"In the Scale of Nature Each Seed is Important." Social Transformation, Food, and the Siege of Leningrad, 1941-1942
The 900 day German blockade of Leningrad fostered an environment in which social relationships, which were pruned and altered during the 1930s, were reinvigorated and reinvented by Leningraders. By the outbreak of the war in the summer of 1941, Stalinist social engineering policies had eroded previously normalized social connections and networks. At the height of the Terror, it became beneficial and advantageous for Soviet citizens to cut off many of their social relationships that had been built up over years. The family became the site of the primary emphasis of social interaction. The strengthening of the family system under Stalin created family units that were remarkably elastic and durable. This familial elasticity allowed Leningraders to reknit social relationships during the siege which became primary as food became central to survival. Without intense monitoring and oversight from the state, Leningraders were forced to rekindle social ties and relationships to survive.
History, Food, Leningrad, Russia, Social Networks, Soviet Union, Wwii
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations