The "We remember" memorial evening is dedicated to the day the Leningrad blockade was lifted in Peter and Paul Fortress. Archive photos of the besieged city are projected on building walls.

 

During the three-year blockade that started in 1941 nearly one million people died from hunger, cold, shell attacks and some 100,000 air raids.

 

[Irina Karpinskaya, Memorial Day Organizer]:

"Right behind us is the mint, which was one of the first buildings destroyed after shell attacks during the siege in winter. Bombs were dropped here, and people suffered from hunger and the cold."

 

According to the witnesses, this winter reminds them of that period. Day-time temperatures are about -13 degrees Fahrenheit (-25 C), but during the war cold reached -40 degrees Fahrenheit (-40 C).

 

[Galina Zhukova, Besieged City Resident]:

"This day is holy for me. The weather is cold, but I'm standing here. Such a cold winter reminds me of that one, although I was a child, it was cold. Four people were there, and my mother was pregnant. In such a state she extinguished highly explosive bombs."

 

[Galina Golovanova, Besieged City Resident]:

"There was no heating. There were no candles, you could only put a candle-lighter into the can. In order not to starve to death, you had to keep watching the stores day and night. They gave very little food. We also ate carpenter's glue. I had many relatives and almost all of them died.”

 

Youth lit candles in memory of the dead.

 

[Nikolay Kazantsev, Memorial Day Participant]:

"I stood frozen, thinking only that they were much colder and hungrier. At least what I do can be done in their memory."

 

Here at the Cathedral Square, in the foyer of Commandant's House, you can hear wartime songs.

 

[Alexander Radev, Male Chorus Director]:

"The aim is to pay tribute to the dead, to say thanks to those who are alive now and to focus on a positive note."

 

Some members of the choir had relatives and parents who lived in the besieged city.

 

[Vadim Afanasiev, Chorus Conductor]:

"One of the saddest memories is that of my grandfather, who died in the blockade. He is buried at the Volkov Cemetery. So when I do something related to the Great Patriotic War, it is so deeply seated in me that I don’t need to compose anything. I just need to open this place [heart] and everything, what I need, is poured out from there."

 

The day of lifting the blockade brought happiness to the city. Memorial evening in Peter and Paul Fortress concluded with fireworks.

 

NTD News, St. Petersburg, Russia.