Trapped by the Nazis

Sophia Leclerc: When and where were you born?
Ganna Agrest: In Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, Russia, on July 11, 1924.

SL: When the siege began, how old were you and where in Leningrad were you living?
GA: I was about 17 years old, living in the downtown area near the center of the city with my parents and my younger sister, then 12.

SL: What was your life like before the siege?
GA: We lived a normal life. My sister and I went to school, and our parents both worked as engineers. My sister and I enjoyed playing music at a music school. I practiced piano.

SL: How did you react when the siege started, and what changed in your daily routine?
GA: Everyone was horrified and frantic. Many people were clueless and didn’t evacuate; they didn’t know what to expect. My parents had to halt their work when the siege started. Although there was no regular schedule, school kept going. Our school was very tall, about eight stories high, so classes had shifts to patrol the area on our school’s roof to make sure no danger was near.

SL: Did you work?
GA: Ever since I was very young, I had wanted to work at a hospital. Everyone knew I had a serving heart. So I worked at a hospital, helping wounded people and soldiers. I had one of the most common and helpful blood types, type O, so I donated blood too.

SL: How did you and your family get food during the siege?
GA: I was fed at the hospital where I worked and donated my blood, and I was lucky enough to receive extra food for me and my family. My family and I shared the food we got, and like other people, we sometimes traded valuables like furniture, clothes, and books for food. In winter, I witnessed people starving, freezing, and dying on the streets—those who had nothing to trade or no one to work for.

SL: How did you get water?
GA: There were no working water sources in houses, but luckily there was the Neva River in downtown Leningrad. That was the main source of water for everyone.

SL: What transportation was there? Was there fuel for cars?
GA: There was no transportation like that. People would walk or be pulled by sleds in the winter.

SL: How did you manage to stay warm?
GA: Many people had self-made heaters—there were many unique attempts, and some worked, more or less. Other people would burn anything they could: furniture, books, toys.

SL: Did you get to escape?
GA: I escaped through the “Road of Life”—a path across Lake Ladoga, which froze in winter. In some cases, the lake was bombed and the path was destroyed, but my family and I were lucky enough to safely escape. We stayed with a nice family until we could one day return. My father stayed in Lenin­grad, working as an engineer to help build barricades to prevent intruders from entering the city. I felt upset to leave my home city.

SL: Were people sharing and understanding, or selfish?
GA: Some people were very helpful and did all they could to help each other, but others kept a little more to themselves and tried to survive more on their own, selfishly.

The bread we received was almost no help with hunger. A tiny piece of bread was given! It was a scary time for everyone. Thieves stole other people’s bread, and in some cases, violence broke out.

SL: How did you and your family react when the siege ended?
GA: My family and I traveled back through Moscow. We were happy to return home, but unfortunately, many of our valuables had been stolen while we were away. I later learned that my grandmother had died from starvation, and all of the boys I had been in classes with—except one I sat right next to in class—had died. Even so, everyone I knew there remained very hopeful and patriotic.

SL: What message would you like young people to know?
GA: Prevent war. In any way you can, do whatever you can to prevent war. War is such a tragedy. People suffer so much, no matter what side you are on, so prevent war.