Exhibition at Presidential Library told story of heroic deeds of Leningrad paediatricians during siege

On 20 August 2025, the Presidential Library hosted the grand opening of the multimedia exhibition The Leningrad Regiment of Paediatricians: Guarding Health Despite the War, dedicated to the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. The exhibition has been prepared by the St. Petersburg State Paediatric Medical University of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation (SPbSPMU) (formerly the Leningrad Paediatric Medical Institute – LPMI) with the participation of the Presidential Library.

The exhibition features sources from the Central State Archive of Historical and Political Documents of St. Petersburg. Photographs, excerpts from reports, minutes, and memoirs of employees tell the story of the activities of the Leningrad Paediatric Medical Institute during the siege.

The LPMI continued its work during the Great Patriotic War – the children's clinic and hospital remained open, scientific research was conducted, and professional staff were trained.

The exhibition at the Presidential Library tells about the educational process during the war years. Classes were often held in bomb shelters, and in their free time, students worked in hospital wards, cared for the wounded, made individual first aid kits for the Leningrad People's Militia Army and the front, worked in logging and peat harvesting, and unloaded transport at Lake Ladoga.

During the war years, the institute's scientific work continued unabated, and dissertations were defended. The exhibition materials show how the war influenced the topics of scientific research.

Part of the exhibition is devoted to the activities of the institute's clinical hospital, which never stopped working for a single day, as according to various sources, between 400,000 and 600,000 children remained in the besieged city. The LPMI housed wounded and sick children, as well as orphans. Throughout the entire blockade, not a single child under the care of the institute's staff died or was injured by shells.

The topic of the Siege of Leningrad is covered in materials from the Presidential Library. Some of these materials are available on the institution's website in the electronic collection Defence and Siege of Leningrad. It includes official documents, film and photo chronicles, cards, leaflets, memos, as well as memoirs, diaries, materials from the personal archives of Leningrad residents, etc. Some of the sources are devoted to the heroic deeds of medical workers during the Great Patriotic War. This is described, for example, in Elena Strukovskaya's article We Have Not Forgotten Anything, dedicated to the children and paediatricians of besieged Leningrad.

The exhibition The Leningrad Regiment of Paediatricians: Guarding Health Despite the War is another joint exhibition project between SPbGMU and the Presidential Library, implemented as part of a cooperation agreement signed between the institutions in 2022.

The multimedia exhibition will run until 20 September 2025. The exhibition can be visited as part of tours of the Presidential Library.

Contact information regarding visits to the Presidential Library, organization of tours of the building and exhibitions of the institution

Email: excursion@prlib.ru

Accreditation of media representatives is until 12:00 August 19, 2025

Please forward applications for accreditation following the attached form marked Media Accreditation at media@prlib.ru, hudjakova@prlib.ru Alexandra Khudyakova, tel.: (812) 305-16-21, ext. 167; mob. +7 (981) 788-28-08

The letter should contain the full name, date and place of birth, passport data (series, number, place of registration), a list of carry-on equipment, contact phone numbers, the name of the media.

We draw the attention of the media representatives that it is necessary to forward applications for accreditation and arrive at the event in advance.

Entrance to the Presidential Library is carried out only by prior registration and upon showing a passport: for media representatives - through entrance № 2, participants and guests of the event - through entrance № 1.