Historical Background
Tanya Savicheva is one of the undying symbols of besieged Leningrad. The girl was born into the family of a NEPman, a private entrepreneur of the 1920s, who owned a bakery, a bread factory, and a movie theater. Besides Tanya, the Savichev family included two brothers and two sisters, as well as her grandmother and her parents. After the NEP was wound down, they were all banished from the city, and the family was able to return only after the father's death. During the Siege Tanya kept a diary in which she recorded the dates of her relatives' deaths, until she was left all alone in 1942. The orphan was later evacuated, but two years later the girl died of illnesses brought on by starvation. Only in 2005 was her memory honored with a memorial plaque on the wall of the building where her family's apartment was. Today the apartment is home to the Uralov family, who moved into it after the Siege.



