The Siege of Leningrad: A Lost Diary, A Lost Treasure & A Lost (Almost) City

I always knew that the Siege of Leningrad was a long, drawn-out, horrific chapter in the life of Russians during the Second World War.  However, I did not comprehend the sheer size of the tragedy. It goes a long way to explain the hatred in the hearts of the Red Army when they sought revenge on the Germans in late 1944 and early 1945.  Here are ten facts, courtesy Wikipedia, that you may not know about the initial stage of Hitler's Operation Barbarossa.

The Siege of Leningrad courtesy http://andrewvanz.blogspot.ca/2013_05_01_archive.html.

1.  The Siege of Leningrad, also called the Leningrad Blockade, lasted an agonizing 872 days, from September of 1941 to January of 1944.

2.  A total of 414, 148 children and about 1 million adults (mainly women) were evacuated during the Siege to the Volga, Urals, Siberia and Kazakstan.

A Survivor of the Siege of Leningrad courtesy https://02varvara.wordpress.com/2009/01/26/they-endured-and-survived-the-children-of-the-siege-of-leningrad/.

3.  A total of 1.2 million civilians perished, many due to starvation, during the Siege.

4.  The Soviet Baltic Fleet made over 100,000 missions during the Blockade to save the city.

5.  Leningrad was isolated from the rest of the country until an ice road formed over Lake Ladoga, called the "Road of Life" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_of_Life

Lake Ladoga, the Road of Life, offers way of escape and transportation route for food for Leningradians courtesy http://www.dw.com/image/17378704_303.jpg,

6.  Hitler ordered that the Palaces of the Czar be looted and destroyed.  Russians had hastily wallpapered over the famous Amber Room in the St. Catharine Palace.  Discovered by the German Army, they disassembled it and brought it to Koenigsber Castle in East Prussia where it went missing in 1944 http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.ca/2011/07/amber-room.html.

7.  The economic destruction and loss of life at the Siege of Leningrad was greater than that of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

8.  The Diary of Leningradian Tanya Savicheva, found later in the war, describes the starvation of each of her family members https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanya_Savicheva

Tanya Savicheva's Diary courtesy https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tanya_Savicheva_Diary.jpg.

9.  Deaths in Leningrad peaked in January and February of 1942 when temperatures dropped to -30 Celsius and food rations to 125 grams of bread per day, half of which was usually sawdust.

10.  Adolf Hitler was so convinced that the Wehrmacht would capture Leningrad that he sent out invitations for a celebration at the Russian city's Hotel Astoria.  However, the Red Army finally drove the Germans out in January of 1944.

Note:  Rob's great Uncle Artur, Oma's brother, who served with the German Army, froze to death at the Gates of Leningrad.

Koenigsberg Castle: Hornet's Nest of Militarism or Treasured Monument?

"At some point Russians living in Kaliningrad also began to fall in love with the old Koenigsberg.  They unearthed German street signs and hung them up in their apartments.  They protested when local officials threatened to pave over old cobblestone roads with asphalt." (http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/architectural-competition-held-to-rebuild-koenigsberg-city-center-a-980260.html)

Koneigsberg Castle courtesy http://archimaps.tumblr.com/page/276.

Koenigsberg Castle, the focal point of Koenigsberg since the 13th Century, was heavily damaged by Allied bombs towards the end of the Second World War in August of 1944 (see "Koenigsberg Burning" at http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.ca/2011/08/koenigsberg-burning.html).  Its thick heavy walls prevented it from being completely destroyed and its skeleton remained for several years.  In 1946, with the Soviet occupation of East Prussia and purging of the local Germans, the city was renamed Kaliningrad.

THe ruins of Koenigsberg Castle circa 1950 courtesy http://canitz.org/site/.

In 1968, Breshnev ordered the castle, "a hornet's nest of militarism and fascism", demolished.  Photographers snapped photographs of the remnants of the castle which quickly became a cloud of dust.  On the original site was built the most ghastly structure in history, The House of Soviets, nicknamed The Monster.  Resembling a giant robot, the 20-story Soviet style structure was never completed. While the outside was painted for a 2005 visit by Putin celebrating the city's 750th anniversary, the inside remains incomplete.

Soviets demolish Koenigsberg Castle circa 1968 courtesy https://europebetweeneastandwest.wordpress.com/2015/07/15/revenge-of-the-prussians-the-house-of-soviets-in-kaliningrad-part-2/.

  

Koenigsberg history has not completely been erased:  underneath the ghastly structure remain tunnels built by the Prussians.  In 2001, the German magazine Der Spiegel financed the excavation of the castle's cellar in an attempt to find lost art.  Rumour has it that the Amber Room was hastily disassembled and stored in the basement when the Red Army was advancing towards East Prussia in 1944.  

Original Amber Room courtesy https://www.tumblr.com/search/aph:%20russian%20history.

"At some point Russians living in Kaliningrad also began to fall in love with the old Koenigsberg.  They unearthed German street signs and hung them up in their apartments.  The protested when local officials threatened to pave over old cobblestone roads with ashphalt."  And they developped a fascination with the old Prussian castle.  In 2010, Russia's Minister of Culture announced a referendum would be held in 2011 regarding whether or not to rebuild Koenigsberg Castle.  In 2014, a competition was held to rebuild the city centre to reflect its German roots.  It remains to be seen whether Koenigsberg Castle will be part of the architectural project (http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/architectural-competition-held-to-rebuild-koenigsberg-city-center-a-980260.html).

Kaliningrad is resurecting its roots courtesy http://www.myvuelingcity.com/en/cities/kaliningrad/la-ciudad-del-ambar?refer=city.

Note:  Koenigsberg Cathedral has already been restored (https://newcoldwar.org/russias-kaliningrad-is-restoring-the-german-heritage-of-konigsberg/).