Blockade

In 1941, the German army invaded the Soviet Union. Hitler had given the order to raze Leningrad to the ground. But although Leningrad was under siege, its defences held. For 900 days, from September 1941 to January 1944, the inhabitants of Leningrad were encircled. Over a million people died, most of them from hunger and the cold. The blockade of Leningrad has been, until the present day [1991], a taboo subject for both sides. While in the West nobody wished to be reminded of the war crimes perpetuated by the German army, in the Soviet Union and the GDR the defence of Leningrad was promulgated as an act of heroism. However, the suffering of the civilian population was hushed up. (DOK.fest München)