The siege of Leningrad through the prism of cultural workers’ memories

January 29, 201,4 the Presidential Library held a video lecture "Knowledge about Russia" timed to the 70th anniversary of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the Nazi blockade. Students from different parts of Russia learned how the city lived, worked, fought, fought for the victory in the harsh days of the siege. The video lecture will be broadcast on the Presidential Library’s website.

Chief Librarian of the Manuscript Division of the National Library of Russia, Natalia Rogova told about the memories of staff and patrons of the famous "Public library": how frozen people, wrapped in several layers of clothes, read books in cold, dimly lit rooms. "It was high culture that distinguished Leningrad residents and it saved them. It was a special world of high morality. Today we need to be worthy of this world," she said.

In the siege, the staff of the National Library of Russia tried to preserve documentary evidence of the terrible period: manuscripts, books, household items, materials. They collected everything, even the bills of the ended events so that the memory of them would not be lost. That’s how the collections of besieged Leningrad were formed. Subsequently, when the "Leningrad affair" began, this material collected bit by bit "was taken away in an unknown direction" according to Natalia Rogova.

Natalia Lebedeva, leading researcher at the Institute of World History, RAS, delivered a lecture via video conferencing from the Reserve Center of the Presidential Library in Moscow. Her speech focused on the Nuremberg trials where a brutal siege of Leningrad was one of the key accusations of fascism.

The main proceedings against the leaders of the Hitler regime in the International Military Tribunal lasted a long time – on the whole, 403 court hearings were held. Prisoners were charged not only with crimes against humanity, but also the destruction of culture. Natalia Lebedeva quoted a secret document that was discovered in the course of scientific research: "The Fuehrer decided to wipe St. Petersburg off the ground. In this war, we are not interested in saving even a part of the population of this great city."

Ambiguous calculations of victims of the blockade of Leningrad also provoked a lively discussion. In Soviet times, it was officially announced 640,000 dead, but now in the course of research scientists have come to the conclusion that the number of victims exceeded 1 million. But this is inconclusive number, calculations and verifications are continuously maintained. Only one figure remains unchanged - 20,000 people were victims of the bombings.

The video lecture was attended by students of the Leningrad Regional College of Culture and Arts, the Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation, students of the Pierre de Coubertin school N 211; through video conferencing the event was joined by representatives of universities and libraries of Novosibirsk, Tambov, Pskov, Tomsk, Yakutsk and Kirov, as well as of the Moscow regional center of the Presidential Library.

Video lectures broadcasted on the Presidential Library’s website are held to raise awareness of pupils and students to important aspects of the history of Russia and are one of the main areas of educational activities of the library. Traditionally, well-known educators, scholars, scientific and government officials are invited to the lectures.