Wednesday, May 20, 2015
The Beauty That Once Was
The items that moved me in this museum were the three passport photos of Sefija Petrova of Leningrad from May 1941, May 1942, and October 1942 because I was really shocked at how much this woman had changed in the span of 17 months. This poor woman was basically starved to death because of the war. The guide said that she did survive the first winter though. In her last picture she was only 27 years old, but looked like she was in her 70’s. I find it to be absolutely amazing that this woman looked so strong and beautiful in the first picture and doesn't really look like the same woman by the last picture.
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6 comments:
Good choice. I also thought this was interesting to see because you often think of those lost by the actual combat and bombing in war, but less so from things like this.
Yes I agree. We also tend to focus on certain groups of victims such as the Jews, Roma/Sintis, Homosexuals etc directly targeted in World War II. I believe this was a photo of a civilian not in a concentration camp. This really opened my eyes up to another group of victims. The German civilians, many of which who starved during World War II.
The battle for Leningrad is often called the 900 day Seige because it lasted for almost 900 days. The city was blocked off by the Germans in an effort to get the Russians to surrender Leningrad. Supplies were only available into the city by plane, or in winter across an ice bridge that formed across Lake Ladoga. Although this picture is quite shocking by today's standards this was by far not uncommon in Lenningrad at this time. Food rations only accounted for half (at times even less) than the recommended food intake of the average person. Because of this, people were suffering from starvation and many perished in Leningrad because of it. I wrote a paper on this topic so I thought I would share this information for those unfamiliar with the subject.
Interesting. Thanks, Amanda
Yes thanks Amanda! That is very interesting. I can't believe it lasted 900 days. The poor citizens of Leningrad.
I agree, very interesting! I think that death by starvation would be one of the worst ways to torture a person to death, and from what I can recall the tour guide said the Nazis actually used this as a means of extermination in some areas.
I think that what really hit me in this photo was that the woman survived that long, it really tells you something about people's desire to live.
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