This year on 27 January the siege of Leningrad was lifted 77 years ago in 1944. The siege was a prolonged military blockade undertaken by the Army Group North of Nazi Germany against the Soviet city of Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) on the Eastern Front in World War II. The siege began on 8 September 1941, when the Wehrmacht severed the last road to the city. Although Soviet forces managed to open a narrow land corridor to the city on 18 January 1943, the Red Army did not lift the siege until 27 January 1944, 872 days after it began. The blockade became one of the longest and most destructive sieges in world history, and it was possibly the costliest siege in history as well, due to the number of casualties. Some historians classified it as a ‘genocide’ due to the systematic starvation and intentional destruction of the city’s civilian population.
If you would like to learn more about the siege, you may watch the following documentary and feature films by following these links:
A collection of 25 films by the Russian union of writers (in Russian)
“The Most Important Thing in Life” (in Russian, Russian title: “Самое главное в жизни”)
“900 days The Myth & Reality of the Leningrad Blockade” (in English)
“Battlefield – The Siege Of Leningrad” (in English)
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