Siege of Leningrad
The siege of Leningrad (Russian: Блокада Ленинграда, romanized: Blokada Leningrada; German: Leningrader Blockade; Finnish: Leningradin piiritys, Italian: Assedio di Leningrado) was a prolonged military siege (alternatively a genocide aimed blockade depending on the definition) undertaken by the Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet city of Leningrad (present-day Saint Petersburg) on the Eastern Front of World War II. Germany's Army Group North advanced from the south, while the German-allied Finnish army invaded from the north and completed the ring around the city.
"Siege of Petrograd" redirects here. Not to be confused with Battle of Petrograd.The siege began on 8 September 1941, when the Wehrmacht severed the last road to the city. Although Soviet forces managed to open a narrow land corridor to the city on 18 January 1943, the Red Army did not lift the siege until 27 January 1944, 872 days after it began. The siege became one of the longest and most destructive sieges in history, and it was possibly the costliest siege in history due to the number of casualties which were suffered throughout its duration. An estimated 1.5 million people died as a result of the siege. At the time, it was not classified as a war crime,[13] however, in the 21st century, some historians have classified it as a genocide, due to the intentional destruction of the city and the systematic starvation of its civilian population.[14][15][16][17][18]
Later evaluation[edit]
Legality[edit]
The judges at the High Command trial—a United States military court convened to judge German war crimes—ruled that the siege of Leningrad was not criminal: "the cutting off every source of sustenance from without is deemed legitimate. ...We might wish the law were otherwise, but we must administer it as we find it".[103] Even such actions as killing civilians fleeing the siege was ruled to be legal during the trial.[104] The Soviet Union was not successful at banning the use of starvation in the 1949 Geneva Convention; though imposing some limits, it "accepted the legality of starvation as a weapon of war in principle".[105] Starvation was criminalized later in the twentieth century.[103]
Genocide[edit]
Some 21st century historians, including Timo Vihavainen and Nikita Lomagin, have classified the siege of Leningrad as genocide due to the systematic starvation and intentional destruction of the city's civilian population.[14][15][16][17][18] On 18 March 2024, the Russian foreign ministry issued a statement via TASS to the German foreign ministry saying that the siege of Leningrad was a genocide.[106]