Children of the Siege of Leningrad: The Soviet Literature's Perspective

• In Event: The Soviet Politics of Childhood in WWII

Abstract

What mattered most for the Soviet children’s literature about the Siege was not the tragic interruption of people’s lives, but an assertion of their continuation in the timeless realm of Soviet glory. Ideologically biased, Soviet authors’ representation of the Siege was two-sided. On one hand, their stories and novels portrayed the Siege as litmus test of children’s ability to reveal and model Soviet virtues, such as resilience in the face of hardship and unwavering dedication to the Soviet case. On the other hand, literary works for young readers presented the Siege as a tragedy in which children played the role of holy innocents, or, rather, sacrificial victims whose very suffering called for vengeance and embodied the difficult “price” the Soviet people had to pay for their victory. The uneasy duality bestowed the Siege with a kind of sacredness which even a young person could understand. Reading about it in the time of peace, they could easily draw a parallel between themselves and Siege children – the heroes who may have committed no heroic acts but of whom heroism, loyalty, and self-sacrifice were expected. This paper explores the literary image of children of the Siege by analyzing literary works about Leningrad at war as trauma texts. It focuses on different functions of Siege literature, presenting it as part of the Socialist Realist literary canon, a compendium of behavioral models, a symbol of Soviet resistance to the threat of military annihilation, and a paradigmatic portrayal of an innocent victim who needs to be avenged.

Author

• Tatiana Voronina, Laboratorium: Russian Review of Social Research