8 September marks the Remembrance Day for the Victims of the Siege of Leningrad in Russia. On this day in 1941, the siege ring closed around the city. For 872 days, Leningraders endured hunger, cold, bombing, and shelling, continuing to work and fight.
Among those who remained in the besieged city were teachers, staff, and students of the Leningrad Civil Engineering Institute, the predecessor of SPbGASU.
During the siege, LISI specialists carried out work necessary to preserve the city. Architects and engineers surveyed damaged buildings, determined their viability, and developed solutions for reinforcing and restoring structures. Institute staff and graduates participated in camouflaging industrial, military, and civilian facilities and protecting Leningrad's architectural monuments.
Despite the harsh conditions, the institute continued to work. In January 1942, diploma theses were defended at LISI. A group of employees who remained in the city ensured the safety of the institute's buildings, equipment, archives, and library.
More than 220 students, teachers, and staff members of LISI died at the front, from exhaustion in the siege of Leningrad, or during the evacuation. Today, their names are preserved in the SPbGASU Book of Remembrance.
On 8 September, we remember all who lived, worked, and defended Leningrad during the siege. The memory of their heroism remains part of the history of St Petersburg and our university.