On this day in 1941, Nazi Germany and its allies begin the Siege of Leningrad, one of the longest, brutal & destructive sieges in history.
It would last for 2 years, 4 months, 2 weeks & 5 days. The goal was not to occupy the city, but to starve it into extinction.
By early 1942, an estimated 100,000 people were dying in Leningrad a month, mostly from starvation. Due to the desperation, at the worst point of the siege, workers only received 250 grams of bread a day, their dependents only received 125 grams.
In total desperation, people boiled wallpaper paste for starch, chewed their leather belts, and even scraped glue from furniture to eat.
The harsh cold of the Russian winter was faced with no electricity, no heat, and no fuel, with Leningrad’s citizens freezing to death in -30 degrees Celsius.
Up to 1.5 million Red Army soldiers & civilians died in the siege in a heroic sacrifice to ensure that the city does not fall to the Nazis.
Adolf Hitler wanted to wipe out the city bearing Vladimir Lenin’s name, and exterminate the population who he viewed as sub-human. The resilience of the people of Leningrad outlasted defeated Hitler’s hatred.
