Once upon a time

She lived in Leningrad, an ordinary girl from an ordinary large family. She studied at school, loved her relatives, read, made friends, and went to the movies. And suddenly the war began, the enemy surrounded the city.

A documentary story about Tanya Savicheva, residents of Leningrad in the besieged city. For middle and high school students.

The book includes photographs from the archives of the State Memorial Museum of Defense and Siege of Leningrad and the State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg, as well as drawings by the artist Alexander Traugot, made by him in 1942-1943 in besieged Leningrad at the age of 11-12 years.

From the author's preface:

«The blockade diary of a girl still touches people, it burned my heart as well. I decided to tell about the past and set off along the traces of grief, immeasurable suffering, irretrievable losses. But relatives appeared, family photographs, archival papers, witnesses were found. I held things that bore the touch of the girl's hands, sat at the desk in the class where she studied, could walk through her former home with my eyes closed and name all the objects. Sometimes it seemed that I was next to that girl, in that besieged, tragic, rebellious city. And I was tormented by the helplessness to help, to save. And I recalled the experiences personally... No one is given the power to perform miracles, nothing can be changed, nothing corrected in the past, but we can and must warn and protect the future. I will tell, I must tell. So, there lived a girl. Her name was Tanya Savicheva»

«During the blockade, some showed nobility, while others became beasts. Perhaps this is a child's sharp observation. In line for bread, people often fell. In December 1941, my father fell like that, and his ration cards were stolen - he held them in his hand because putting this precious item in his pocket was not allowed. We were left without bread. Mom took my hand and led me to my aunt. My aunt was a military doctor, part of the 480th special sapper battalion. We walked across the whole city, resting along the way in empty trams. The trams stopped wherever they wanted. When we arrived, my mother said to my aunt: "I want to leave Shurik with you, otherwise he will die." That's how I survived», - Alexander Traugot.