Along the Lake on Foot: The Evacuation of the Population from Leningrad in late November and early December, 1941

Abstract

This article examines the little-studied issue from the history of the civilian evacuation from Leningrad in the years of the Blockade. Drawing on diaries, memoirs, and unpublished documents, the authors analyze the emergence and realization of large groups of people traversing Lake Ladoga by foot, from the besieged city to the rest of the USSR, in late November and early December, 1941. This attempt was considered an essential characteristic of the organization of Ladoga communication at the beginning of the winter of 1941. These sources suggest the hypothesis of the existence of administrative documents from military and civil bodies that developed the idea of travel across the lake on foot. A marching order across Ladoga’s ice for various groups of military personnel was employed, and the idea of mass evacuations of civilians on foot was not officially realized at this time. The authors conclude that the emergence of this idea of sending civilians who were physically and morally unprepared reveals the authorities’ feverish search for ways to evacuate Leningrad’s inhabitants in the face of the worsening situation with food and living conditions. Good intentions could lead to tragedy, and the general unpreparedness for mass evacuation stood in the way of this adventurous, if dangerous, project. Judging by diaries and other documents, Leningraders had one of two attitudes to this plan. Some were ready to take this risk that to flee hunger and cold, in hopes of finding rescue beyond the city, while others tried to consider forces and conditions of this journey, understanding the real danger for this form of evacuation.