The War Within: Diaries from the Siege of Leningrad by Alexis Peri

Abstract

Reviewed by: The War Within: Diaries from the Siege of Leningrad by Alexis Peri Harry C. Merritt (bio) Alexis Peri. The War Within: Diaries from the Siege of Leningrad. xix + 337 pp. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2017. ISBN 9780674971554. In Leningrad during World War II, a ruthless German war of annihilation collided with the Soviet state and its ruling party mobilized for tenacious resistance. The result was a blockade that lasted 872 days—arguably the longest and deadliest siege in modern history. During this period, Leningraders tried to cope with bombardment and deprivation, communicating their thoughts and feelings through diaries and letters. However, since the Red Army relieved the siege of Leningrad in 1944, the history of this siege has been strongly shaped by the official Soviet narrative of the Great Patriotic War. This narrative emphasized the heroic resistance of the city's defenders, military and civilian alike. In typical Soviet and post-Soviet accounts, the deprivations suffered by Leningraders are largely undifferentiated, while their suffering only serves as a backdrop from which heroism arose. Alexis Peri advances our understanding of the Soviet Union in wartime in two key ways. By selecting an interstitial case like Leningrad—"neither front nor rear, neither occupied nor free" (5)—Peri reveals how prewar Soviet social norms were carried forward or transformed in the context of war and blockade, along with strategies by which individual Leningraders attempted to overcome the immense changes and traumas they faced. Furthermore, by returning to unfiltered and largely unedited primary sources—more than 125 unpublished diaries—she channels the conceptions of Leningraders to show they both challenge and reinforce the Great Patriotic War narrative. The book is organized thematically, derived from the content of the diaries themselves. Focusing on the period of 1941 to 1942 when the siege was unbroken, Peri provides a detailed analysis of the questions and themes raised in these diaries while also providing ample space for the voices of the diarists themselves. Making use of the metaphor of "the Ring" that encircled the city, Peri analyzes her subjects' perceptions in concentric circles moving outward from the individual level, later exploring relations at the level of the family, community, and state. Peri maps the "mental landscapes" (25) of the diarists, allowing for exploration of shared perceptions, as well as contrasts with the official discourses propagated by the medical establishment and Communist Party. In the diaries, the German invasion in June 1941 and the closing of the Ring in September of that year dramatically disoriented Leningraders, who tried to adapt to new circumstances of bombardment, hunger, and the breakdown of municipal services like heat, electricity, and water. The lack of sufficient nutrition produced dystrophy (distrofiia), a relatively new and nebulous term [End Page 145] that was the subject of debates as it was adopted in medical discourse and popular vernacular. As a coping mechanism for the dramatic changes their bodies underwent through distrofiia, the diarists sometimes shied away from the traditional first-person singular narrative and instead used the plural form or invented fictionalized versions of themselves. These "experiments in self-representation" (88) are fascinating, though their effectiveness at aiding survival remains inconclusive. In the realm of social relations, the book challenges and complicates existing narratives of patriotic resolve and familial solidarity. As a core social unit and source of material and emotional support, one might assume that familial bonds might be protective in the face of suffering; instead, Peri finds that "the diaries suggest that Leningraders who remained with their families inside Leningrad fared worse … than those who were separated from them" (90). The circumstances of the blockade had reordered family relations based on ration categories and ability to contribute through work and informal practices like queueing in bread lines. The diaries reveal that family members were often suspected of ration card theft or the withholding of rations; while cannibalism was rare, fears thereof reflected concerns of family breakdown. When rationing was introduced, social hierarchies imposed by the state could mean life or death, with the lowest rations—Category III, "dependents"—a veritable death sentence if unsupplemented. Non-family social interactions focalized around food, with workplace canteens and shops where rations could be acquired functioning...