Leningrad: Diverging Perspectives Aligned
An interactive timeline of events documenting the Siege of Leningrad in the USSR during World War II
Mission of the project
In 1941, the Axis Powers laid siege to the city of Leningrad in the USSR. The 900 day long ordeal was extremely well documented by the citizens and Soviet military. However, the harrowing experience was later watered down in official ideology to obscure the depths of human suffering in the USSR. This project presents the various perspectives concerning the Leningrad Blockade onto one interactive timeline for public use. Using Timeline JS software, we compiled primary and secondary historical sources with key dates from the war to contextualize the information. Our medium of choice and the sources consulted are of great value to the public as a teaching tool for those unfamiliar with this episode of World War II.
By uniting evidence from diaries, reports from city officials, memoirs, etc. that contain Soviet ideology and scholarly sources from recent years we gain a more thorough and comprehensive understanding of the event which was both harrowing and heroic. Thus, the public may understand how and why the siege was mythologized for a political agenda and the impact of both narratives in today’s political landscape.
To Use the Timeline:
Click on the box above and with you crusor, swipe to move forward.
Along the bottom, you can see that each tab is divided into one of four categories of information. The first, War at Large, documents events going on during the entirety of World War II. This grounds the timeline in public knowledge and draws on secondary literature about World War II. Next is War in Leningrad which denotes military events within the city like air strikes. This information is from English language history books about the Leningrad Blockade. The third category is Siege Experienced which references published and translated diaries from Leningraders about social changes in besieged Leningrad. This includes things like ration increases and closing schools. Lastly, the Siege Remembered category marks the creation, destruction, closing, and reopening of various memorials and museums about Leningrad. This shows how public perception on the event has changed over time.
You can also left click the Timeline box to open a larger visual in a new tab on TimelineJS by Knightlab.
Student Researchers
Lorena Campos-Castro
Think Tank Participant, 2022
Seth Jones
Think Tank Participant, 2022
Rosa Lovo
Think Tank Participant, 2020 & 2022