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“Blockade” or “Siege” of Leningrad: A Circulating Exhibition of 1943–1945

During the Second World War, for almost two and a half years, the city of Leningrad (present-day St. Petersburg) was under blockade. From September 1941 through January 1944, it was encircled by German and Finnish forces, subjected to air and artillery bombardments, and deprived of access to food and other resources, leading to the deaths of more than 1,000,000 residents. The forty-one photographs presented here depict daily life, work, and military operations in the city during the blockade. Some of the images were reproduced in the Information Bulletin of the Embassy of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1943. It appears that the current set was compiled from various sources, possibly including this Bulletin, by the short-lived non-governmental organization the American Russian Cultural Association (ARCA) for the purposes of display in the United States.  

Formed in New York in 1942 under the honorary presidency of the Russian-born artist, spiritualist, and peace activist Nicholas Roerich (1874–1947), ARCA held as its primary aim "a mutual enlightenment and cultural exchange between the people of Russia and America." According to its annual reports, the organization’s advisory board included cultural luminaries such as Charlie Chaplin, Ernest Hemingway, Roman Jakobson, and Rockwell Kent. ARCA generated exhibitions, lectures, and other programming from its New York headquarters, until its dissolution upon Roerich’s death in 1947. Its numerous circulating exhibitions were presented in libraries, schools, art associations, and department stores across the United States. Two photographic exhibitions, respectively titled “Siege of Leningrad” and “Blockade of Leningrad,” traveled widely in 1943, 1944, and 1945. It is likely that the following forty-one photographs derive from some iteration of one of these two circulating ARCA shows.

Each of these prints, now in the Merrill C. Berman Collection, retains its original mat. Each mat bears pinholes at the upper corners, an adhered slip of paper with a typewritten English-language caption on the recto, and ARCA’s stamp and handwritten numbers in pencil on the verso. These numbers, which may relate to the sequence of the prints’ original presentation, suggest certain thematic groupings—such as military preparedness and operations, daily life, and arts and culture in the besieged city—and have been used as the organizing principle for the current presentation.

This online exhibition was compiled by Madeline Collins with essential research provided by Nailya Alexander.

Notes on the Objects and Their Original Presentation

 
 

The forty-one gelatin silver prints in this online exhibition are consistently mounted with mats measuring 10 x 13" (25.4 x 33 cm) and mat windows between 4 7/8 x 7 7/8" (12.4 x 20 cm) and 5 5/8 x 9" (14.3 x 22.9 cm). Each mat has pinholes in the upper corners, suggesting its original mode of presentation.

 
 

An adhered slip of paper with a typewritten, descriptive, English-language caption is affixed to each mat below the window. For this online presentation, in the interest of visibility, each work is presented without its original mat and typed caption, which is transcribed in the rollover text.

 
 

The verso of each mat bears a stamp reading “AMERICAN RUSSIAN CULTURAL ASS’N., INC.” located in the upper center of the mat when it is oriented vertically. The verso of each mat also bears several numbers. Rapidly written, somewhat disorderly numbers in graphite or orange pencil, sometimes preceded by the letter “W,” may be related to ARCA’s original presentation. These numbers have been used as the organizing principle for this presentation and are transcribed in the caption for each work. More orderly numbers, also written in graphite on the versos and preceded by “ANON” and “SK,” are likely the marks of a later collector and are not transcribed here.

"A belt of ack-ack guns girdles the city, day and night watchfully ready to repulse enemy air pirates"

Note: This photograph was reproduced in the Information Bulletin of the Embassy of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, no. 66 (June 22, 1943), under the section heading "On Guard Day and Night!," with the caption "Leningrad is ringed by powerful anti-aircraft guns, the gunners on the alert day and night for the German air pirates."

Verso, lower right (graphite): W1

"Observation man on the river embankment"

Verso, lower right (graphite): W4

[Sergei Strunnikov (Russian, 1907–1944)]
"Commandant patrol checking credentials"

Verso, upper left (graphite): W9

"Observation scout at his post"

Verso, lower right (graphite): W2

"Carrying a gas-bag for barrage balloons"

Verso, lower right (graphite): W7

"An A.R.P. observation post"

Verso, lower right (graphite): W10

"The Neva in December"

Verso, lower right (graphite): W3

"Automatic-rifle men guarding Kirov Bridge"

Note: This photograph was reproduced in the Information Bulletin of the Embassy of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, no. 66 (June 22, 1943), under the section heading "On Guard Day and Night!," with the caption "Red Army men with automatic rifles patrol the Kirov Bridge over the Neva."

Verso, lower right (graphite): W8

"Many Leningrad girls have joined the volunteer fire fighter brigades.  They successfully combat fires caused by enemy shells and fire-bombs"

Verso, lower right (graphite): W11

"The city's morning toilet.  Clearing the streets of snow"

Note: This photograph was reproduced in the Information Bulletin of the Embassy of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, no. 66 (June 22, 1943), under the section heading "Leningrad Stands!," with the caption "During the winter the streets of the city were cleaned and new-fallen snow removed by young boys and girls."

Verso, upper left (graphite): 12

"'Come on, let's dig a trench!'"

Note: This photograph was reproduced in the Information Bulletin of the Embassy of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, no. 66 (June 22, 1943), under the section heading "Lives, Works and Fights," with the caption "Young street-cleaners."

Verso, lower right (graphite): W13

"Winter's day in Leningrad"

Verso, lower right (orange pencil): 14

"Leningrad war factories produce formidable weapons of war"

Verso, lower right (graphite): W15

"This motor, assembled at a Leningrad plant, will be installed in one of the heavy guns defndeding the city's approaches"

Verso, lower right (graphite): 16

"Damaged in action, this tank will soon be repaired and return to battle"

Verso, lower right (graphite): 17

"Dawn is near.  From the printing shop the fresh newspapers will go to the dispatch department and then be delivered to the numerous booths throughout the city"

Verso, lower right (graphite): 18

"Front line men can buy their papers without having to queue up"

Verso, lower right (graphite): 19

"St. Isaac Cathedral"

Verso, lower right (graphite): 22

"Thousands of patriots give their blood for wounded Red Army men"

Verso, lower right (graphite): 27

"Administering electro-therapy in a naval hospital"

Verso, lower right (graphite): 28

"The city has carefully covered and camouflaged the statue of Lenin"

Verso, lower right (graphite): 29

"Armed guard at the Winter Palace"

Verso, lower right (graphite): W30

"Through all these grim days cultural life continued in the front line city of Leningrad.  In December the Lengrad [sic] City Theatre gave the premiere of the ballet 'Esmeralda'."

Note: La Esmeralda, which was staged thirty-one times during the blockade, was performed in a theater without heat and with an almost exclusively female cast, as so many men were away at war.

Verso, lower right (graphite): W31

"The outstanding poet Nikolai Tikhonov, of Leningrad, he has been awarded a Stalin Prize for his verses dedicated to his heroic native city"

Note: This photograph was reproduced in the Information Bulletin of the Embassy of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, no. 66 (June 22, 1943), under the section heading "The Glorious City of Lenin," with the caption "Nikolai Tikhonov, Leningrad poet."

Verso, upper right (graphite): 35

"The play 'Wide Stretches the Seq' [sic] was written and staged in Leningrad during the blockade"

Verso, lower right (graphite): W33

[Sergei Strunnikov (Russian, 1907–1944)]
"Since the outbreak of war the writer Vsevolod Nishnevsky [sic] has been working as a special war correspondent on the Leningrad Front"

Note: This photograph of the writer Vsevolod Vishnevsky was reproduced in the Information Bulletin of the Embassy of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, no. 66 (June 22, 1943), under the section heading "The Glorious City of Lenin," with the caption "The noted seaman-author Vsevolod Vishnevsky."

Verso, upper right (graphite): 36

"There are always many readers in the Leningrad libraries"

Note: This photograph was reproduced in the Information Bulletin of the Embassy of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, no. 66 (June 22, 1943), under the section heading "Leningrad Stands!," with the caption "Throughout the blockade the libraries remained open, crowded with eager students and readers."

Verso, lower right (graphite): W34

"One of the most talented Leningrad painters, A.V. Serov, working on a canvas depicting a heroine Russian woman It is called 'The Last Bullet' and shows a Russian partizan girl who is surrounded by the enemy"

Note: This photograph was reproduced in the Information Bulletin of the Embassy of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, no. 66 (June 22, 1943), under the section heading "The Glorious City of Lenin," with the caption "A. V. Serov, famous Leningrad painter, at work." 

Verso, upper right (graphite): 37

"The approaches to Leningrad are vigilantly guarded"

Verso, upper right (graphite): 38

"Anti-tank obstacles erected on the city's outskirts"

Verso, lower right (graphite): W39

"Sentry post on the Neva embankment"

Note: This photograph was reproduced in the Information Bulletin of the Embassy of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, no. 66 (June 22, 1943), under the section heading "On Guard Day and Night!," with the caption "Guarding the banks of the Neva."

Verso, lower right (graphite): W40

"The guns of one of the Red Navy Baltic warships which guard Leningrad"

Verso, upper right (graphite): 41

"Red Navy men of the Baltic fleet"

Verso, lower right (graphite): 44

"Standing watch on board a warship"

Verso, upper right (graphite): 42

"Torpedo gunners on board a submarine"

Verso, lower right (graphite): 43

"A battery of the guards preparing to shell the enemy positions"

Verso, lower right (graphite): 45

"Guards gunner loading a shell"

Verso, lower right (orange pencil): 46

Verso, lower right (graphite): 40 or 46

"Setting out on offensive combat assignment!"

Verso, lower right (graphite): 47

"Hero of the Soviet Union, A. Stepanov"

Note: This photograph was also reproduced on a postcard issued by the Voenizdat SSSR (Military Publishing House) in 1942 with the Russian caption: "Comrade Stepanov, a fearless pilot of a squadron of a fighter regiment, made 48 flights during the period from September 7 to October 31, 1941. During this time, he destroyed 3 enemy tanks, 5 cargo vehicles, 8 motorcycles, 50 deliveries, and up to 600 Nazi infantrymen. On September 8, he blew up a large enemy gas storage with a direct bomb hit." Collection Blavatnik Archives.

"German mine dump captured by the Red Army"

Elizaveta Mikulina (Russian, [life dates unknown])
"Senior Red Cross nurse A. Kozlova sees that wounded men receive meals on time. Photo by E. Mikulina"

Note: This photograph, the only one in the group whose caption credits the photographer, was reproduced in the Information Bulletin of the Embassy of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, no. 44, (April 27, 1943), alongside an article on "Soviet war medicine," with the caption: "As a result of efficient medical and hospital care, 70 per cent of the Soviet wounded return to the ranks."