THE SIEGE OF LENINGRAD AND THE AMBIVALENCE OF THE SACRED: CONVERSATIONS WITH SURVIVORS JAMES CLAPPERTON DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF RUSSIAN UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH 2006 J <. my m Abstract This thesis is based upon a series of interviews conducted with thirty survivors of the siege of Leningrad (1941-44). The interviews took place in Edinburgh, Newcastle and St. Petersburg between 2003 and 2006. The conversations were recorded onto cassette. They were then compared with over three hundred additional recently published siege testimonies. The premise of the thesis is that across the decades the siege of Leningrad has been mythologised both in historiography and in public and private memories. Rather than seeking to detach this phenomenon from facts and data it is analysed as a key facet of the story of the blockade. It is also stated that Giorgio Agamben's concept of the ambivalence of the sacred through embracing both the sacred and the profane provides a fresh analytical tool for the study of siege memories. This is because it brings together myths of heroism associated with the blockade and stories covering acts of cannibalism and war profiteering. These extremes of human behaviour are not regarded as mutually exclusive but as intrinsic parts of siege mythology. Consequently, profane stories merely serve to underline the overall sacrality of siege testimonies. Declaration I declare that apart from quotations and references which are listed in the footnotes this thesis is entirely my own work. GýS ýlý-- James Clapperton Acknowledgements The thesis is dedicated to the courage and fortitude of the thirty survivors of the siegeof Leningrad who were interviewed. Listening to their stories was a deeply moving and humbling experience. I would like to thank my wife Sharleen and my parents for their constant support and encouragement throughout the duration of my studies. In addition, I am grateful for the guidance and patience of my supervisor Professor Larissa Ryazanova-Clarke. The assistance of Dr. Dirk Uffelmann and Michael Falchikov was invaluable. I am particularly thankful for the friendship of Marianna Taymanova and Pavel Dolokhov who took an interest in my thesis at a crucial juncture. Dr. Jane Goldman and Gus McLean provided moral support, advice and encouragement throughout my studies. The guidance of John Gooding in the History Departmentat Edinburgh was also a fundamentalmotivator behind the progressof the thesis. Finally, the support and comradeship of all my friends in St. Petersburg was vital for the completion of my studies. I would like to thank Julia Andreeva, Alla Borisova, Zhanna Kormina, Asia Nesterovskaia, Aleksandr and Vadim Radvilovich, Irina Rodionova, OI'ga Sharaia, Sergei Tchirkov and the staff at the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography. Figures 1-4: The author with veterans from the Elektrosila plant. The author with Aleksandr Cherapukhin, Viktor Lodkin, Natalia Velezhova and Julia Andreeva. The author with veterans from Kolpino. The iconic sign warning citizens that during shelling this side of the street is more dangerous. (All photos were taken in September 2006). i THE SIEGE OF LENINGRAD AND THE AMBIVALENCE OF THE SACRED: CONVERSATIONS WITH SURVIVORS 1. Introduction 1 1.1 Outline of the Thesis 10 2. Between Myth and History: Siege Historiography 14 2.1 Introduction: Soviet Mythocracy Versus Eye-Witness Accounts 14 2.2 Historical Background 30 2.3 Remembering the Blockade: Siege Historiography Across the Decades 48 3. Oral Testimony and the Veracity of Long-Term Memory 61 4. Interviews with Survivors of the Siege of Leningrad: 80 Bridging the Gap between Past and Present 4.1 The Respondents 85 4.2 Group Interviews 88 4.3 Interviewing Method and Questionnaire 90 4.4 Questionnaire 95 4.5 Mapping the Self: Three Opening Accounts 102 4.6 Conclusion 111 11 5. Between Myth and History: Siege Testimony as 113 `Historiographic Metafiction' 5.1 Siege Testimony as `Historiographic Metafiction' 115 5.2 Recent Siege Testimonies 120 5.3 Football, and the RussianCat as Patriot 129 5.4 The Questionof Memory 135 5.5 Guardian Angels 140 5.6 Death and Transfiguration 146 5.7 Conclusion 151 6. In Defence of Myth: The Siege of Leningrad as 154 Sacred Narrative 6.1 Giorgio Agamben and the Ambivalence of the Sacred 156 6.2 Myth as Contested Ground 159 6.3 Between Myth and History: Diversifying the Concepts of Truth 165 6.4 `This Really Happened': The Sacredand the Real 180 6.5 Postlude:The Siegeof Leningrad Myth or Legend? 188 7. `Za Rodinu! Za Stalina! ' Myths of Patriotism in Contemporary 199 Siege Testimony 7.1 Introduction 199 7.2 Non-Intentional Meaning 204 iii 7.3 1812 and `Imagining' the Nation 209 7.4 Contemporary Russian Nationalism versus the Wartime 213 `Imagined' Community 7.5 The Cultivation of SacredMemory 225 8. Patriotism Part II: Categorical Identities 232 8.1 Categorical Identities: Piter/Leningrad 237 8.2 Wartime duties 244 8.3 `A Muzy ne Molchali' 251 8.4 The Role of Women during the Siege 255 8.5 The Question of Soviet Identity and Socialism with a 263 Human Face 8.6 Summary 276 9. A Topography of the Uncanny: Wartime Leningrad 278 9.1 Siege Iconology 282 9.2 KusochekKhleba/125 Grams 284 9.3 Food and the Ultimate Taboo 288 9.4 Burzhuika 299 9.5 Zazhigalka 306 9.6 Snow 313 iv 9.7 Sanochki 318 9.8 Conclusion 322 10 The Poetics of Walking Through the City 325 10.1 The City as a Labyrinth of Signs 334 10.2 Malyi Radius 337 10.3 Conclusion 343 11. The Red Eclipse: The Myth of the Badaev Warehouses 346 11.1 Historical Background 348 11.2 Between Myth and History: Survivors' Accounts of the Badaev 354 Bombing 11.3 Conclusion 365 12. The Road of Life and the Ambivalence of the Sacred 368 12.1 The Old laroslav' Tract 372 12.2 Crossing the Threshold from War to Peace 373 12.3 Doroga Zhizni Narratives 379 12.4 Conclusion 395 13. Pod Znakom `Monetazitsii' 397 13.1 Commemorating Victory: The 60th Anniversary of VE Day 403 13.2 Monetizatsiia 405 14. Conclusion 412 15. Bibliography 415 THE SIEGE OF LENINGRAD AND THE AMBIVALENCE OF THE SACRED: CONVERSATIONS WITH SURVIVORS The following thesis is based upon interviews conducted with thirty survivors of the siege of Leningrad. This produced around sixteen hours of discussions which were recorded onto cassette. These interviews were then compared with over three hundred additional testimonies published recently in Russian books, journals and transcripts of radio broadcasts. Subsequently, a picture could be compiled of the themes and issues with which siege survivors are currently concerned. It became clear following the analysis of these testimonies and siege historiography that the blockade has been defined both in historical texts and in personal recollections as a sacred theme. In the words of Lisa A. Kirschenbaum the siege is `one of those events that are immediately invested with symbolic significance and treated, even as they are unfolding, as if they are being commemoratedin advance". One respondent,retired submarinerViktor Lodkin made this point very clearly, `How can I discuss the siege in two hours? This is our sacred theme'2 Lisa A. Kirschenbaum: `Commemorations of the siege of Leningrad: a catastrophe in memory and myth', in The Memory of Catastrophe (edited by Peter Gray and Kendrick Oliver, Manchester UP, 2004), 106-17 (p. 106). Z Interviews with Viktor Lodkin, Natalia Velezhova and Aleksandr Cherapukhin, Assotsiatsiia Invalidov, Veteranov i Blokadnikov, St. Petersburg, September 2006, tape reference, BL11/JC/ /09/06/AIVB, side A, 1-32, transcript, p. 3. The actual names of the respondents have been replaced with pseudonyms. Refer also to the Oral History Society website and the section entitled 'Practical Advice' < http: //www. ohs. org. uk/advice/> [accessed 12/12/06]. 2 It also becameevident during the interviews that the siegeremained a source of heateddebate and various rumours and myths. For example, the bombing of the Badaev warehousesin September1941 is still regardedby many survivors to be the soul cause of the famine even though historical documentation has proved otherwise3. In addition, a number of respondents were adamant that German spies had infiltrated the city and had fired off green rockets to reveal the location of hospitals and other key buildings. Daniil Granin and Ales' Adamovich in their book Blokadnaia Kniga state that there is no hard evidence to support this story yet the rumours continue4. A story also circulated in the Russian press recently that a train of cats was sent into Leningrad in the spring of 1942 in an effort to reduce the number of rats in the city. Again, historians argue that there is no documentation which confirms this story. Nevertheless, two statues of cats have recently been erected in St. Petersburg5. These myths could easily be dismissed as rumours but their continued prevalence today is remarkable considering that it is now over sixty years since the siege was lifted in January 1944. It is also clear that by dispensing 3 Refer to the chapter entitled, `The Red Eclipse: The Myth of the Badaev Warehouses', pp. 3-4. ° Ales' Adamovich and Daniil Granin, Blokadnaia Kniga (The Book of the Blockade, St. Petersburg: Nezavisimoe Izdatel'stvo "PIK", 2003), pp. 299-300. S Elena Rotkevitch, `Bronze Monument to a Cat', The St. Petersburg Times, 23 January 2004. <www. spb.ru> [accessed 1/02/2006]. See also, `In Defence of Myth: The Siege of Leningrad as Sacred Narrative', pp. 39-40. 3 with the mythology containedwithin siegenarratives a fundamentalaspect of blockade testimony would be lost. On the other hand, despite Kirschenbaum's observation stated above that the siege has been a source of resilient mythologies from the outset this aspect of blockade discourse has never been thoroughly examined as a phenomenon in itself.