Chronicle of the burial at the Piskarevsky memorial cemetery. How to find the burial places of relatives who died in the war

I haven't been to the Piskarevsky Memorial Cemetery for a very long time.

This is the world's largest cemetery for the victims of World War II. A kind of necropolis. The place is sad and holy.
The memorial is dedicated to the memory of all Leningraders and defenders of the city.

Once upon a time, our family lived in that area, and every year we, schoolchildren, were taken there on memorable dates for the hero city of Leningrad to lay flowers at the Motherland monument and at the graves of the city's defenders.

Then there were no these houses-districts that are now visible in the background ...

On September 29, 1941, a secret document was issued at Hitler's headquarters, which stated:
"The Fuhrer decided to wipe the city of Petersburg from the face of the Earth ... If, as a result of the situation that has arisen in the city, requests for surrender are made, they will be rejected, since the problems of preserving and subsistence of the population cannot and should not be resolved by us."

The city was to be destroyed with all its inhabitants.

The blockade is a huge topic ... Just some facts.

Bombing and artillery shelling: during the blockade, about 150,000 shells were fired at the city and over 107,000 incendiary and high-explosive bombs were dropped. As a result, more than 5 million square meters of area were destroyed. That is, every third house is in ruins.

Since the beginning of the war, my grandmother began to work at a factory that produces shells. They lived with her son, my future dad, then on the Fontanka, and at first my grandmother left the four-year-old boy at home alone when she left for a shift.

There was more work, they worked seven days a week, and there were less forces for the movement of physical persons. And she took the child to the factory, with her. Both lived there, slept at the bench. It was getting colder and warm clothes had to be brought. They came to the house, but he was not there ...

The hunger of the first blockade autumn-winter mowed down people everywhere - on the streets, enterprises, in apartments. Entire families died. The food rations introduced under the rationing system began to decline.
Since November 20, 1941, as a result of a decrease in bread rations (other products were almost not sold due to their absence), for more than a month, employees, dependents, and children received 125 grams of bread; 250 grams - workers, 500 grams - soldiers on the front line.

Mine got less than half a loaf of bread for two for the whole day. And that's it. Every day is just that.

Already in January 1942, all the cemeteries of Leningrad were simply littered with the bodies of the dead.
It was decided to bury people in a huge wasteland on the northern outskirts of the city. Burials were carried out daily in the amount of three to ten thousand people. They were buried in huge trench graves. In the photograph, these are huge hills with plates indicating the year of burial. Plates with numbers 1942 - most of all.

In addition to flowers, bread and sweets are placed on granite ...

In just one day, February 20, 1942, 10,043 people were buried at the Piskarevsky cemetery.

During the blockade in Leningrad, more than a million people died (almost the same number of city defenders died on the battlefields, died in the city's hospitals). Tens of thousands died during the evacuation.

In 186 mass graves lie 420 thousand inhabitants of the city who died from starvation, bombing, shelling, and 70 thousand soldiers-defenders of Leningrad.
The cemetery was named after the nearby village of Piskarevka at that time.

Now the Piskarevsky complex is not only a cemetery, but also a museum. The museum pavilion is located to the right of the main entrance. The pavilion on the left is the administration building.

The lights are dimmed in the museum, mournful music sounds. Here you can see photos and newsreels of the blockade time. They show the documentary film "Memories of the Blockade" and the film "Blockade Album".

Also in the museum pavilion there is an information kiosk, using which you can find the names of people in the electronic catalog of the Books of Memory “Blockade. 1941-1944. Leningrad" (names of Leningrad residents who died in the Blockade), "Leningrad 1941-1945" (names of soldiers called up in Leningrad who died on various fronts of the Great Patriotic War), "They survived the Blockade" (names of Leningrad residents who survived the Blockade).

A three-hundred-meter central alley stretches from the Eternal Flame to the Motherland monument.

Sad hills of mass graves with slabs, on each of which the year of burial is carved, oak leaves as a symbol of courage and stamina, leave from it to the left and right. The hammer and sickle are on the graves of the inhabitants, as in the photographs above, and on the graves of the soldiers there is a five-pointed star.

There are also about 6 thousand individual military graves.

Just boys... Ivan Ivanovich.

Graves are not only military ...

A faded photograph, half-erased words: "Soldier's mother, you were an ordinary fighter of the hero-city. Kolya."

Who was this Kolya .. Son? Hardly, I think ... A brother-soldier of his son, his friend? Probably, Kolya is no longer alive either .. Nobody cares for the grave.

And here, after the name and surname of the deceased, it is written in brackets - "San train".

Sailors of the cruiser "Kirov" are buried at the Piskarevsky cemetery.

The participation of the cruiser "Kirov" in the defense of Tallinn made it possible for the troops retreating from the Baltic to gain a foothold on the defense line and for a considerable time to delay the German attack on Leningrad.

The Military Council of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet, members of the Council of Ministers of the Estonian SSR, valuables of the Estonian State Bank and the Red Banner of the Baltic Fleet were evacuated on a cruiser from Tallinn to Kronstadt.

Then the cruiser fired artillery from Kronstadt.

Almost daily, the cruiser was attacked by enemy aircraft and received several hits from aerial bombs. Anti-aircraft gunners shot down three enemy aircraft. Then the cruiser was in Leningrad, from where it continued to fire at the enemy from a position on the Neva.

As a result of the Aisstoss and Goetz von Berlichingen operations carried out by the Germans in April - May 1942, the cruiser received 4 direct bombing and one artillery hit (not counting close gaps). There was a strong fire, including in artillery cellars, some of which had to be flooded to avoid an explosion. Many superstructures, a spare command post of the ship, part of the premises and pipelines were damaged. 86 people died on the cruiser, 46 were injured.

On February 27, 1943, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, for the exemplary performance of the combat missions of the command in the fight against the Nazi invaders and the courage and courage shown by the personnel, the Kirov cruiser was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

Along the eastern border of the cemetery is the Alley of Memory.
In memory of the defenders of Leningrad, memorial plates from cities and regions of our country, the CIS and foreign countries, as well as organizations that worked in the besieged city, were installed on it.

I arrived at the Piskarevsky Memorial in the evening and thought that there would be few people before closing. But I was wrong. Even when I went out, and it was at the beginning of the ninth, the people were still going to honor the memory of the fallen. Some of them have relatives here forever.

There are a lot of wreaths near the monument to the Motherland .. From everyone.

Consulate General of Germany,

Thailand, Yamalo-Nenets region of Russia, Finland...

Australia, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, South Ossetia...

Organizations: factories, FSB, mosque, church...

People carried and carried flowers ....

Here lie the Leningraders.

Here the townspeople are men, women, children.
Next to them are Red Army soldiers.
All my life
They protected you, Leningrad,
The cradle of the revolution.
We cannot list their noble names here,
So there are many of them under the eternal protection of granite.
But know, listening to these stones:
Nobody is forgotten and nothing is forgotten .

Olga Berggolts

We were first taken to the memorial museum, where the guide told us briefly about the events of 900 days of the defense of besieged Leningrad. Don't comment, just watch.

Here it is, the Piskarevsky cemetery, where, according to various sources, from 490,000 to 520,000 people lie in mass graves. I couldn't look calmly, tears just flowed down my cheeks... Yes, I cried, I'm not ashamed to admit it. Under each such hill, 60,000 people are buried. Just imagine! Most of the population of the city of Volkovysk in one grave!

We all bought cloves in the store near the entrance, and the bread was brought by the guide Lena, who was with us all the days of our stay.

I decided to leave my memory on this stone. In the graves, where the star is carved, lie the military, where the hammer and sickle are civilians.

Slava also left a carnation and a piece of bread on granite

Not everyone went, this is only part of our "delegation"

Then we were taken to the memorial stone from the Belarusian people. It turns out that by the beginning of the war in Leningrad there were a lot of students of vocational schools who came here to study from Belarus. Of course, they all took places at the machines, because the adult population went to the front.

History reference:

The eternal flame on the upper terrace of the Piskarevsky memorial burns in memory of all the victims of the blockade and the heroic defenders of the city. Three hundred meters long Central Alley stretches from the Eternal Flame to the Motherland monument. Red roses are planted along the alley along its entire length. Sad hills of mass graves with slabs, on each of which the year of burial is carved, leaves of oak - a symbol of courage and stamina, sickle and hammer - on the graves of residents, and on the graves of soldiers - a five-pointed star. 500 thousand inhabitants of Leningrad, who died from hunger, cold, disease, bombing and shelling, 70 thousand soldiers - the defenders of Leningrad, rest in mass graves. There are also about 6,000 individual military graves at the memorial.

The figure "Motherland" (sculptors V. V. Isaeva and R. K. Taurit) on a high pedestal is clearly read against the background of the boundless sky. Her posture and posture express strict solemnity, in her hands is a garland of oak leaves braided with a mourning ribbon. It seems that the Motherland, in the name of which people sacrificed themselves, as if placing this garland on the grave hills. The memorial wall-stele completes the ensemble. In the thickness of the granite - 6 reliefs dedicated to the heroism of the inhabitants of the besieged city and its defenders - men and women, soldiers and workers. In the center of the stele is an epitaph written by Olga Berggolts. The line "No one is forgotten and nothing is forgotten" has special power.

Along the eastern border of the cemetery is the Alley of Memory. In memory of the defenders of Leningrad, memorial plates from cities and regions of our country, the CIS and foreign countries, as well as organizations that worked in the besieged city, were installed on it. Text from here: http://pmemorial.ru/memorial

For the first time (and for a long time - the only one) I was at this cemetery in my early childhood. Probably, then it was a standard item in the school curriculum - at least once to take students to this memorial cemetery. My relatives, who died in the blockade, lie in another cemetery - Volkovsky, Orthodox, so I "forgot" about Piskarevka for a long time. However, this spring, I decided to visit this cemetery again - to refresh my memories, so to speak. I'll just leave here a few photos (with the weather, according to tradition, "lucky"), with brief explanations.

1. A memorial stone indicating the year of burial in a mass grave:

The construction of the memorial began in 1956, and it was opened on May 9, 1960, on the 15th anniversary of the victory.
I will briefly show the main objects of the memorial.

2. Figure "Motherland", with a wreath for the fallen:

3. Memorial wall-stele made of granite:

4. Individual burials:

5.

6.

7. Eternal flame on the upper terrace in the sight of fighters from the propaganda front:

8. And here are other fighters, getting ready to enter the cemetery and protect it from the Maidan (I'm not kidding). On the right is one of the two museum pavilions:

9. From the Eternal Flame to the monument "Motherland" leads the Central Alley:

A rather scary place - if you think about how many people who died a violent death are buried here.
According to the official website of the memorial, about 500 thousand people are buried in this cemetery (420 thousand residents of Leningrad and 70 thousand of its defenders, all in mass graves, plus about 6 thousand individual military graves).

10. Cadets help clean up mass graves:

In total, during the years of the blockade, according to various estimates, from 632 thousand to 1.4 million civilians died. The smaller figure is the data given during the Nuremberg trials, the larger figure includes an estimate of the number of victims among unidentified residents, people who died during and in the evacuation, as well as refugees from the Leningrad region and the Baltic states who ended up in the city. I consider the most balanced estimate of the number of dead and deceased at 800 thousand - 1 million people.
It must be admitted that there are also "city madmen" who claim that Khrushchev and other liberals overestimated the true number of civilian victims ("maximum 100,000 people").

11. On the right side of the cemetery there is an Alley of Memory. The only cross in this cemetery that caught my eye:

Already after visiting the Piskarevsky memorial, I learned that in 2002 a wooden chapel was consecrated next to the cemetery in the name of the Beheading of John the Baptist.

On the alley there are memorial plates from cities, regions of Russia and other countries, as well as organizations that worked in the besieged city. Somehow it reminded me of the plates with the names of sponsors in the new Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow.

"Piskarevka" in the early twentieth century. called a small field on the outskirts of St. Petersburg, owned by a landowner named Piskarevsky.

In the late 1930s on this field, which turned into an abandoned wasteland, a cemetery was created, also called Piskarevsky (the official opening date of the cemetery is considered to be 1939). During the Great Patriotic War and the Leningrad blockade, it became one of the main burial places for the dead residents of the city. Throughout the cemetery, trenches were dug for mass graves, in which more than 470 thousand Leningraders and 50 thousand soldiers of the Leningrad Front and sailors of the Baltic Fleet were buried during the four years of the war. There are no more or less well-known personalities among them: most of the Piskarevka graves are nameless, and the only thing known about the people buried in them is that they once defended Leningrad or simply tried to survive in the surrounded city. The largest number of deaths occurred in the winter of 1941-1942. (So, on February 15, 1942, 8452 dead were delivered, on February 19 - 5569, on February 20 - 10043).

After the end of the war, the city began to recover, and new residential buildings began to be erected on its outskirts, and after a few years, the Piskarevskoye cemetery turned out to be in the center of one of the new districts of Leningrad. After that, it was decided to perpetuate the memory of the victims of the blockade by creating a memorial complex at the cemetery and turning it into a wartime necropolis. The project of this complex was developed by architects A.V. Vasiliev and E.A. Levinson and on May 9, 1960, a majestic monument was opened in the center of the cemetery - a granite mourning stele with high reliefs, above which rises a six-meter bronze sculpture "Motherland", made by V.V. Isaeva and R.K. Taurit. The relief images on the stele also belong to the same sculptors: human figures leaning over mourning wreaths and banners lowered down. Near the main entrance to the cemetery, stone pavilions were built, which now house an exhibition of photographs taken in the city during the blockade and exhibit the diary of Tanya Savicheva, a Leningrad schoolgirl who survived the horrors of the winter of 1941-1942. In the depths of the memorial there are walls with bas-reliefs on which you can read lines from the poems of Olga Bergolts, a famous poetess who lived in Leningrad for all 900 days of the siege.

"Leningraders lie here.
Here the townspeople - men, women, children.
Next to them are Red Army soldiers.
All my life
They protected you, Leningrad,
The cradle of the revolution.
We cannot list their noble names here,
So there are many of them under the eternal protection of granite.
But know, listening to these stones:
Nobody is forgotten and nothing is forgotten.

Enemies burst into the city, dressed in armor and iron,
But we stood together with the army
Workers, schoolchildren, teachers, militias.
And all, as one, they said:
Death is more afraid of us than we are of death.
Not forgotten hungry, fierce, dark
Winter forty-one-forty-two,
Nor the ferocity of shelling,
Nor the horror of the bombings in forty-three.
All urban land is broken.
Not one of your lives, comrades, has been forgotten.
Under continuous fire from the sky, from the earth and from the water
Feat your daily
You did it honorably and simply,
And together with their Fatherland
You have all won.




So let before your immortal life
On this sadly solemn field
Forever bowing the banners of the grateful people,
Motherland and Hero City Leningrad.

On the marble friezes of the propylaea, built of dolomite, commemorative texts are carved (author M.A. Dudin):

"To you, our selfless defenders
The memory of you will forever be preserved by grateful Leningrad
Your descendants owe their lives to you
The immortal glory of heroes will be multiplied in the glory of descendants
To the victims of the blockade of the great war
Your feat is eternal in the hearts of future generations
Immortal glory to proud heroes
With your life, keep equal to the fallen heroes.

Behind the bas-reliefs is a marble pool, at the bottom of which a burning torch is depicted, surrounded by a mourning frame. Dark stone urns and cast-iron images of sprouting branches alternate in the design of the fence of the memorial complex - symbols of death and the rebirth of a new life.

In front of the entrance to the Piskarevskoye Memorial Cemetery there is a memorial marble plaque with the inscription: "September 4, 1941 to January 22, 1944, 107,158 air bombs were dropped on the city, 148,478 shells were fired, 16,744 people were killed, 33,782 were injured, 641,803 died of starvation." The author of the inscriptions on the propylaea at the entrance to the cemetery is the front-line poet Mikhail Dudin.

The opening of the Piskarevsky cemetery memorial ensemble was timed to coincide with the fifteenth anniversary of the victory over fascism. On this day, the Eternal Flame blazed in the cemetery, lit from the flame of another Eternal Flame burning on the Field of Mars. Since then, the Piskarevsky Memorial has been a traditional venue for mourning ceremonies dedicated to Victory Day and the Day of the Siege Lifting.

The Piskarevskoye Memorial Cemetery has the status of a museum, and guided tours are conducted around it. Its archives contain many valuable historical documents - lists of people buried at the Piskarevsky cemetery during the war years, memoirs of the inhabitants of besieged Leningrad, their photographs, letters and household items.

In the western part of the cemetery there are sections of individual civilian burials, as well as burials of soldiers who died during the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940.

Already in the XXI century. in the memorial complex there was a new commemorative plate called "Siege Desk", created in memory of the school teachers who worked in the besieged Leningrad, and the children who continued to go to school, despite hunger and deprivation. The proposal to install such a monument was made by students of the 144th secondary school, and their initiative was recognized as the best children's social project in 2003.