Siege Leningrad facts
While investigating facts about Siege Leningrad 1941 and Siege Leningrad Survivor Stories, I found out little known, but curios details like:
Soviet scientists defended the world's largest seed bank during the 28 month Siege of Leningrad when it couldn't be evacuated. 9 scientists starved, surrounded by tons of crops and fruit, refusing to destroy 'the future of Russia'.
how did the siege of leningrad end?
After the Siege of Leningrad was broken, the Soviets wanted to prosecute those who had resorted to cannibalism. However, so many were accused (over two thousand) that the NKVD had to divide them into two groups; 'corpse-eating' and 'person-eating'. The former were jailed, that later were shot
What happened at the siege of leningrad?
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what was the significance of the siege of leningrad. Here are 42 of the best facts about Siege Leningrad Cannibalism and Siege Leningrad Map I managed to collect.
what was the siege of leningrad?
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12 Russian botanists starved to death during the Siege of Leningrad (St. Petersburg) in the winter of 1941, rather than consuming the foodstuffs stored at the world's first seed bank where they worked, Pavlosk Experimental Station.
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During the siege of Leningrad, Hitler had no intentions of actually invading the city. He did not want to capture and feed the 3 million inhabitants and ordered an unending siege, disregarding possible surrender, waiting for the city to starve to death. Close to a million civilians starved.
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That, after the Siege of Leningrad, there were so many rats that four wagons of cats were brought in to fight them. Citizens erected statues to those cats many years later.
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About Tanya Savicheva, a Russian girl that cronicled in her diary the deaths of all her family members during the siege of Leningrad, ending with "Everyone is dead. Only Tanya is left".
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Tanya Savicheva, a young Russian girl who kept a diary through the siege of Leningrad. The last entry is "All Savichevs died. Now remains only Tanya." Tanya later died as well.
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The Leningrad siege in WW2 has been classified as an genocide by some historians. American estimates the death toll was higher than combined american and British losses in the war, "The Siege of Leningrad killed more civilians than bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined."
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During the Siege of Leningrad, the Leningrad Symphony Orchestra played Tchaikovsky's 5th at a performance to boost morale. During the 2nd Movement, bombs started to fall nearby. The orchestra never stopped playing and continued to the last note.
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Pavlov's dogs were eaten during the Siege of Leningrad by famished researchers
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During the Siege of Leningrad in WWII, scientists working at the Institute of Plant Industry choose to starve to death rather than compromise the gene bank's edible seed and tuber collection.
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During the Siege of Leningrad, the Soviet military warned all soldiers that if they surrendered their families would be shot. Later, one of the soldiers who ended up surrendering was Stalin's own son, Yakov Dzhugashvili.
Why was the siege of leningrad important?
You can easily fact check why was the siege of leningrad so important by examining the linked well-known sources.
The Italians contributed an assault vessel squadron to the Axis effort, which fought on Lake Ladoga.
The Schwerer Gustav, a gigantic rail cannon developed by the nazis after the invasion of France. It was used during the siege of Leningrad and used at Sevastopol. Only two were ordered. They were rail bound, fired 10 tonne shells, and needed 2000 people to operate - source
Scientist Dmytry S. Ivanov, a rice specialist who worked at a botanical and agricultural research institute during the siege of Leningrad. He was found at his desk, starved to death, amongst bags of rice, protecting the precious specimen for future generations. - source
The Nazis had no real interest in the city itself, so they had no problem destroying the city to defeat the Soviet forces. The Germans planned to give the Finns everything north of the Neva River after their victory.
A girl named Tanya Savichev wrote notes about the starvation of her family during the siege of Leningrad, including her sister, grandmother, brother, uncle, another uncle, then mother, then herself. Her notes were used during the Nuremberg trials. - source
When was the siege of leningrad?
The Red Army supplied the city through boats, or in the winter by trucks, across the southern tip of Lake Ladoga.
How long was the siege of leningrad?
There is a rumor that Adolf Hitler was so confident of an Axis victory at Leningrad that he organized a victory party at the city's Hotel Astoria.
The seedbank of the Leningrad Institute of Plant Industry survived the 28-month Siege of Leningrad in World War II, where several botanists starved to death rather than eat the collected seeds.
Nearly two million Russians were evacuated from Leningrad during the siege. Those who stayed resorted to cannibalism by 1943.
During the siege of the city during WWII, music performances were broadcast over the Leningrad 24/7 to bolster the civilians' spirits. At rare times, when music wasn't broadcast, a metronome was placed before the radio microphone to assure the people that the resistance was ongoing.
During the German Siege of Leningrad in WW2 starving Soviets resorted to eating the dried paste off wallpaper which was supposedly made from potatoes. They extracted the same paste from bookbinding's or drank it straight from the glue jar.
