Leningrad During the Days of the War and in Peacetime -- A Photographic Exposition of Resistance, Victory and Reconstruction

Leningrad left without water / Nevsky Prospekt today (1980)

This powerful and moving postcard folder was published in the USSR in 1980 and shows "before and after" photographs of locations in Leningrad during the Second World War and after reconstruction and peace.

Leningrad was, of course, under siege by Nazi forces for 872 days. It heroically resisted despite constant encirclement, bombardment and mass starvation in the first winter. It is believed that over a million citizens of the city lost their lives.   

After the siege much of the city was destroyed as were a great number of the cities of the USSR. It was, however, rebuilt in the postwar years as was the rest of the Soviet Union. The story of this rebuilding is remarkable and what was accomplished can be seen seen in leaflets like "USSR - Facts and Figures 1982".

Finally, the incredible pride felt about the defeat of the Nazi colossus as well as the central role this almost unbelievable collective trauma played in the Soviet narrative about themselves come through in these photos of struggle, resistance, victory and rebirth.

Here are the postcards with the before / after text from the back.

(Click on images to enlarge)

Red Army men on their way to the front /

The archway of the former building of the General Staff on a festive night

The Bronze Horseman sheltered from the bombs /

Decembrists Square 1980

Detachment of the civilian military training organization in Ostrovsky Square /

Ostrovsky Square in autumn 1980

Observation post on the roof /

St. Issac's Square

Self-propelled guns on the way to the front /

Stachek Square 1980

House No. 174 in the Nevsky Prospekt destroyed by a bomb /

No signs of the war! 1980

The ruins of the Pulkovo Observatory/

The Pulkovo Observatory 1980

The blockade has been lifted! /

Kindergarten students taking a walk past the same spot

(I find this one particularly moving)

Victory Parade /

Demonstration of November 7, 1967

Patrol of Soldiers /

Vasilyevsky Island Spit with drifting ice

The people of Leningrad had not seen the equestrian statues of the Anichkov Bridge for three years/

"Horse Tamer" on the bridge again

Lenin Square, Monument to Lenin safely protected from bombs and shrapnel /

Lenin Square today -- one of the most beautiful squares of the town

Barrage balloons /

A girl selling air balloons

The blockade dead /

Monument on the common grave of the defenders of Leningrad

January 27, 1944 -- The day the blockade was lifted /

Festive salvo of remembrance

See also: Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy USSR -- Photos 1968

See also: Vintage 1970's Soviet Postcard Folder of the Streets of Volgograd (Stalingrad)!