Tag #147287 - Interview #78416 (Meyer Markhasin)

And on September 8 Leningrad was completely surrounded by fascist troops. We, men lived in a hostel. There was no public transport and it was a very long way to walk to the institute. That’s why we moved to the institute premises and lived in a lecture-room.  We installed a small stove there. We received only 125 grams of bread each for food cards and worked as cleaners in the institute courtyard, and then began to receive 250 grams of bread each as workers. Germans had bombed and destroyed the Badaev warehouses [one of the main stocks of foodstuffs in Leningrad], and the city was left without food.

Famine began, people were dying of starvation and cold. We were given a plate of soup in the institute canteen, consisting of water and 10-20 grains.