Блокада Ленинграда

Siege of Leningrad

Day 2 of our trip to Russia. The pictured Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad (Монумент героическим защитникам Ленинграда) reminds of one of the longest and most destructive sieges in history: the 872 days long Leningrad Blockade by the German army during WWII. The goal of the siege was not to occupy the city, but to starve the population of Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) to death and afterwards completely raze the city to the ground. The blockade was one of the worst in a long line of cruelties of Nazi-Germany against the civilian population of the Soviet Union.







"This is a scale model of war; every war ever fought right there in front of you. Because it's always the same: when you fire this first shot, no matter how right you feel, you have no idea who's going to die! You don't know whose children are going to scream and burn; how many hearts will be broken; how many lives shattered; how much blood will spill until everybody does what they always going to have to do from the very beginning: sit down and talk!" - (Doctor Who, S9xE8)