March 1942 was better for civilians in Leningrad than the prior three months. In March, civilian deaths due to starvation, illness, hypothermia and the constant bombardment decreased to 98,966. The daily bread ration for manual laborers increased to 500 grams (17.6 ounces). The worst of the starving time was over.
The starving time “was when life ended and existence began”, said one survivor. About 2.5 million civilians, including 400,000 children were trapped when Leningrad was cut off from the rest of the Soviet Union. Our closest contemporary example is the city of Idlib, Syria into which civilians were herded so that Bashar al-Assad’s forces could more easily bomb and starve them to death.
Leningrad’s suffering, as with Idlib’s today, was a result of official government policy. When Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, mass starvation of Russian civilians was a goal of Hitler’s plans because he decreed that Slavs were racially inferior. Any Russians survivors were destined to be slave laborers for the German Reich.
Nazi indifference was matched by Soviet callousness. From its earliest days, the Soviet Communists used food as a weapon to control the population. Stalin didn’t care about the civilians in Leningrad; he’d already sentenced millions to death by starvation during the 1930”s farm collectivization program.
Soviet corruption increased the suffering. In the Soviet Union, the rule of law had disappeared after all government and civil society institutions were hollowed out. All that mattered was sucking up to Josef Stalin.
A system built on blind loyalty rather than competence also sacrifices the truth. If Stalin said that civilians weren’t starving in Leningrad, then they weren’t. Anyone who contradicted him disappeared into an unmarked grave or a Siberian gulag. Stalinist Russia was the first post-truth, alternative facts country.
Soviet corruption and incompetence amplified the suffering in Leningrad. As the Germans approached, a local official rejected a trainload of food so that he could score points against a political rival while currying favor with Stalin. Stalin refused to evacuate the city because he didn’t believe his own military intelligence reports that hinted the Nazis were winning.
Meanwhile, the civilians trapped in Leningrad took a more realistic view of the German advance. Museum workers bricked up priceless treasures behind false walls and buried statuary in the gardens. Thanks to their dedication, the treasures of Imperial Russia are on display today in the palaces and museums of St. Petersburg, Russia.
Everyone searched for food as Leningrad was cut off and food rationing began. Hoarders were summarily executed unless they were government officials. In Leningrad (and the Soviet Union as a whole) the price-gougers, war profiteers and black marketers were government officials.
The rationing system mirrored Soviet values. Soviet officials and their families were the best fed; followed by professionals such as engineers needed for the war effort; followed by manual laborers working in the war production factories. Office workers, dependent family members and children received the smallest rations.
The worst period of starving lasted from December 1941 to March 1942 as the daily bread ration temporarily dropped as low as 125 grams (4.4 ounces). The caloric value was negligible because the flour was adulterated with supplements like cotton seed which is toxic unless baked at high temperatures. In their desperation, families ate their pets and hid the bodies of family members so that they could continue using the dead person’s ration book.
It was relatively easy to hide a body because the winter of 1941 – 1942 was the coldest on record. Temperatures regularly reached -30 Celsius (-22F). Thousands froze to death. A minimal benefit of the plunging temperatures was that the Russians were able to build an ice road across Lake Ladoga to begin supplying Leningrad. Weapons and soldiers took priority but more food began to flow into the city.
The extra food slowed the rate of deaths from starvation but didn’t end them. Leningrad remained underfed and under siege until January 1944. Estimates of civilian deaths during the siege, mostly from starvation, range from 650,000 to 800,000.
There are many books about the siege of Leningrad. I relied on Leningrad, by Anna Reid (2011) who had access to Russian sources during the brief period of openness before Vladimir Putin consolidated power. Putin constantly praises Stalin’s leadership during the Great Patriotic War, including the defense of Leningrad.
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