A lecture on the work of libraries in besieged Leningrad was held today at the regional election headquarters of Russian presidential candidate Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg. As the headquarters told RosBalt news agency, the event was organized by the youth council of one of the city districts.
Project curator and lecture participant Olga Volkova noted that fiction helped Leningraders survive, at least for a short time, to escape from hunger and difficult living conditions. Before the war, more than 50 public libraries were opened in St. Petersburg; during the blockade, 22 continued to operate. There you could not only borrow books, but also find out the latest reports from the Soviet information bureau about the situation at the front. “We read mostly novels and science fiction to transport ourselves to another world, and in the spring of ’42 we took books on gardening. At the same time, librarians worked in very difficult conditions; there was no electricity or heat in the buildings, and the halls were lit with smoke lamps,” said the project curator.
According to the co-chairman of the St. Petersburg regional election headquarters, Alexei Demidov, information about how libraries worked in besieged Leningrad may be of interest to all residents of modern St. Petersburg. “It is especially important that on the eve of the 80th anniversary of the complete lifting of the blockade, today’s students heard this and learned how life generally went during that difficult time,” Demidov said.
Another co-chairman of the headquarters, Evgeny Shuvalov, emphasized: “People live by art, books, literature – and certain works distract them from pressing problems. In besieged Leningrad this was all the more important because there was famine and people could somehow be distracted.”
Let us remind you that on January 27, 2024, St. Petersburg and all of Russia will celebrate the 80th anniversary of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the fascist blockade, which lasted almost 900 days and became one of the most tragic events of the Second World War.
Source: Rosbalt
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