat and had not broken under the pressure of the enemy. All exhibits are presented at the exhibition, are authentic. They are the personification of how the citizens lived for four years of blockade. Diary entries convey feelings and emotions of the individual caught in the besieged city. Newspapers, leaflets, "TASS Windows" posters, Leningrad Branch of TASS news in pictures and newsreel present the events from the official point of view.

Significant place in the exposition belongs to publications. Despite hunger and deprivation, people in the besieged city continued to be interested in books. Printed editions of classic literature, historical novels about famous Russian commanders, books by contemporary authors about the heroes of the war, manuals on combat operations, collections of patriotic poems, books on medicine, and industry. Separate stand features children's literature published in 1943. Here are tales by Hans Christian Andersen, stories and tales by D. Mamin-Siberian, Russian folk songs and other books.

Among the exhibits presented at the plasma screens - photos of the war years, which are the living witnesses of how libraries operated during the siege. Widely available are the photos of the besieged city by Mikhail Semenovich Prigozhin, war correspondent of the newspaper "Red Star" who had fought during the whole war and ended it in Germany.

The guests of the exhibition also were presented unique documents from the Presidential Library’s collection, "The memory of the Great Victory", among which – The Letter to Leningrad, presented by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944, and his letter to I. V. Stalin, in which, on behalf of the American people, Franklin D. Roosevelt expressed admiration for heroism of the residents of the two cities - Stalingrad and Leningrad.

The main exhibits were provided by the “Lenfilm” studio, the National Library of Russia, the Central State Archive of Film and Photo Documents of St. Petersburg, as well as by the Central Naval Library, the State Museum of Defense and Siege of Leningrad, the Fundamental Library of the St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University.