The Presidential Library marked the Day of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the Nazi siege

On January 27, 2022 the Presidential Library hosted the Presidential Library’s cinema club meeting dedicated to the feat of the residents of Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War.

January is a special month for our city: on January 18, 1943 the siege was broken. On January 27, 1944 Leningrad was completely liberated from the Nazi siege.

The cinema club meeting was open with a screening of two short feature films.

The film "Marus’ka" directed by Vlasta Arno is a touching story about a girl who had to endure all the horrors of the siege. Having lost her family and friends, she is left alone in a cold, dark apartment with her only friend, the pet rat Marus’ka. The film "Marus’ka" tells how even a little girl finds the strength in the most difficult moments of her life to remain a faithful and devoted friend, and how important mutual assistance and faith in Victory are.

The feature film "Za Kefirom" directed by Stas Fedosov is based on the story of the same name by the St. Petersburg writer and journalist Mikhail Grushevsky. This is a military-romantic fantasy, the action of which takes place in 2045, the year of the centenary of the Victory. Famous artists Natalia Fisson and Igor Sklyar play in the film and the popular Soviet and Russian actress Zinaida Sharko played her last role in it.

The Presidential Library’s cinema club meeting provided an excerpt from the one-man show "The Wolves of the Siege" performed by Elvira Kozyreva, actress of the Literary Theater of the Writer's House (St. Petersburg). The performance is based on the story of the same name by the St. Petersburg writer Suzanna Kuleshova. This is a story about the fate of a wolf cub, which was saved by the resident of Leningrad from destruction in a zoo during the siege.

A resident of besieged Leningrad, poet and director Vsevolod Vasilievich Vorobyov read out his poems about the siege. He told about the tragic days spent in the besieged city, read an excerpt from the author's poem "Sagittarius", also dedicated to the siege.

The event is available on the institution's YouTube channel.