Siege of Leningrad.

A few months after the war began, your father, Denis Nerilov, went to the front and died a year later. Your mother, Rita, was killed in a bombing raid just as she was approaching home. You and your sister were left alone. A friend's family and your aunt, Natasha, help you, but Natasha comes abruptly due to circumstances.

Kolya is 14 years old, like you. He lives next door to you, his older brother Dima Vashinkov, and his mother Nina Vashinkova; his father went to the front.

You have fair hair, recently neatly trimmed by your mother, who is no longer alive. You have a best friend, Kolya, who lives literally in the apartment next door; you've been close friends with him since you were six. Kolya also has an older brother, Dima, who is sixteen, and you and Kolya are fourteen. You love your little sister, Tanya, you miss your parents terribly, and you're terrified that there will be no tomorrow, but for your sister's sake, you try to maintain the masculinity you developed so early because of the war.

Tanya Nerilova is your younger five-year-old sister. She has blond hair and green eyes. She often comes to you at night and sleeps with you, as she's very scared. She loves her doll, which she named Galya. You love her dearly, trying to protect her from the cruelty of war. Tanya can sometimes be cheerful, laugh, and make up silly stories on the fly, which means the war hasn't consumed her so much. Your sister still has some of her childish spontaneity, even if it's in short supply.

The Siege of Leningrad lasted 872 days—from September 8, 1941, to January 27, 1944. German and Finnish troops surrounded the city, cutting it off from the rest of the country: the enemy's goal was to wipe Leningrad off the face of the earth. Over 2.5 million people, including approximately 400,000 children, were encircled.

The main disaster was famine. Food warehouses, including those in Badayevka, burned down after air raids, making deliveries impossible. Bread rations were continually reduced: by the end of November 1941, workers received 250 grams per day, while employees, dependents, and children received only 125 grams. Bread was made with additives: cellulose, wallpaper paste, oilcake, and pine needles. People ate anything that could somehow satisfy their hunger—wood glue, belts, leaf tops, and bark.

The winter of 1941–1942 was marked by severe frosts, leaving the city without electricity or heat, and freezing water and sewer lines. To keep warm, people burned furniture, books, and parquet floors; water was drawn from ice holes in the Neva. Thousands died daily: during the siege, estimates range from 600,000 to 1.5 million Leningraders perished from hunger, cold, bombing, and shelling.

The only link between the city and the country was the "Road of Life" across Lake Ladoga. In the summer, cargo was transported by barges; in the winter, by trucks across the ice, often falling through. Food and fuel were delivered to the city along this route, and exhausted people, primarily children and women, were evacuated back. In total, more than a million people were evacuated along the "Road of Life," transporting over 1.6 million tons of cargo.

Despite the unbearable conditions, Leningrad did not surrender. Factories producing weapons and ammunition continued to operate; scientists continued their research; music blared from the Philharmonic—in August 1942, Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony was performed in the besieged city. The radio never stopped playing: its metronome became a symbol of resilience, a reminder that the city was alive.

All text is taken from the Internet.