russland-aktuell Moskau Online petersburg-info

[regina]

Yesterday my mother-in-law, who is staying with us for a three month's
holiday - as always during winter - was a little bit depressed. The
reason was that yesterday, 27th of January, was the 60th birthday of the
end of the siege of Leningrad. On 8 September 1941, the Germans reached
Leningrad. Instead of trying to overwhelm the city, like they would do
with Stalingrad, they closed it off from the rest of the city. Only 900
days later could the siege be lifted. All that time, there were
virtually no roads leading in or out of the city. One would think that
the lifting of the siege would be a happy celebration. But for those who
lived through it, like my mother-in-law, it brougth back memories of
suffering, memories of hunger and cold and friends and family who didn't
survive. My mother-in-law, who was a child at the times remembers for
instance how her baby brother died literally in her arms, during winter,
when they were living in a few rooms with only three walls: the facade
was blown away by an artillery attack.

People in the West can hardly imagine the sufferings the people from
the Soviet Union went through during World War 2. Almost every family
lost one or more members. A lot of families disappeared completely. The
sad thing is for a lot of people the hard times didn't end in 1945. This
trauma is deeply ingrained in the Russian psyche. Even for the younger
generation, who didn't have to live through it, it is still a reality
thanks to the first hand stories they got from their relatives.

Maybe we should take a moment to think about the millions of victims of
this brutal war and think of all the sacrifices the Russians of that
generations made - and all the suffreing they had to live through.


http://it.stlawu.edu/~rkreuzer/pcavallerano/leningradweb.htm

http://www.saint-petersburg.com/history/siege.asp

As a tribute this poem of Anna Akhmatova:

THE FIRST LONG RANGE ARTILLERY FIRE ON LENINGRAD

A multi-colored crowd streaked about,
and suddenly all was totally changed.
It wasn't the usual city racket.
It came from a strange land.
True, it was akin to some random claps of thunder,
but natural thunder heralds the wetness of fresh water
high clouds
to quench the thirst of fields gone dry and parched,
a messenger of blessed rain,
but this was as dry as hell must be.
My distraught perception refused
to blieve it, because of the insane
suddenness with which it sounded, swelled and hit,
and how casually it came
to murder my child.

http://users.tellurian.net/wisewomensweb/OnPrgudc.html#anchorAkhmatova

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Ein, wie ich finde, sehr eindrucksvolles Zitat.

Gruss

Regina

[Joerg]

Hallo Regina,

die Blockade Leningrades ist heute noch immer eines dieser traumatischen Erlebnisse, die sich tief in die russische Seele gebrandt hat.
An der Schule meiner Tochter war dieses Ereignis jetzt Thema, und ich habe mich sehr gefreut, als meine Tochter ihren Beitrag zum Unterricht
in Form eines russischen Gedichtes von Jewgeni Jewtuschenko in ihrer
Muttersprache und auf Deutsch vorgetragen hat :

Ob Russland Krieg will

Ob Russland Krieg will oder nicht ?
Fragt doch die Stille, die sich licht
Aus breitet ueber Feld und Han,
Die Birken und Pappeln fragt !
Fragt die Soldaten ringsherum,
Die unter Birken liegen stumm.
Bei ihren Soehnen holt Bericht,
ob Russland Krieg will oder nicht !

Nicht nur fuer seiner Heimat Sieg
fiel der Soldat in jenem Krieg -
Nein, dass die ganze Menschheit dann
In Ruhe wieder traeumen kann.
Du schlaeft New York, du schlaeft Paris,
bei Blaetterrascheln traeumt ihr suess -
so fragt doch euer Traumgesicht,
ob Russland Krieg will oder nicht !

Wenn wir zu kaempfen auch verstehn,
so soll's doch niemals mehr geschehn,
dass auf zerquaelten Ackergrund
Soldaten fallen todeswund.
Die Mutter fragt, die eigne Frau,
bis ihr's verstanden ganz genau
bis ihr's begriffen klar und schlicht,
ob Russland Krieg will oder nicht !


Ich hoffe wir begreifen fuer die Zukunft unserer Kinder.

Joerg